There is a lot of button pushing happening on social media.
Social media started as a way to connect with people you knew in the real world. Feeds were setup to show content from your closest friends.
But then social media shifted. In order to keep people on the networks as long as possible, the platforms shifted the focus to what made people “hot”. Because when you’re hot, you’re more likely to engage and be on the network for a long time.
It’s not about blame. It’s about understanding that we all have things we’re passionate about. We all have different priorities and value systems.
It’s good to be passionate about things. It’s good to have values. But most of us would agree that it’s not good to lose control of our emotions. That’s when actions start becoming negative. When our hot buttons are pushed and we choose to engage, we typically regret the results.
But when we’re able to control our emotions, back off and take some time to reflect, positive results are more likely to occur.
The first step is wanting to avoid losing control of your emotions. The next step is reflecting on what your hot button issues are. Think back to times when you’ve lost control. Online or in person. What was the conversation about? What specifically set you off? Was it really all about one thing or was it more a slow build with multiple things combining into one large blowup moment?
These don’t really even have to be about social media. It could be something like tardiness in the office. Maybe it throws you over the edge when a coworker is late all the time. That might be one of your main hot button issues.
For many people, they would just continue losing their emotions as this occurs repeatedly. That’s obviously not accomplishing anything. The better approach is to realize that it’s a hot button issue and then to take action on what you control in the situation.
Reflect on your hot buttons.
When they occur, try to control your emotions.
Then reflect on the situation. Let go if it’s a one-time thing. If occurrences are repeating, think about how you can change the situation to avoid it in the future.