When someone says I hate social media

I would never go up to a wildlife biologist and tell them I hate rangeland science. For starters, I don’t hate it. In fact, there are very few jobs I don’t like. I interviewed people in many different jobs in my 10 years as a reporter, including sewage managers, chimney sweeps and farriers.

Perhaps more accurate than that example, I would never go up to one of the people who works the customer service counter at the Department of Motor Vehicles and tell them I hate customer service. I might think it in my head for a minute after being sent home for not having the correct document, but I’d never say it to them.

These comparisons aren’t actually fair, to be honest. People can hate social media without hating me or even what I do, but when you work in a very complex and challenging communication environment that touches into the very real forms of daily communication that are making up the bulk of the ways we as a society choose to communicate, it’s tough to convey just how important understanding this thing you hate is.

There are aspects of social media I absolutely loath. So, I understand when a colleague tells me or an audience at a presentation that they hate social media. But it also hits the target every time, even if they don’t know where the target is.