You know, with our increasingly ‘Social Networking saturated’ world it’s quite amazing how quickly information spreads. It takes seconds for a juicy piece of scandal to literally reach millions of people. Scary! This is really useful when you’re a person sharing helpful information and you need it to spread fast, but it’s not so great if you’re the victim of a vicious rumour (whether true or untrue).
We have seen loads of rumours flying around recently – Ryan Giggs affairs, Nelson Mandela’s false death claims and more recently the weird story about Trevor Noah being in a fatal car accident in Los Angeles. The old saying in the newspaper business ‘if it bleeds it leads’ has now been replaced by Social Networking’s ‘if it’s hot it spreads like wildfire’. We see saucy rendezvous with famous married people about town with someone other than their partner. We share fake death claims. We forward suspected ‘baby bump’ images of starlets – the list goes on and gets more ridiculous!
May I be brave enough to suggest that what you forward on and what you talk about does not only create an assumption around the person you’re mentioning, but even more impactfully, it is a reflection of who you are and how people see you. I’m not of the opinion that it’s ok to judge others, but when I see my friends forwarding hurtful or scandalous content it makes me question whether our values match up well enough for us to share our deepest, darkest secrets with each other. It makes me question if my humanity and privacy is safe with them.
Now may I suggest that you think before you duplicate, replicate and spread? Think about the person behind the message. They may be a politician, singer, or actor who has ‘chosen’ to be in the public arena, but they’re still human. Step into their shoes for a second before you press ‘send’.
I feel so privileged to be part of this modern society that is information-driven as I’m the nosiest person alive! My boss and High Heeled mentor, Natalie Maroun, indulges my curiosity with saucy tit-bits from time to time. But when Nats calls me over to share it’s always about something really funny that happened to her. She never ever shares vicious untruths – nor would she ever allow them to be shared within her team.
High Heelers, it’s ok to talk about funny things that were said, done and experienced – it makes us all feel human. But High Heelers, let’s not be the ones who talk about others’ affairs, divorces, scandals and heart-aches. It isn’t kind, you seldom know the truth, and it doesn’t reflect on us appropriately as the beautiful, strong and genuine people that we are.
May I encourage you to be the one who walks away from inappropriate gossip this week? Who tells the ‘rumour queen’ in your office that not only do you not care to hear the story, but that you don’t think it should be shared.
Stand up for High Heelers and stand tall for all this week.
Cheers,
Jo
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