Social Media and a Love of Music

Hi Everyone

This week, I read that one of our young tennis stars was affected in a negative way by some of the posts she had seen on her social media site. A couple of days later I read that Andy Murray our most famous tennis star, who has now retired, was trying to ensure that his children were protected from social media even though all of them were well below the age when children are supposedly allowed to have access to social media. Then the next day we watched an hour long interview with a BBC horse racing commentator whose wife and two of his daughters had been murdered by the ex boyfriend of one of his daughters. When she ended the relationship, he plotted to kill them even though the family had no inkling that he was capable of such an act. In his case, he had been influenced by sites and people he had discovered on the internet. Like most people, I read about local young sportsmen on Facebook and I am appalled by some of the derogatory and insulting comments made by people who, in most cases have no idea what they are talking about or know anything about the people that their insults are aimed at. I occasionally make a comment on Facebook but only to thank or show appreciation for something someone has done. Governments keep saying that they are aware of the problems and promise to force social media companies to police their sites more rigorously. I just hope that people on the receiving end of this abuse are just not tempted to read it. 

This weekend, 200,000 people have descended on a farm at Glastonbury for the almost annual music festival, where they will spend up to five days in tents and mud if the weather fails - hopefully not this year. For this extravaganza, each person there will have paid £370 plus whatever they need to buy while they are there. Back in 1982 I went to a two day outdoor jazz festival with one of my Rubbish readers and a tent, of course. During those two dry sunny days, we enjoyed  an amazing array of jazz royalty and although it is now over fifty years later, I could name almost every band, group and solo artist there and the order they played in, so I understand why so many have a memorable experience at Gastonbury and why they return year after year. I have never heard or can recognise most of the artists of today in the same way that they have no experience of my jazz heroes of 1982, unless, of course, they find them on YouTube. The big difference is that back then we were there with about 20,000 fans, not 200.000, with a cost of no more than £30 rather than £370. How times and music have changed. 

I find it hard to imagine how the Senior Partner would have coped with social media in the days of the Fruit, Vegetable, Flower, Game and Lolly shop. I can see posts like “she sold me a dinged apple”, “their two pence lollies are a rip off” or worse still “I would rather be served by the Junior Partner”. One thing is certain, however, whatever negative comments were posted by dissatisfied customers, it would always be the Junior Partner’s fault. 

Just a Thought : 

Some people spend so much time on social media that they forget what real people look like.

Scientists have discovered that the optimum age to safely start using social media is 123. 

Don’t worry, be happy, it’s a music festival.

Brian