© Carla Bicomong
We launched the candles. The tribute was organized by telephone and mail so it was really hard, but we did it.
“Hi. I’m Jill.” She startled me. I’d been listening to other people talk, but I assumed they were already friends, I mean real life friends.
“I’m Dave. Pleased to meet you.” We shook hands and I started to blush. “Sorry. I’m a little nervous.”
“Me too.”
“Everyone’s so much nicer than I expected.”
“That’s the point. twitter, Facebook, Instagram turned us all into opinionated monsters.”
“But now that we destroyed them, there’ll be peace between people.”
I wrote this for the Rochelle Wisoff-Fields flash fiction challenge. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 100 words long. My word count is 97.
After yesterday’s “challenging” series of conversations on twitter (which admittedly, I asked for), I decided that the people I briefly sparred with are most likely much nicer human beings in person than they are on twitter. Libertarian commentator and Orthodox Jew Ben Shapiro even admitted that he’s more snarky on twitter than he is in real life. I suppose it’s the nature of the beast, the “beast” being social media, and particularly twitter.
So in my wee fantasy, I killed twitter, Facebook, and the rest of them. Would that bring peace to mankind? Probably not, but it wouldn’t be so easy to insult and slander people we don’t know if they didn’t exist.
To read other stories based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.
poweredbyrobots.com 
Were it only so
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The internet and social media are what television used to be…addictive.
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I feel your pain. I used to argue with people online (before fb et al., on discussion forums) and it burnt me out. I think if it were less anonymous, there’d be less hatred. Timely story.
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Thanks, and I agree. Even if people tweet using their own names, somehow they feel more isolated or protected than if they were having the same conversation in real life.
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I have always believed that we all need our social elbow-space.
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Different people have different “bubbles” around them. A lot of the time, mine’s the size of a football field. 😉
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A lovely story and idea. People really do seem harsher when when hidden by the bulwark of anonymity.
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True dat.
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Not peace perhaps, but I do think it would make for a better world. If you had to stand face-to-face with the person you were insulting, a lot of people would learn it’s not so easy to spout hatred…
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Unless that mentality has been successfully transferred to all social interactions.
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I like to think not, or not yet anyway.
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Wait! Instagram toooooo?
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It all goes. 😀
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Reminds me of the reconciliation processes some countries went through (south africa i think was one example), after long years of atrocities. In the end you still have to learn to live with people, whether or not you agree.
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Oh boy, how can I help? Is it too late?
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Let peace prevail.
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Maybe someday.
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My husband thinks all social media is the work of the devil – until I show him photos of distant grandchildren.
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Funny how that works out. I’m lucky to have my grandkids just a few miles away. They were over for a couple of hours yesterday while their Dad had to run some errands.
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I’d be lost without Twitter! Although I might gain a little more writing time. Interesting take!
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Thanks, Jennifer. Twitter is a good platform for a lot of things, but if you run afoul of the wrong people, they can get pretty nasty.
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Very true! I tend to stick to a bubble of writers and book lovers so I don’t see too much of it. But when I do come across it it’s pretty awful.
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I completely get your concept of the bubbles around you. Maybe Facebook et al are just like fire – a good servant but a bad master. Sermon over 🙂
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Thanks, Jilly.
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Dear James,
Interesting concept. Although, despite the mishegoss of social media, I’ve found it to be a friendly place. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Depends on who you encounter. There are sharks in deep water.
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Excellent story, James. I particularly enjoyed your opening paragraph!
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Thanks, Penny.
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I think the supposed anonymity of the web gives some people permission to be arseholes… unfortunately. Though I have had mostly positive exchanges.
And yes, I do believe people are better behaved face-to-face…
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I agree, James. Social media started as a means for us to connect. Now, it tears us apart, and in some cases, keeps us apart. Timely interpretation.
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Thanks, Jan.
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Very important story.
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Thank you. I think so, too.
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One could only hope… Great write this week.
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Thanks, Jelli.
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i have a co-worker who happily announced that finally he and his finally have started talking. Not face-to-face, but via text. i’m sure things will get better when social media disappears from the face of the earth. 🙂
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It’s a double-edged sword, because emails and facebook are both good ways to keep in contact with distant relatives. I find out a lot about what my brother is up to on Facebook.
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Very topical. Great write.
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Thanks.
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Impactful story and thought-provoking too. I’ve never gone the Twitter route, but I do enjoy email and a few other platforms. I remember living in China in the pre-internet days, the turnaround for a letter to/from home was a month or two. I know I’m aging myself (haha). Face-to-face is always better though, when possible. We tend to be a better version of ourselves in person.
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I agree. Thanks, Brenda.
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So many sides to this.
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Yes, there are, Dawn. Thanks.
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