As much as I feel like social media has become fractionally useful relative to its earlier days, I kind of like that people are at least a little more willing to share their struggles and problems. I'm not talking about the people who complain about traffic and their jobs every single day, I mean the people who share a health problem or parenting challenges or other human obstacles. I feel like this makes it more possible to feel "normal" relative to others.
There is a side effect of this that can be annoying. I know that we all mean well, but please, don't feel like you need to fix something or provide a solution every time that someone shares some challenging situation. I can't speak for anyone else, but I think it's reasonable to assume that a lot of the time, people just want to be heard. Just listen. That's all. Listen.
I saw someone talk about a health problem recently on the socials, and a dozen people suggested a dozen remedies that had nothing to do with the condition. That pushes all of my buttons... no critical thinking, no expression of empathy, and worst of all, no actual listening. I used to do this a lot, but hopefully I don't now.
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