So as it would turn out, social media actually can be pretty damn
social. Go figure. It’s funny though, because social media has a
reputation for not quite living up to its name, for isolating people
from each other instead of bringing them closer together. There have
been a lot of studies on this, and they seem inclined to agree. I’m not
going to argue the results of these studies, but I am going to argue
that the assertion of social media isolating people from each other is
far from universal.
I am Autistic. Due to my general aversion to social media (I’m
already distracted too much), it took me a long time to download a
certain platform known as Reddit, but when I did, I found that the
benefits were not at all limited to memes (though I do highly enjoy
memes). I quickly discovered that there are multiple subreddits –
individual communities on Reddit – for Autists.Through subreddits like
r/autism, r/aspergers, and even r/aspiememes, I have finally found a
group of people that I can wholeheartedly relate to, a group of people
with whom I can interact in a way that feels natural. Yet more crucially
in my opinion, it is through these subreddits that I have discovered
that certain traits of mine that I thought was commonplace among
everyone, are actually unique to Autists. I thought everyone just
naturally walked on the balls of their feet constantly; I thought
everyone could hear that irritating ringing noise that comes from
extension leads late at night, right next to my bed in my case (I found
out from a friendly commenter on r/aspiememes that I’m hearing the
transformer, the thing that converts DC electricity to AC, explaining
why it’s so much louder at night when there’s more power being used).
It is thanks to Reddit that I have been able to connect with a
community of people, and though the internet may cause echo-chambers to
form, it also let’s people meet who would never have met otherwise.
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