Essentials

Our microwave oven has stopped working. What shall we do?

We use the microwave every day. It’s part of the way we live, yet I’m very aware that microwave ovens weren’t really a thing in Australia until the eighties. By the mid-eighties, Dire Straits and Sting were singing about installing them, and now most homes have one. They’ve become part of our ‘I need it now!!” lifestyle.

Today, Australians woke up to find that a massive range of pages had been wiped by Facebook.

Facebook banned Australian users from accessing news in their feeds this morning, as the government pursues laws that would force it to pay publishers for journalism that appears in people’s feeds.

Facebook’s justification for including non-news pages was that the proposed law has a broad definition of news.

“As the law does not provide clear guidance on the definition of news content, we have taken a broad definition in order to respect the law as drafted,” a statement from the company read.ABC News

Even my blog’s Facebook page is looking pretty empty with all my posts removed and I can’t share links to any of the posts here at RodneyOlsen.net on Facebook.

What shall we do?

Until February 2004, Facebook didn’t even exist and yet today we’re all wondering what’s going to happen without some of the posts and pages we’re used to seeing.

We’ll replace our microwave and once they’ve made their point, I believe that Facebook will restore their services (though I could possibly be wrong on that).

What is really essential? So much of what we take for granted these days didn’t exist even a few decades ago and yet people were able to live quite fulfilling lives.

Don’t get me wrong, I want a microwave, a full Facebook feed, electricity, double brick and tile homes, cars, running water and so many more of the advancements we’ve seen over decades and centuries. I think it was grossly irresponsible of Facebook to wipe out websites indiscriminately, including emergency services in some cases.

We have chosen to elevate so many things as ‘essential’ when they’re not really essential at all. I’ve stood with families in some nations that would consider most of what we call essential as absolute luxuries. Again, I’m not saying we should live without modern advancements, but we need to decide what’s really essential. These days we even call some oils essential. They’re not.

What is really essential for you? Let’s enjoy all the extras but ensure that we’re focusing on the essentials.



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Stop Using Facebook as a Weapon

Do you remember the three essential rules of keeping a mogwai from the eighties movie Gremlins?

1. Do not expose the mogwai to bright lights or sunlight
2. Do not let it get wet
3. Never feed it after midnight

If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know that young Billy didn’t quite stick to the rules and so all sorts of nasty things happened. More and more ‘gremlins’ spawned and set about causing havoc. Some people were killed, many others injured and it took a massive effort from Billy and his friends to bring order back to the town of Kingston Falls.

Do you remember the golden rule from the early days of the internet (which is just as relevant today)?

Don’t feed the trolls

Unfortunately the trolls have been eating very well and have continued to spawn and cause havoc. Where are Billy and his friends when you need them?

In Internet slang, a troll (/?tro?l/, /?tr?l/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion, often for the troll’s amusement. – Wiki

Unfortunately a lot of people seem to be infected with a little bit of ‘troll’.

I see it on social media platforms like Facebook every day. People say things in the public space of the internet that they wouldn’t dare say to someone’s face.

Why is it that we mostly follow mum’s advice to ‘mind your manners’ when we’re with other people yet completely lose all sense of respect for others when we’re online? Why do we feel that we can take the role of judge, jury and executioner when we’re in front of a keyboard or phone screen? How do we think it’s alright to be so Jekyll and Hyde?

We’ve got to stop using Facebook as a weapon.

Before you post a reply to something you’ve seen online, stop and recognise that real people are involved. Real people will read what you write and may suffer real hurt.

It’s OK to disagree with someone. I’m not advocating that we all be saccharin sweet when we have a different point of view but we don’t need an AK-47 to kill a fly. Where’s the nuance in our conversations? Instead of acting like everyone involved in an online conversation is just a fictitious character, only existing in cyberspace, imagine you’re sitting opposite that person at a cafe and think of how you could help them see your point of view. Consider how you can thoughtfully add to a discussion rather than throwing in a grenade and running.

…. and speaking of cafes ….

Another way many people use Facebook and other social media as a weapon is to mercilessly berate businesses such as cafes. Sometimes it may be appropriate to call out bad service but too many times I see people telling the world about their bad experiences before taking matters up with the business involved. I’ve used email and private messaging to voice disappointment a number of times. I’ve had great results by respectfully and privately taking my gripe to someone who can do something about it.

On the other hand, how many of those who use social media to bludgeon businesses who don’t get it right every time actually drop a compliment or two on the public pages of businesses that exceed their expectations? When was the last time you publicly thanked a business online for being good at what they do?

There’s a better way.

I think we can do disagreement better. I think we can disagree without destroying relationship. We can honour others who hold a different point of view. The internet isn’t a competition to be won by vitriol.

We all get to be agents of change in turning the tide against the nastiness. Let’s all resolve to let grace and kindness flood our use of social media. Let’s decide to look out for opportunities to leave compliments on the Facebook pages of businesses that are doing a great job and to handle our complaints privately.

We’re all ‘grown ups’. Let’s start acting that way and stop using Facebook as a weapon.

(And whether you agree or disagree with what I’ve written, let’s have a robust yet respectful discussion about it in the comments section of this post.)



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Unfriendly Workplace Bullying

unfriend

A ruling from the Fair Work Commission means that you might need to be a little more careful next time you decide to purge your Facebook friend list. While you might think that deciding who you ‘friend’ or ‘unfriend’ on social media is a matter of your personal choice, but it could have much wider consequences.

Employers around the country will be scrambling to update their social media policies after a decision by the workplace tribunal found unfriending someone on Facebook can constitute workplace bullying.

Rachael Roberts, an employee of real estate agency VIEW Launceston, went to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in February this year alleging she was being bullied by sales administrator Lisa Bird and her husband James, the business owner. – News.com.au

Of course there’s more to the story than just unfriending someone on Facebook but the act of removing someone from a list of Facebook friends was significant in the commission’s findings.

When I first started using Facebook I would accept most friend requests. I later decided that I needed to maintain a little more privacy and so I created a new public Facebook page to give me the opportunity to interact with many more people while keeping my personal page a little more … personal. (Feel free to connect with me on my public page.)

What’s your policy regarding who you ‘friend’ or ‘unfriend’ on Facebook? I’m sometimes tempted to remove friends who post offensive and ill-informed statements and articles about other people groups, faith, politics and other issues but I generally resist because I know that I don’t have to agree with everything someone believes to be a friend. I also realise that I need to hear what others are thinking, even when I can sometimes feel the anger beginning to rise.

Are you ‘friends’ with your work colleagues? If you friend one or two colleagues do you feel you should friend them all? I’d be really interested in your thoughts.



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If you can’t say anything nice …

kindness

Sometimes it pays to remember some of mum’s old sayings such as ….

“If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything”.

Many people may think a little longer before posting anything to Facebook following a court decision that will cost an Australian couple thousands. The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that even though they didn’t create a poster that was considered defamatory, they added an image of it to Facebook and therefore are liable for legal costs for action taken in New South Wales courts.

A Sydney couple have been left with a $15,000 legal bill after their comments about a neighbour’s dogs on a community social media page saw them sued for defamation in the NSW District Court.

In July last year a series of posters was placed in public areas around Scotland Island, an idyllic island about 30 kilometres north of Sydney in Pittwater accessible only by boat, which is home to about 1000 people. Headlined “Attention Island Residents”, it accused Nader Mohareb of failing to control his “agitated and highly excitable” King Charles spaniels in public places. – SMH

A photo of the poster was added to the community Facebook page. The accused couple deny creating the poster but admit to posting on the page and adding comments.

For some reason, many people using social media feel that they have the right to say whatever they choose about others without facing the consequences. This court action proves otherwise.

I wonder why so many people say things online that they wouldn’t dream of saying face to face.

Scottish author and theologian Rev. John Watson, writing under the name Ian Maclaren is quoted as saying, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” I think he was onto something.

Sometimes we need to say hard things or challenge others, but we need to do it in the right way, at the right time and using the right medium. A public Facebook or Twitter post almost never fulfills those criteria. One of the questions we need to ask ourselves is why we feel the need to say something hard. Is it to help the other person, correct a wrong, or simply because we want to hurt someone else?

[bctt tweet=”Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. – Ian MacLaren”]

We never know what someone else is facing and while that’s never an excuse for ‘bad behaviour’, it’s a good reason to be cautious in the way we deal with others. It shouldn’t be the threat of legal action that causes us to hold back from an explosive tweet or hurtful Facebook update. It should be more about the fact that we’re humans dealing with other humans and knowing our own frailties, refusing to throw stones at others and their frailties.

Just in case you’re still tempted ‘have a go’ using social media, it’s worth considering these facts about social media defamation from Slater and Gordon.

When posting on Facebook or Twitter, take the newspaper test – think of yourself as an editor of a newspaper or media outlet, because you will be just as liable if you defame someone.

Here are five things you should know about social media defamation:

1. In general terms, defamation occurs when a person intentionally spreads information about another person, group of people, or small company that damages their reputation, or can make others think less of them.
2. Defamation is actionable regardless of the medium. A person can be defamed, for example, in print, through photos and on the internet.
3. Defamation cases involving the internet and social media are relatively new, but the same principles apply.
4. A person who did not create the defamatory material, but only shares it (for instance, by “retweeting” a tweet), can also be held found liable guilty of defamation.
5. There are several defences to defamation, including that the statement was true, or that it was an expression of an honest opinion. Consequently, you may be liable for defamation if you spread information which constitutes a hurtful and untrue statement of fact about another person.



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Well … that was a surprise

party

To be honest, I was more surprised than anyone. I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t really think I’d hit 30, let alone 52. Not due to any sickness or disease, rather that in my late teens and early twenties I really couldn’t imagine what could possibly lay beyond the age of 30 for me. I certainly wasn’t going to do anything to hasten my demise, I just had an underdeveloped sense of imagination.

I am more than pleased I got over that idea. I now have more than enough plans and dreams to last me until about 120. Whether I’ll last that long or not is still up for debate.

I reached the age of 52 yesterday. I celebrated the milestone with my amazing wife and incredible children, with birthday greetings from friends and family around the world. I’m truly blessed.

While I’m not particularly thrilled about the toll ageing takes on us all, it’s not all bad. At least the fact that my eyes don’t work as well as they once did means I can’t see how old I’m looking.

You may have noticed that I don’t get to write here as much as I once did. I’d like to say that I’ll put up more posts in the coming days and weeks but while that’s my desire, life often gets in the way and that’s not such a bad thing. I do hope to write here a lot more because I enjoy it so much but we’ll wait and see what happens.

If you’d like to find a way to say happy birthday for yesterday from wherever you are in the world here are a few suggestions.

Like My Blog On Facebook

I’d love to stay connected with you on Facebook. This blog, RodneyOlsen.net, has a public Facebook page that makes staying in touch really easy. It’s simply just a place to share stuff on Facebook such as blog posts and more regular posts. Just head to the Facebook page and click ‘like’.

Share My Posts

Whenever you drop in to my blog, please, please, please feel free to use the little buttons at the bottom of each post to share my posts via Facebook, Twitter or whatever other service you’re using. Hey, you can even click the email button to send a copy to your friends. When you share my posts in any, or all, of these ways, more people visit my blog and I smile a lot. Really I do. If you use StumbleUpon I would especially love you to Stumble my posts. You’re more than welcome to spend a few minutes going back over my posts and sharing a few.

Comment On My Posts

Don’t just think it …. say it. I love it when people leave comments on my posts. Your comments make me smile big time.

These few things are a real encouragement for me to keep blogging so if you’ve got a few moments I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.



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