Social Media and the Age of Microcomplaints (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader writes: "Name an inequity, and it is highly likely that social media has helped call meaningful attention to it, if not started and hashtagged a movement," claims the NY Times. The article suggests people are much more willing to complain about meaningless issues now that they have a public audience. "The smartphone in particular has facilitated extemporaneous caviling. Irritations that the passage of time may have soothed can, in the moment, be immediately expressed to an audience." Further, an aggrieved social media post can lend more weight to a minor problem than the author ever intended, or than it deserved. An offhand tweet can lead to a nationwide media frenzy as people who aren't connected with a complaint's author lack perspective and emotional context for it.

Comments

Too many self-absorbed people

[RogueWarrior65]

There are far to many people walking around in a fog of narcissism thinking that everything is about them. Take, for example, that pretentious asshat that is Bono commenting on the Paris attacks saying that the terrorists were targeting music. News flash, Bono, this isn't about you.

Re:Too many self-absorbed people

[thedonger]

There are too many news articles about morons getting their panties in a twist over a Christmas sweater or a red cup.

There are far more "news" articles about people getting the panties in a twist over a Christmas cup than there are people getting their panties in a twist over a Christmas cup.

Re:Too many self-absorbed people

[AmiMoJo]

TFA is flamebait. The second link is about how the media whips it up into a frenzy, not individuals. The first link is just the standard attack on millennials, who instead of complaining to their spouses complain on Twitter. The worst part is that the millennials actually have the right idea, because they get results. Companies hate having their support issues done in public, because they can't just fob the customer off or ignore them.