Staying quiet on social networks, and writers...

If I have learned one thing from Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and many other social networks over the years, it is this: "Hold your tongue, lest others happily remove it from your mouth."

People tend to be very pushy when it comes to talking about their opinions, but on most public social networks, a vocal minority can cause a mob to swarm you for misspeaking even slightly. I witnessed this a few days ago, when someone in the tech industry "misspoke" by giving an opinion that went against the mainstream opinion. They were effectively run off of Twitter, as their user account is now gone.

Even I have had this happen, where I mentioned that I simply did not like something, and when I did not "justify" my opinion, others attacked me for it. Even once I gave my full opinion, it was not enough, as they continued to launch personal attacks, even after I blocked them.

People on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr can be relentless, almost sociopathic to some degree. It actually makes me wonder if social networks may become the next leading cause of depression and anxiety in people.

---

On another topic, something I have witness among some fiction writers as of late is the idea that you must avoid certain aspects that may make a story seem passe to others, such as specific tropes, or the aspect of "Chekhov's gun".

Something (I do not know what) struck me as a pattern, and I swiftly went to read some of their material. It was well-written prose, but much of it felt very canned, as if made simply to entertain others. To put it in rather...unusual terms, it felt as if they were focused more on keeping to "industry standards", rather than placing their hearts into their stories. They were writing specifically for an audience, rather than for themselves.

I had to laugh at myself at that point, as it felt rather familiar. In fact, it felt as if I were looking into the web design world right now, with everyone trying to either establish or follow "industry standards" through JavaScript frameworks and design principals. It was something I was once guilty of.

In both situations, these people are trying to "play it safe", to use a human term. They are foregoing much of their artistic side to make very dull, canned products that can be enjoyed by the mainstream, and nothing more. Little do they know, "playing it safe" will dull their artistic skills in some areas, sharpening them only where these standards come into play.

Personally, I find that such canned products are either dull, ugly, or one of many other negative descriptions, but to each their own.