Election Fallout on Social Media

Friends unfriending friends; caustic words exchanged. Bad feelings abound on social media following the divisive presidential election. The question is, did you change your social media habits after the election of Donald Trump?

Thanks to those who responded!

I did a detox from social media for a few weeks. This is a regular occurrence for me and I did it intentionally after the election. Some people have revealed how they really think and I'm sure that I have done the same. I would rather have people be upfront then to be any other way about posting.

I also don't take social media seriously because many of us can be bold behind a keyboard yet silent when the time really comes to speak out. I haven't unfriended anyone and I have plenty of people with different political views intentionally. I may not agree but I can always keep scrolling and not engage. I try not to let social media control my emotions about what to respond to. I know people have unfriended me and it doesn't bother me. That is their choice and perogative. If you comment on my page, just be respectful I have no problems deleting comments that are inappropriate.

Worry looks down, sorrow looks around but Faith looks up!

-- Derek Shackleford

I am 65 years old, female, life-long Democrat. I've had a facebook page for a couple years, but often go 3 months without looking at it, and probably post about that often. I found it too full of baby photos and dog videos and links to jokes; there were too many people who posted every day. I only had about 40 friends, but there was too much stuff and too much trivial stuff.

Since the election I've been on it almost every day. It has been comforting to know I wasn't alone in my horror, and although the dog videos are still there, there are so many more links to thoughtful articles, petitions, etc. I found that I knew the affiliation of a few close friends, but I didn't know who around me at work and elsewhere might be a Trump supporter, so I opted to say nothing. The people on facebook sharing my views and talking about what kinds of actions of action we could take has helped me keep thinking about what to DO - and I don't want to stop being vigilant. Since the election I've attended a meeting about MD bail reform held an hour away (I followed up with a letter to the editor of my local paper); attended an multi-faith Thanksgiving worship service in my town; and gotten a letter on racism published in the Washington Post. Without the feeling of belonging to a larger community of concerned people that I got from facebook, I'm not sure I would have done a quarter of that (of course, it isn't much, to be sure.)

--Anne Robertson Buttenheim

First, did I change the way I use Facebook post election? Yes. I have largely kept all things political off of Facebook because I feel it causes anxiety and confrontation that I don't wish to have in this venue. However, the hate speech and hate crimes following Donald Trump's election has been feverish and growing, and the appointments of white supremacists to major cabinet positions is unacceptable. This isn't about politics for me anymore, it's about a moral obligation o make sure if people aren't seeing it, they are turning a willfully blind eye to it. In addition, I'm posting less about everything in general. I am more close with my kids. I've made most pictures with their likeness viewable by friends only and am keeping their faces out of my public viewing (profile, cover photos). That's just an uneasy feeling I have, maybe unrelated to the election. But part of me almost feels like those who voted for Donald (my parents included) might not gt the privilege of seeing my kids as much as they used to. I am using social media more as a tool for aggregation, alerting likeminded folks to things happening and having likeminded people alert me. The secret group I formed years ago tripled in size basically overnight. I love this connection, but after immersing myself in this and reading everything possible for a week and a half, I am finding myself needing to pull back. It's taking too much of my time, is only increasing my anxiety, and get to a point where it is futile. Meaning, I need to shut my laptop and get off my ass if I'm going to make a difference. Trading news on Facebook only goes so far. I am giving myself the last week and a half as a buffer, because I've been in shock, and grieving the nation that elected Donald Trump, grieving the cabinet he's putting together, and then finally grieving the fact that Hillary Clinton, an overly qualified and caring career politician, lost. So, I need to pull back on that front.

--Reagan Haynes

I did share a link about swastika's being pained to a school in Montgomery County. I shared a link from Senator Van Hollen on the swastika graffiti. Well, my neighbor, a friend on Facebook and a staunch Republican commented in lengthy posts trying to justify the swastika, by attacking liberals. I commented with a very short post, saying if you are Jewish a swastika is a frightening symbol and has nothing to do with the left or the right, liberal or conservative. She slammed right back. So I stopped engaging and refused to comment any longer. Sometimes silence says it all.

--Anonymous

I find that I hide all posts politically based, ALL. Except for a couple of comic relief ones that I find uplifting. I feel inundated on tv, newspapers and nearly all aspects of entertainment so when I am scrolling through Facebook I really don't want to see people's opinions, hatred, fear, smugness....fill in the blank...when it comes to politics. It only feeds the deep sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I see that people are still NOT LISTENING to one another, only pointing fingers, blame, anger at who one voted for...and usually without an ounce of respect for each other.

--Heather DeTroeyer

I unfriended my FB Trump supporting friends because it does not matter to them what he says or does.

--Ellen Byrne

Yes, I have changed my social media since the election (and really during the election time, too). I haven't "unfriended" anyone but I stopped following lots of people. This election has caused me to lose any tolerance for hate speech. I see it - I delete it (or "unfollow"). Life it too short to tolerate yuck on one's FB page. I don't tweet.

--Anonymous

I had to make changes, and I sincerely didn't want to. I know that I have friends out there in Facebook land and the real world that are sincerely hurting. I watched as folks tries to use legality, logic, and reason to comfort them, to realize that however much you do not like Trump that there are multiple safeguards in a Constitutional Republic that prevent rounding up gays, minorities, and Muslims (well sort of, there's that pesky FDR Executive Order interning Japanese-Americans without due process, but surely that can be overturned based on the Civil Rights Act). The first safeguard is Congress. The second safeguard is the Judiciary. The third safeguard is a mandate to not follow illegal orders. The fourth safeguard is the Second Amendment.

I tried once to express this on a thread posted by a good friend of mine. I was called a bigot, racist, and homophobe. Ironic, considering this good friend is a transgender polyamorous pansexual. So after that I just shut up. People are not willing to hear the facts, they want to live in emotion-land and wallow in pity. Why? Beats me. Perhaps the people scared of a Trump presidency just realized that after 8 years of unchecked Executive Power under Obama, that Trump can actually do all the things they are afraid of? Perhaps they are afraid that the Second Amendment ammosexual insurrectionists (as I have been called on many occasions) might have been right, that firearms are the only protection against a tyrannical government and that tyranny can come to the shores of the US? Whatever it may be, I stopped trying to console them. If they wanted to be consoled, they would call me.

--Eric Beasley