I read on the news somewhere recently that an employee was suing Facebook because she was experiencing PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from monitoring content on the site. Oh yes, they have monitors in place. Got to, these days.
The monitor's job (‘content moderator’ to be exact) is to scroll through content and make the call on what is socially unacceptable, morally abhorrent, or downright f___ed up crazy and delete it, block it, deny it the ability to be presented on their platform.
Now I can just imagine what is out there but there are as many web pages right now as grains of sand in the Sahara so who's got the time or the manpower to do this? Behemoth's like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. You Tube.
Back in the old days they had censors but their job was easy compared to the daunting task modern day content moderators have been given to do.
From a job perspective, it's physically easy to filter out the obviously deranged, that's just a 'Delete" and on you scroll. But I'm sure it has to have, for some, a devastating psychological effect, seeing the unmentionable and having to filter it out for us (Thank God!), which is on the level of what cops and paramedics and soldiers do for us and that’s why we love ‘em so. I’m not going to diminish that sort of sacrifice one bit ‘cuz that is some serious ugliness that those folks have to deal with.
Fashion Week in Milan
rawpixel- Unsplash.com
But that’s one level, one that is rarely seen by the average user. What is more commonly the case, and probably numbs the skulls of the content moderators a lot, is to have to determine exactly what passes for ‘good’ and ‘bad’ because that is a blurry line, far as I can ascertain. I mean, if you want to post hundreds of pictures of your grandkids doing who knows what, is that considered offensive?
And if you detail your everyday activities as if you were Channel One and the world was breathlessly watching, is that considered overly self aggrandizing?
How about your continuous taking up of social causes and whipping up support for same via galvanizing videos and strident music?
Or, when you carefully craft a visual so as to capcha! the audience's attention enough so that they end up wasting a full three seconds of their day before they skip it and move on? I know that doesn't sound like much, but some of these social media sites have millions of users!
Think of the wretched moderators sitting in front of their screens, just starting their shifts, and the latest lengthy narrative comes on about you, your life, and what's taking place within it. They're on the job and can't look away! Even worse is, they might find something questionable in there and be forced to peruse your timeline further! You don't think they take that home with them? They do!
Just a hazard of the job, something management can easily downplay, compared to the other stuff the moderators might have to look at. But how about pet videos? Oscar and Grumpy and Mitsy? Moderators might bond with them, and follow their timelines, for I'm sure such 'characters' have timelines of their own.
How about ‘Call To Action’s? I counted six before I had three sips of coffee this morning, and some of them were pretty disturbing and/or enraging!
Travel. Do they have to put that Kryptonite in there? I'm sure the moderators viewing that wish they were on that sunny beach, or whiling carefree days away on some lengthy cruise, or part of that gang of fun loving goofs on a meticulously documented Go Pro road trip.
By the time the shift is over, these poor folks are gonna need counseling! Does Facebook provide that? Apparently not enough for the woman in question. Haunted by what she's seen, off she goes, home, wherever that is, those many screens and scenes still playing in her mind. And that might have been after just one day!
No way, man. No way. No matter what the pay is, I would strongly urge those of weaker constitution to stay away from this. And if you think you got the right stuff maybe you should check up on that bro because you just might not know what you're getting into. Exposure to too much social media comes at a cost to my peace of mind, I do know that, and it's probably gonna exact the same toll on you. Maybe it's better that we didn’t know everything about our peers that has transpired since yesterday or just last week and if we come across 'em again way down the line, say, at a high school or college reunion, we could just catch up by saying "Howzit?" and they would reply "Been busy" and that would be that. We could at least walk away with some satisfaction, that coming from feeling our life has (maybe) been as good as theirs.
Not to say anybody's comparing, or keeping score. No, no, no. Facebook is where friends meet. Where they check up on each other, and keep in touch. Right?
Originally, yes, that was purported to be its purpose for being (I saw the movie) but over time the thing has become a fishbowl where all therein are on display. Company claims to have filters in place but....
...you know how that goes.
"Resistance is futile" though, unless you live in a cave, but even if you do some explorer from the Discovery Channel is going to find you and you're gonna have a social media account whether you know how to read or not!
But, take solace in the fact that posts of grandkids and pets and the rest will keep on inundating these sites with content. Moderators will keep on filtering, and life will go on, and on, and.....
......Oh, where was I there? I'm afraid I strayed off topic a bit! People that go off on tangents have to be the most maddening thing for a moderator to track, because then they might have to check up on that. Poor things!
(For moderators in need of new careers-there's always Craigslist! You probably won't see a stellar job in there but it's better than (and, strangely, this fits) ‘the Russian Front’!)