"Everyone is meant to watch, most of all ourselves"
Maireid Sullivan, 2013- (Why I joined Facebook, April 22, 2013)

Thanks to social media for strengthening the 'web of life' for people who want to be more proactive: Speaking truth to power!
In April 2013, a close friend convinced me to join Facebook when she said, "It's your natural habitat“ - a vast and potentially liberating virtual community. While Facebook has often been described as “Short Attention Span Theatre” it can be credited with often allowing people to share their light online more fluently than in the three-dimensional world. As with all ‘communication technology’, it's what we do with it that counts, especially when compared with impacts of propaganda forces behind corporate news outlets.

For example, Tim Dickinson’s report in Rolling Stone (June 9, 2011),
How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory:The onetime Nixon operative has created the most profitable propaganda machine in history.
On Roger Ailes (1940-2017), the man who advised every American Republican president since Richard Nixon.
Quote: "He was the premier guy in the business," says former Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins. "He was our Michaelangelo."
... The network, at it's core, is a giant soundstage created to mimic the look and feel of a news operation, cleverly camouflaging political propaganda as independent journalism."

On Social "Netiquette"
As a young woman living in Dublin, Ireland, I gained an important insight while reading John Montague's prose poetry book, A Slow Dance (1975, OUP)— where he describes a man dancing passionately— within full force of the elements: thunder, lightning, quaking earth— culminating in the line: "No one was meant to watch, least of all himself." 
I saw these words as a description of pre-conscious humanity— that evolution represents 'consciousness' —when everyone is meant to watch, most of all ourselves. 

No one person has the last word on anything. Everyone comes to knowledge from the perspective of personal life experience. We're constantly being challenged to think more carefully—more deeply—to reach creative insights—dreams, stories, strategies and reality overlapping—the euphoria of success. I recently came across the psychiatric term, 'Personal Delusional System' which applies to the capacity we all have to think, basically, what ever we choose to think. Obviously, we run into conflict when we disparage each other's perspective. Therefore, while debate and argument can be productive, it would be folly to try to justify blatant criticism of someone for not 'possessing' the same information that someone else has garnered over a lifetime. That would be a challenge to the individual's right to exercise Free Will, in FREEDOM —a challenge to personal sovereignty.

Since then, I've gauged developments in communications technology by that insight— as the potential of digital technology to help us to comprehend our 'psychic' capacity to communicate and learn: We are growing in consciousness on the back of digital technology— made freely accessible to the public domain by public-spirited people such as Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the developer of html and http, aka the World Wide Web, who believes that by uploading more "raw data" we can prevent the enclosure of the internet 'commons': "What do we want? Raw data!" – Sir Tim Berners-Lee, 2009
See his TED.com lecture transcript here

Still, 'monopoly' forces are 'at play' to enclose and monopolise the internet too, and so we must help each other identify the on-going agendas that enclose or inclose our hard-won freedoms.

I am not advocating an 'us vs them' approach. I'm suggesting that by coming to understand these processes and motives we are better able to stay healthy.

In 'going forward' we need to understand what is behind us —what has built us —where our foundations lie.

"The immigrant's heart marches to the beat of two quite different drums, one from the old homeland and the other from the new. The immigrant has to bridge these two worlds, living comfortably in the new and bringing the best of his or her ancient identity and heritage to bear on life in an adopted homeland." - Former Irish President Mary McAleese, 2008.

The dream of a free society is based on the idea that all people are equal in common law —that each has a right to exercise free will and free speech within the law, and that government has a role in acknowledging and supporting the personal sovereignty of every citizen. Instead, we find ourselves turning a blind eye to problems that will not go away. The good news is that there are creative solutions!

I'm dreaming of a future when 'good governance' will provide access to digital 'domains' as part of public services & infrastructure. Imagine the benefits of earnings going into 'consolidated revenues' instead of private hands. . .
People are worried about both government and non-government intelligence organisations surveying private information. This is inevitable because it is in our nature to want to know 'everything' we can, but that works both ways. What is important is how we relate to the idea that 'everyone is meant to watch, most of all ourselves'.

“Man is at heart a dancer, also, and the time will come in a freer world when the gift of hearing music from the mouth of nature
will not be considered as superstition or spiritualism,
but a scientific truth based on our keener understanding
of the laws of vibrations, harmonics, magnetisms, rhythm
produced by the contradicting clashes in the evolution of all things.”
– Woody Guthrie (1912-1967)

The increasing take-up of the online activity by people over 55 has shown matching rate of decline in dementia. These are the people who should 'know the ropes' and shouldn't be afraid to speak their minds with some authority. Most importantly, they have the time to become active - and they vote.

January 2020
Harvard University
Social media use can be positive for mental health and well-being
Three questions, three answers
Mesfin Awoke Bekalu, research scientist in the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, discusses a new study he co-authored on associations between social media use and mental health and well-being.
What is healthy vs. potentially problematic social media use?
…
We found that routine social media use—for example, using social media as part of everyday routine and responding to content that others share—is positively associated with all three health outcomes. Emotional connection to social media—for example, checking apps excessively out of fear of missing out, being disappointed about or feeling disconnected from friends when not logged into social media—is negatively associated with all three outcomes.

In more general terms, these findings suggest that as long as we are mindful users, routine use may not in itself be a problem. Indeed, it could be beneficial…. >>>more

December 2016
Melbourne and Monash Universities
IS SOCIAL MEDIA GOOD FOR YOU?
Using social media can have benefits for your mental health, but only if you use it in the right way
By Dr Peggy Kern, University of Melbourne
8 December 2016
…
For many, social media appears to have a range of benefits. It provides a way for many of us to connect with others. We can support other people and feel supported by them. It may even be a useful way for those with social anxiety and those who have a hard time with face-to-face interactions to connect with others.
But for those with depression or anxiety, it could make their symptoms worse…. >>>more