Made Contact!

In my last post, I explained how I was trying to make contact with people who are apart of the community I am studying. I am studying the LGBT community in regards to social media. So I made a few comments to see if I could  get anyone to talk to me.

My post included the following, “Hello friends I am a university student learning about the magnitude of social media, and I have a question for you all. What does it mean to you as a member and/or ally of the LGBTQ community to be able to connect with others on social media?” I was happy to have a few responses. They are as follows: “It is a lot easier to find people like you and people who share the same views. Plus you honestly learn a lot more from other people’s point of views,” another responded, “I feel more accepted when people accept who I am and not judge me based on my gender or who I like. Sharing experiences makes you feel much happier and less alone too,” another wrote, “It’s comforting to know you are not alone,” another person agreed with the last statement replaying, “Yesss,” still another said “It’s really nice to know that there are others who are like you. You are not alone. They accept you, unlike some members of my sh*^% family,” and the last response was someone who answered my question and the user’s question, “It stopped me from killing myself the other say it honestly means so much to me seeing other people’s journeys and how far they’ve come and being able to connect and question and find out things and discover yourself-Hunter (oh and SKITTLES).”

I thanked all these people, not alone because they commented back, but because they were so honest. What I found out was that social media helps LGBTQ members and/or allies from feeling alone. That is the over arching theme of all the comments I’ve had. One specifically said, “It’s comforting knowing you are not alone.” Aloneness or feeling isolated is highly evident (I don’t want to say proven) in the studying I have done. Social media is used as a gateway to connect these people with others just like them, free of judgement, compassionate, understanding, humorous, and liberating. It is used in the pursuit of self discovery, and answers. It lifts them up and brings them together because sometimes they are not so lucky; and their families don’t support them with who they are, they do feel alone, they do feel hopeless, they do want to kill themselves. That is when social media comes in and they are able to connect, truly connect with others who understand all that they are going through.