Social Media, Accessibility and Online Criticism

It’s been ten plus years since social media exploded into our lives. These days it is common to read articles that tell us about the many ways social media is bad for us, ruining our lives, or causing the deterioration of our relationships. As a result it’s common to see various influencers and writers lauded for taking a extended social media fast or even permanently deleting social media altogether. Unfortunately, these insufficient criticisms of our web-based culture, rarely consider the perspective of marginalized populations who are isolated from the larger public sphere.

Able-bodied people experience social media as something that prevents them from going out into the world and connecting with other people. They then extrapolate from their own experience and assume that social media has the same impact on everyone else. In short, the logic is as follows: “when I am on social media, I am not connecting with my friends and family offline. Spending time with people I love offline is inherently a social good. As such, social media must be bad for me, and bad for everyone else.” In short, it assumes that time spent with people you love is at it’s most genuine when it happens offline. That assumption is then extended to the belief that spending less time on social media is also good. But the question we often fail to ask is this: who do we hurt when we constantly denigrate the internet, social media, and the relationships built in those spaces?

What is rarely considered in our conversations about social media as a “social illness,” is what role social media plays in the lives of disabled communities. However, the failure to consider disabled communities, does not make their realities any less genuine. For many  disabled folks social media often represents their ability to go into the world. Social media can, and often does, facilitate their daily interaction[s] with friends and loved ones.

During the first few days of my recent hospitalization, roommate #1 and #2 were both elders who seemed to struggle with loneliness. I distinctly remember thinking to myself:

“Wow, I’ve been here for 3+ days. If I didn’t have social media to communicate with my friends and family, I wouldn’t be able to see what is going on in the world, or share my thoughts, hopes and dreams. Without my smartphone I would probably be incredibly lonely as well. Even though I am stuck in this hospital bed and can barely walk, I can still participate in the world.”

On days when nobody came to visit I was able to tell my friends and family how I was feeling, and I could tell them about my experience with the doctors, with my illness, and with the cane that is now a part of my life.

Social media was not and is not some nasty habit that prevents me from introspection or connecting with the folks I love. Social media is a world where my disabled body has full access to everybody I know and love, no matter where they are in the world. Even if they live in a fourth floor walk up, even if they are a 8hr flight away, even if they live somewhere that requires a 10min hike to get into their house… I can visit and be present at all times. At the end of the day, not being shut out because of accessibility issues, makes social media the only truly equitable space in my life.

peace.

a