Expecting somebody to “Like you” is becoming a easy trap for us these days. If I am eating some food, driving a cycle, going out with kids, drinking beer with friends, everything around me is “Likeable”. Thanks to the omnipresent social media which does not seem to have a “Unlike” option for anything I do- or I pretend to do.
On a macro level there is nothing wrong in somebody “Liking” what somebody else is doing. I would like if my friends are having fun, or spending some time with family, or exercising etc. All good things and nothing “not likeable” in it.
Where I see this as a dangerous trend is that this ‘Like mania” has a potential to change the expectations of youth, that everything they do – needs to be liked. Smaller acts like explained above are like worthy and hence deserves likes, what if somebody is doing things which needs to be criticised or abhorred and not “liked”. What choices does social media offer you for this. Un fortunately one does not have a “Unlike” button and hence imbalances the perception of people who are so hooked on to living by the social media.
Some might say that you can comment on something which one doesn’t like and hence there is a balancing mechanism out there. I partially disagree to it. Writing is far more complex and difficult task as compared to simply clicking “Like”. It needs a lot of structuring of thoughts and articulation to write things – expressing by actions like “Like” is very simple. this choice between simple “Like” and difficult “comment” shifts the balance in favour of things being appreciated all the time.
I believe that media has a role to play in structuring people’s behaviour and social media like FaceBook should be open to create space for unlike as much as likes.
You are free to unlike this article, unfortunately even wordpress does both have a unlike option.