My colleague and good friend Chris Duque has a phrase I love, #TechnologyDoneRight. He refers to it when we see the kindness and good things that social media and tech has done for many people and kids.
Recently I wrote about how teens reached out with their digital wisdom in helping others. Then we have the organization #iCanHelp Delete Negativity on Social Media which is constantly lifting people up online with simple words of kindness.
There isn’t a shortage of good people in our cyber-world, but we know it can get tainted when they are interrupted by Internet trolls and cyberbullies.
On July 8th, 2015 my day went dark. I lost my best friend. The old cliché, dogs are a man’s best friend, is absolutely true. Anyone with a pet will most likely concur.
Tybee, my golden retriever of 13 years, left this earth last Wednesday. It was one of the saddest days I have faced in a long time.
Every time I saw someone post on Facebook about a loss of a pet or a person, I would always send my condolences. My thought is, it only takes five-seconds to let someone know you are thinking of them in their time of grief.
But it wasn’t until I had to actually post my own status update that I realized just how important that note of sympathy is.
Facebook has a way of making you feel like a rock-star on your birthday and when you face difficult times, it can the best form of therapy by lifting you up through cyber-friendships of genuine heartfelt messages.
The fact is many of us have virtual friends on Facebook we have never meet, and probably never will meet (unless you are Tanja Hollander) however feel we probably know better than most of our blood relatives.
Facebook notifies us on a daily basis when everyone’s birthday is. We drop them a quick note…. “Happy Birthday… Have a fabulous day!” They LIKE the comment and sometimes even respond back with a big THANK YOU!
Let me share with you how important a caring comment on a status update is when you lose a pet (or I would imagine a person).
I was simply overwhelmed with the out pour of support, cyber-hugs, hearts, love, prayers, several copies of the Rainbow Bridge poem, private messages of beautiful notes, people shared with me how they looked forward to pictures and videos I would post of Tybee’s beach days (which I had no idea what an impact he had made on so many digital lives) and more….. I have been sent cards, flowers and one person is even making me a memory box….. These are Facebook friends….. THANK YOU — everyone… It is #TechnologyDoneRight.
The beach was Tybee’s favorite spot and never without a tennis ball.
