...the cold never bothered me anyway? Well, tis (almost) the season for such movies. You might have realised from the image above that this isn't a blog post about Frozen or Christmas Instead, I'd like to talk about everyone's favourite subject; social media. Gah! I know quite a lot of you are now going to close this window, unfollow me, throw away your phone and report me to the police. I might deserve some of that! I mean, have you READ my tweets?! Jeez!
For the handful of you who remain, let's get into it. Sometimes, I "do a lot of socials" and not just for myself. From time to time, I work for others (volunteered and paid roles) alongside my own blathering. It's cool, I like the interactions and social media has opened a world of experiences for me. It's helped my health, too. My T1D is unrecognisable from what it used to be just 6 or 7 years ago. That's an incredible thing if you really consider it. It also paints the general population in a great light, especially diabetics, as they are the driving force behind my current diabetes management and stable health.
I've thanked the online diabetes community in several blog posts and posts on socials. They truly are a great bunch and if you're new to that world, embrace it and soak up all the info and support that you need. In other posts, I've issued warnings to people to be cautious online. Despite the majority of people having no agenda but to assist others and gain their own support, there will always be a minority who are looking for something else. What are those things? The list is likely long, but you can probably include; using others for profits, career progression, gratification, and self promotion. I've experienced those things and more. Perhaps you have, too. Whilst that's sad, particularly as the diabetes world is focused around health, it's not very surprising. This is the Internet, of course!
Part of the online diabetes community is GBDoc. You're probably aware of it if you stumbled upon this post via a link on one of my socials. I've had a lot of involvement in that community and, again, it's been tremendous. When I began tweeting about diabetes, I was very determined to not involve myself with any community or organisation. That probably lasted about a month! and after a year or so, I was asked to be a volunteer along with several others. Volunteers have come and gone in the last 5 years. They had their reasons and their departures didn't affect me. We remained friends, largely, and some are still kicking around on socials today.
And now it's my turn to depart.
I've simply lost the motivation to continue to freely give my time to GBDoc. There are reasons for that and there are absolutely a select group of people who are behind those reasons. To detail each would result in a very long blog post and it would probably create an online inferno. My own personal attacks have included accusations of stigmatising others, subversive posts that target others, discriminating against others who are not British, not fact-checking things I retweet (because I'm CNN, obviously)... and I'm going to stop there because even as I type those things, and even after some time has passed, I feel affected by those accusations and the shocking levels of entitlement to tell me how I run my own personal account. I'm not perfect. Indeed, there have been times when I've corrected or removed something I knew to be wrong or even something that could be misinterpreted. Over the years, I've listened to others and made apologies for my own errors and, unnecessarily, the misinterpretations of others. Those instances were on Twitter (now X) which has never really been the easiest place to read tone from or gain much from in the way of great detail - unless you have a verified account and you love writing essays, of course!
I'm not looking for sympathy. However, I feel sorry for my friend, Jules. She's well known for living with some serious conditions which are exacerbated by stress. To listen to her breaking and tearful about the whole saga was very tough. The non-apology and the carry-on-regardless nature of those involved was bewildering. "Bewildering" was the best I could muster after deleting various expletives. Of course, you should form your own judgements if you wish, but from someone "on the inside" I know the hurtful remarks made about GBDoc volunteers (managed by Jules) were so far removed from reality. I hope that she'll come back one day. I'm sure the community will continue to thrive in whatever guise.
There is much more I could add to this post. I may follow up at a later date. There will, of course, be more blog posts on other subjects in the days, weeks and months to come. If you're from GBDoc, it's been lovely to volunteer for you since 2018. Stay well.