Photography by Kristina Flour. Courtesy of Unsplash.
Technology continues to connect humanity at an unprecedented rate, which is an incredible thing. Nearly anything we would want to learn about is right there at our fingertips and through social media we can communicate like never before. Storytellers are able to reach audiences they would have not otherwise through the use of e-books, podcasting, video streaming, and more.
Social media has inevitably become a common place for those “water cooler chats” to discuss hobbies, personal interests, and popular entertainment releases. This is not recent practice online, of course, but the conversation has certainly grown in volume and avoiding it is much more difficult.
When a few people start to discuss something I haven’t seen, I can simply excuse myself so that details are not ruined for me. Facebook and Twitter makes it very hard to avoid these conversations as people post their reactions in status posts. While some are thoughtful and warn their friends that their post contains spoilers, not everyone is as considerate. And there are many that don’t feel they need to concern themselves with either censoring their posts or establishing a spoiler warning.
High profile directors such as the Russo Brothers and Quentin Tarantino have taken to social media to encourage fans to be more respectful to others on these platforms.
“It’s the journey of discovering a story for the first time,” Tarantino wrote in an open letter. “I only ask that everyone avoids revealing anything that would prevent later audiences from experiencing the film in the same way.”
Sounds like common sense to me, but unfortunately there are people who believe if it was something you really wanted to experience you would’ve taken advantage of the opportunity the moment it was released. Or perhaps that you should avoid social media entirely until you see it for yourself. But that isn’t really fair, is it? Facebook and Twitter are not the water cooler, they are the break room.
If you’re like me, entertainment is something I treat myself to when I have fulfilled my more pressing responsibilities. You know, adulthood. Plus, content is more plentiful than ever before so I often need more time before I can really dive into new time-consuming content.
“Please don’t spoil it for others,” said the Russo Brothers about Avengers: Endgame, “the same way you wouldn’t want it spoiled for you.”
If you have a friend that chooses to disregard warnings and spoil the end of books, movies, or TV shows on social media, my suggestion would be to unfollow or unfriend them because they can’t be that great of a friend if they knowingly sabotage your ability to savor something you enjoy.
