It takes a village

licensed under CC0, source: pexels.com

This week, we're examining the culture of communities, and how people react to one another.

Specifically, a good example, and an example used in class, was on the subculture of Reddit. The article discussing the ways Reddit's culture is useful can be found here.

However somehow the communities we feel apart of are more helpful than a community of professionals trained in a certain field.

If I'm taking the issue on in my own perspective, there are two paths: the path of "obviously I would do this" and "Here's what I would actually do."
Obviously I would do this:

I know from years of being told over and over at school and by parents and family, if I feel upset or something isn't right I should see a doctor. Obviously if I recognized my own symptoms, I would go to a specialist and solve it.

Except that I wouldn't. That's the textbook answer people give because it's the "right" thing to do.

What I would actually do:

I would probably think it wasn't me. It wasn't bad enough to see a specialist for. Maybe I might talk to a close friend, or a family member, but I'm not paying co-pays to see a doctor when there might not even be an issue. It's not bad. It will solve itself.

Here's where a collaborative community comes in. If a person were to share they had dangerous thoughts or feelings on a forum, they might get someone who's been in a similar situation to speak with them. If they call a hotline, they'll get a person who has been trained in how to handle a situation. On Reddit, they might get someone similar in age, situation, or even a survivor who can speak to how they got through it.

It's not always a group of professionals who heal our society and solve our problems. Sometimes we need each other to lift us and fix problems. There's a role of collective intelligence where as a community we don't all know everything that could solve someone's problem, but we all know something.