As I write this during the tail end of Veterans Day 2015, I think about the markers spotted throughout the day that reminded me to thank those who have served and are currently serving to protect our country. From the billboards around town, to the Google Doodle of the day as well as within the trending topics section on Twitter, it was kind of hard to miss how special of a day this was. My mom is a veteran, so seeing the collective effort to commemorate these women, men and even service animals nationwide made me glad. For me, this Veterans Day felt more prominent than Veterans Days of the past, and I believe that social media may have something to do with it.
The online outpouring of support for our troops was stronger than usual across all of my social media newsfeeds, so much so that the hashtag #VeteransDay remained in the top trending topics on Twitter the entire day. Around the internet, posts ranged from personal thank you’s for family members, friends and acquaintances to generic reposts shared from another source. While reading these stories and seeing pictures of how different people celebrated was heart warming, it also made me wonder if all that we do on and around this holiday is truly enough.
Tweeting, liking and sharing brings joy for a moment, but in the end our posts get swept up in the next flood of information shared in the days to come. We’re sharing more than ever, which can be great when awareness needs to be spread, but maybe not so great when trying to leave a lasting impression in the ever changing digital landscape of today.
On top of this, thanks to social media, it seems like there’s a new holiday to celebrate everyday. Many of these holidays are pale in significance compared to other federal holidays, but they are celebrated nonetheless. November 18 is apparently Push Button Phone Day so mark your calendars. While I do enjoy participating in obscure holiday festivities every once in a while, I can’t deny that a different holiday everyday is overkill. The need to memorialize every little thing may cause some to share an obligatory post to show they are still in the loop if they haven’t yet cast off all holidays in general.
Having said all that, I’m grateful for the ability to participate in such large-scale conversations on days like Veterans Day. With this surplus of information literally in our hands, we can go beyond simply acknowledging the presence of the veterans among us by joining in the offline initiatives gleaned from what was shared on that designated day. Just revisit the hashtag and you’re bound to find some way to help out in real life.