This is What Happens When You Use Murmuration to Affect Your Social Media
This is What Happens When You Use Murmuration to Affect Your Social Media
I’ve been thinking a lot about murmurations lately. Sort of obsessing over murmurations, actually. Partly because of global warming, to be honest. Where I live there have been terrible fires that have wiped entire towns off the map. There doesn’t seem to be any safe place anymore. And I got to thinking what if we all changed direction by taking a cue from nature? And what if we used social media to make that change? By the way, here’s my previous post about using social media for positive change, in case you missed it.
Birds Do it
You can see the kind of rabbit hole this sort of thinking might lead to. But seriously, starlings change direction like one intelligent entity. And they change direction for the good of the entire school or herd or whatever you call a bunch of the animals. If you’ve never seen a murmuration, go to this website and watch the video there, because it’s a beautiful thing. Why couldn’t people do it, too?
Safety in Numbers
“There is safety in numbers, so the individual starlings do not scatter but rather are able to move as an intelligent cloud, feinting away from a diving raptor, thousands of birds changing direction almost simultaneously.” writes Jami Heimbuch in the article above on murmuration. But one bird only affects its seven closest neighbors. That sounds like what we often do in our individual families and friends: take care of those closest to us.
Photo by Phil Manker 
Fish Do it
When small fish, such as sardines or anchovies, swim in a way to avoid predators, it’s called a “bait ball.” They do it to protect the school. They have other defensive measures as well, such as reflective surfaces which make it difficult for predators to single out individual fish. Bait balls look a lot like a murmuration, except under water.
Why Not People, Too?
In a way, people need protective measures, too. We largely need to protect ourselves from our own stupidity. The way we use up our natural resources, the way we’re driving climate change through dumb political decisions, all these things and many others require a different way of thinking. We need a murmuration, driven by social media, so that we can change direction in a positive way. We may be able to pivot away from drama, but can we make larger changes?
What Do You Think?
Over the course of the last year, I’ve been hearing lots of people making changes. I hope that the changes are happening quickly enough. Can we change direction and avoid some of what is happening? Can it happen quickly enough?
Great post, Carol!
I believe that we can make changes. While intention and action are two different things, I have faith that it can be done. This concept of applied murmurations with humans making positive change through use of social media could definitely have a profound effect — as a solid starting point. It’s up to everyone to take that energy offline and disburse it in their local communities.
Hi Angelina,
Thank you so much. I keep seeing animals making changes, protecting themselves, and acting as a unit for the benefit of their own kind. This morning I saw reindeer migrating in huge herds which looked like murmurations, too. I believe that humans can make positive changes, too. We really need to make some deep and profound changes.
Thank you for your positivity!
Carol