When Social Media is a Force for Good

Social Media often hits the news for all the wrong reasons – and we do need to address those. But I’m not giving the negatives any airtime here, because I want to celebrate when Social Media is a force for good – in this case in helping recover my wedding ring during a recent trip, ironically, to a friend’s wedding. I’ll also talk briefly about how the lost wedding ring scenario even happened in the first place.

Freak-Out at the First Airport

As anyone who follows me on Twitter, awful Fibromyalgia symptoms mean I barely leave the house – I do all my ‘work’ from my home-based office. And I’m an introvert, so I find social and unknown situations very stressful. On the outward trip South for our friend’s wedding I tripped the metal detector – possibly because I had forgotten to remove my wedding ring. Maybe not, but I was stressed.

I had horrible brain fog, which I can feel clogging my cognitive functions, especially if I’m in a busy environment.

The Ring Lost Itself at Bristol

Bristol Airport was where we landed before continuing our journey to the wedding location. But it was during the return trip where I lost my wedding ring.

Fibromyalgia regularly causes sensory overload and confusion for me. Our local airport is tiny despite offering international flights. Bristol is what I call a “real airport”; many people, multiple conveyer belts and a multiplicity of staff and security officers necessary in running an airport.

I was also struggling because large airports mean loads of walking so my legs really hurt and I was energy crashing.
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All I remembered was I had tripped security on the way in, so I took my wedding ring off this time.

Social Media Is a Force For Good

I realised I had lost my wedding ring, which is a Celtic Knot design made by Hebridean Jewellery on the Isle of Uist, when we landed back home. I had likely not realised I was missing it because I wear compression gloves to help my hand pain. So I usually cover up my wedding ring with gloves.
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So here I give a huge hat-tip to Erika at the @BristolAirport Twitter account. She

• Tracked it down
• Took a photo and sent it to me to see if it was my ring
• Spoke to Lost Property on my behalf to get a reference number

As a result my ring was found! Social Media is a force for good, in the right hands!

My Wedding Ring Has Returned!

Thanks to Bristol Airport and @ParcelForce, my ring was returned! I love ParcelForce’s humour here:
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23rd April 2019: I am so glad to finally have my Celtic Wedding Ring returned to me, and relieved that this story had a happy ending!

Even More Encouragement via Social Media

My privacy settings on Facebook mean I can’t/won’t share people’s support from there. However, I’ve been taken aback by how much encouragement and support I’ve had from people on Twitter. I shouldn’t have been surprised, knowing the people I engage with regularly over on @FibroJedi! But it’s so lovely people care and express that care too. My reshare of this tweet got more than 40 likes:

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Other Social Media News

• Girl with cancer gets 30,000 Birthday cards following Facebook appeal.
• Homeless intellectual becomes online celebrity in China
• Road sign cleaner who went viral overwhelmed at response

TL;DR Share the Positives of Social Media

From the moment I realised I had lost my wedding ring, Twitter proved to be the vehicle for an outpouring of support and practical help. Good news stories about Twitter rarely surface as frequently as the negative stuff. As I said at the start, the flaws and abuse of Social Media should be reported and acted upon. But let us not forget that any tool can be used for good or ill, depending on who wields it. Even one of my followers, @TheCyberelf summed up my feelings (actual tweet has since vanished):

Social Media is a force for good – so let us keep promoting and sharing the good news stories. And thank you to the many of you who have supported us through these tough few days!