I think best in those early morning hours when I can’t sleep. In fact, I’m writing this at 2:30 am. I have no idea why I woke up — maybe it was the rain or maybe I just had something on my mind.

Either way, when I have these nights, I do the worst possible thing; I grab my phone and check social media. I know better. I know I’ll see something that stirs me up, usually related to poultry misinformation.

Sure enough, I was stirred up. Back-to-back posts on don’t eat chicken because of the hormones and the benefits of chicken sashimi. As we all know, eating raw chicken is just not ok. It’s a raw agricultural product, meaning it’s not ready to eat. Why would chefs think this is a good idea? Just thinking about the texture when eating raw chicken is not appealing to me. Gross! Just in case anyone is reading this and has questions, chicken is not treated with hormones. Ever.

I know better than to check the comments, but I did it anyway. Both sides bantering back and forth, and I must read them all. My blood is boiling at this point, and then there’s the comment if you don’t like it, “keep scrolling." Well, that makes my blood boil even more.

“Keep scrolling” means I don’t have time for your opinions, facts, comments or even existence sometimes. At some point that “keep scrolling” mentality keeps us from hearing the truth about matters that concern us as a society. It helps us from having healthy conversations. When it comes to agriculture (and my love for poultry science), “keep scrolling” is the opposite of what I’m going to do. I haven’t figured out how to totally engage the truth with some of these people on social media, but I’m not going to keep scrolling. I’m going to share experiences and teach what I know to be truth about our industry.

I know many companies and organizations use social media to voice the truth about poultry and agriculture, but I believe the mentality of “keep scrolling” prevents the real education from happening. We have to start thinking about what will make people stop scrolling and read and learn. I am sure the marketing folks have discussed this and have some ideas. I just wonder how I can be more effective personally. Any ideas? For now, I am not going to “keep scrolling” when someone misrepresents our industry. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, but I did engage with some people willing to listen and not “keep scrolling." It didn’t help me get back to sleep, but it did make me feel like I was having a small impact.

The next time you’re awake at 2:30 am and grab that phone to look at social media, engage and teach. Don’t “keep scrolling." It helps our industry when we can engage in a meaningful way and teach about what we know best.

Keep scrolling

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