Online attacks blamed for ex-minister’s departure

Online attacks blamed for ex-minister’s departure

Mr Noel’s comments echo remarks made by other serving and recently retired politicians about the rise in negativity and personal attacks on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

In the second of a six-part series of interviews with senior politicians who left the States last month, he said: ‘I chose to be a politician. My wife and my daughter did not choose to be the wife and daughter of a politician.

‘The main reason [for leaving politics] is the toll on my family and the unsocialness of social media.’

Although Mr Noel did not want to elaborate on specifically how his family was affected he said it was bad and that he simply had to give them a break from it all.

‘Social media has had a profound effect,’ he said. ‘People do say things on social media or post them on social media that they would never say to your face. I think that is having the biggest effect on our society as a whole.’

He said that he read comments about himself and his work online and tried to distance himself.

‘You have to follow the main media and the main media are also on social media, so it is difficult to cut yourself off,’ he said. ‘And even if you do, people still refer to it. You can’t escape it.’

We are uniquely connected in Jersey as a small island, he added. ‘It would be good if that connection was more positive – if people had a more positive outlook as opposed to a negative outlook,’ he said.

Jersey has always been good at ‘talking itself down’, he added.

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