Egg on My Face
Notes from the Prairie: I Wonder column #20
After making a Facebook post the past weekend, I have egg splattered on my face. Here’s the story, blow-by-blow:
Scrolling Facebook, I stumble on a post by Claudia Scholand, describing a Social Security phone boondoggle when trying to get survivor benefits, a new requirement. It details multiple calls, delays, requests for proof, and procedural changes. I think, These new roadblocks are enough to to crush any applicant, especially a grief-stricken one. Claudia also suggests readers will be angry with the message they hear inquiring about disability benefits. She provides an 800 number.
I am horrified. Poor Claudia! I click “share.” Multiple people comment:
Kathy Hoksbergen asks, “How do we verify this is true?”
Carol Rudie posts a link to Snopes and suggests always checking Snopes before posting. I wince. She’s right.
Jason Addink responds, “I called the number. . . . It was a generic ‘welcome to Social Security’ type answering system. It said nothing even slightly related to surviving spouse benefits.”
Ron Groenenboom takes issue with Claudia’s final statement about Social Security disability applications taking 200-230 days, and offers a link to a Newsweek article.
A flurry of responses to those comments follow:
Answering Kathy’s question about the post’s truth, Kevin Van Wyk, who has helped his surviving-spouse clients with Social Security applications for years, says he Googled an answer and discovered, “A surviving spouse has always needed to apply for deceased spousal benefits. . . .They don’t automatically switch a spouse to survivor benefits if they were already receiving spousal benefits. . . .”
Claudia’s original post apparently erred. The application for spousal benefits must not be new.Responding to Carol Rudie’s Snopes link, Pati Van Zante says Carol’s linked Snopes information is dated 2016. Although true, it does not apply here. She says the changes by DOGE will definitely affect applications for spousal benefits and suggests researching that. Carol Rudie thanks her for the update and remarks it is hard to keep up with everything.
Pati also writes there will be no reduction in benefits, but that processes will indeed be delayed. According to her, the current average wait when calling the Social Security line is 4.4 hours.I go to Ron’s Newsweek link, even though he had said it might not fit my narrative. It is dense with numbers. I print it out so I can take time with it. Meanwhile, Kevin responds that the Newsweek article addresses disability applications, not survivor applications, the main point of Claudia’s post. He provides useful data about survivor applications and the increases in response times because of demographic shifts.
I call the Social Security number Claudia had posted as she predicted it would anger readers. Jason is right. The message is indeed a generic recording, nothing to get angry about.
I message Claudia Scholand, asking about her sources or personal experience with Social Security. Her post implies, but doesn’t outright say she experienced this. (As this goes live on April 15, Claudia has not yet responded.) I examine her Facebook site. She has 478 friends and 5086 followers. Her social security post has been shared 477 times. She displays no personal photos, very little personal information, and a stream of political posts, all one-sided. I should not have trusted and reposted her.
Yes, I am beyond embarrassed: I am mortified. I post my discovery on Facebook and decide to take down my share in a day or two.
But, to my surprise, I also feel the rise of amazing hope. The responses have, with just one minor exception, been civil and fact-oriented. That’s amazing.
Convinced civil conversations are crucial to our future, perhaps both nationally and globally, I have already started several regular, one-on-one, personal conversations with people who don’t share my political opinions. The conversations have been productive. But I never expected the same on Facebook.
Today, as I scrub away egg from my face, I wonder about starting a closed Facebook group for civil political conversation. I wonder if it could survive. I suppose I might invite each responder to my Facebook post to join it. I’ll wait a bit to make that decision.
Meanwhile, I wonder, Do you as readers think a closed, political-conversation Facebook group could remain civil? Does this incident also give you hope?
I also wonder what else gives each of you hope. Let’s talk.
PS: If enough readers request a detailed article on current Social Security issues, I will consider looking into the matter more extensively.
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Carol Van Klompenburg is a writer living in Pella, Iowa. She has a BA in English and an MA in Theater Arts, and she is available for reading performances of her work. Her email address is carolvk13@gmail.com.
Her latest book, A World in a Grain of Sand: Lively Little Stories of Household Stuff, is available in Pella from Carol or from Pella’s Curiosity Shop. It can also be ordered from Amazon. Readers are calling it “stirring,” “winsome,” and “delightful.”
Opinions are like noses. Everybody has one and each "smells a little differently" (pun intended). Sometimes it's hard to separate opinion from fact, especially in political discussions.