Our society is built on opinions. Think about it. Most of what we say is opinion-based in some way, shape or form. Voicing our views is easier than ever thanks to social media platforms and technology as a whole. Sometimes, though, this platform does way more harm than good.
Posting your opinion online, whether it's about politics, a new movie or some viral controversy, is all fun and games until someone comments their own opinion and it just happens to differ from yours. You would think that the person who originally started the conversation would be interested in engaging with others. After all, they did initiate the thread. Most of the time, though, this isn't the case. Just by simply stating your perspective, you're subjecting yourself to criticism—of your character, your looks, your gender, your education level, everything. Sometimes, it doesn't even remotely relate to whatever you were talking about in the first place. They'll use whatever ammunition they have against you, as if it somehow justifies their argument (which it never does, in case you were wondering).
People get so caught up in being right that they forget there's other people out there who may not agree with everything you have to say. And that's okay. We all grew up differently. We all process information differently. We all experience things differently. All of these (and plenty more) are what shape our opinions about the world around us. Attacking one another for your difference in opinion isn't going to magically make them see your perspective. if anything, they're less likely to consider your point of view.
Ask yourself: Is it really worth your energy to engage in a childish feud in your Facebook comments? Is your opinion soooooooimportant that you find the need to verbally abuse someone for doing the exact same thing you were doing in the first place? The answer is no. So what if you tweet about how Kanye West's new album is pure genius, and someone tweets you back and says you're crazy. They may not feel the lyrics the way you do, or maybe they're more of an A$AP Rocky kind of person. Their opinion isn't causing you any harm, so who cares? You got to share your opinion; now they're just doing the same. Accept it and move along with your day.
Forget your opinion; you reveal more about who you are when you choose to continuously participate in making rude comments towards people who just don't think like you do. And when all is said and done, no one reading along is going to remember what you were fighting about in the first place. All they're going to think about is how immature and idiotic you looked. We have enough hate in this world already, there's no need to be apart of it.
So the next time you're typing out a tweet or a Facebook post, make sure you're prepared to get comments that may not match up with yours. If you can't respect another person's point of view, then you probably shouldn't be using social media in the first place.