In today's age, social media has become the primary form of sharing and discovering breaking news. It has also become the most prevalent place to share one's opinions on current events, and anyone on the Internet can see these opinions. The main sites for this to take place are Twitter and Facebook. I'm sure we have all read some post that made us question if the person was really being serious. For example, just a few days ago, musician B.O.B was trying to convince people the world is flat. Yes, I'm serious.

I think the most puzzling part about this is that there were people who actually agreed with him. Now don't get me wrong, I am a sucker for a good conspiracy (Area 51), but I think this one is a little too absurd. It is amazing how fast false information and stories can spread simply by clicking the "share," or "retweet" button. In a time when everyone is able to share their opinion on social media, this can become a really dangerous thing.

The primary reason social media can be so dangerous is because of the amount of uninformed people that love sharing their opinions, and telling everyone else they are wrong. Every day I see so many uninformed, and quite simply ignorant people debating current events and issues regarding our country and society. Ignorance is like an epidemic, taking victims every day and spreading like wildfire. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

It is crucial that when one surfs on social media and finds news stories, that they learn the whole story from more than one source. It is all too common for people to read one biased news article, and think they understand the entire situation. They then proceed to comment or post something completely uninformed and ignorant, making me wonder if they could possibly be serious. More people see this post or comment, and think they are right, spreading these horribly wrong ideas.

With the invention of social media, everyone, no matter who you are, is now able to share their opinion for everyone to see. It seems like most of the time, these opinions are made with seemingly no logical basis, and are just plain wrong. In my opinion, this is the real danger of social media. The danger of thinking these false ideas and opinions are in fact the only truth can have horrible outcomes on your knowledge of current events.

So please, be informed before making opinions online. Read more than one article, and do some research on the situation if you feel strongly about it. Together, we can make social media a smarter and better informed place.