Step one
Read the person’s opinion you disagree with
Step two
Internalize your outrage.
Step three
Do nothing
There you go! How to stop getting into arguments on Facebook in three easy steps.
But that doesn’t take up 500 words, so here’s some explanation of what that means…
Getting into Facebook arguments is something I have a problem with. I love arguing on Facebook. I go out of my way to argue. It’s bad. I’ll argue with strangers on pages I don’t even follow. With friends I clearly disagree with.
The first step is understanding that your opinion is not any more special than anyone else’s. You are not even necessarily right. You may be, and argument is one way to see if you are right. There is definitely a time and a place for a good conversation, and even for a good argument. I would probably say that if you see something in a Facebook post that you really feel you should talk with the poster about, send him or her a message and talk about it there. Find the person in real life and talk it out face to face. There are many acceptable places to have a civil discussion, and Facebook comments are probably never one of them. Comparing your opinion against another’s and seeing which one can stand up to scrutiny is a great way to test and validate your opinion and is not something that should ever be lost. But that’s not what a Facebook argument is. A Facebook argument usually consists of taking something immediately to its extreme, calling the other person inhumane or stupid for their opinion, and then ignoring anything that disagrees with what you have to say.
Next, ask yourself, “Will the person who posted this change their mind if I comment?”
If your Right Wing friend shares a pro-Right Wing post, will your comment really change his or her mind? Or will it bring back up an argument that has been going on for a very long time without any agreed-upon opinion? This is different than a misconception on the part of the poster that can be quickly explained or corrected with an unbiased stat. If someone posted, for example, that there were twice as many men on the planet as women, literally any statistic would prove that wrong. That is not an argument, it is sharing information.
Finally, don’t post anything, and then keep scrolling. No one is being hurt because you don’t call that guy out for his belief that movies are better than books. His life might not be as fun because he doesn’t stare at paper for hours a day, but then yours might not be because you do…
Just keep scrolling. Move on. I am sure there will be something to anger you in another minute or two if you scroll down far enough.
