We've all had the experience of scrolling through our news feed on Facebook only to see a political post that causes our adrenaline to spike and our fingers to itch with the burning desire to offer our rebuttal -- often something nasty, scathing, and (in our minds) irrevocably right to that post which we believed to be absolutely wrong.

For example, maybe you had a view that all dogs are bad, and a friend posts a GIF showing a therapy dog visiting the children's ward at a hospital to show how great they are. However, you just can't take their post to be valid justification for why dogs are good, so you delve into a long electronic rant on how they are wrong and how you are right. The finished product of your response was probably error ridden, grammatically lacking, and involved another GIF (possibly of Kermit the frog sipping tea captioned, “But that's none of my business”) to close your article on a smug note of “in your face!” But that split-second backlash isn't the best way to respond to another's political stance on Facebook, and I believe that we need to reconsider how we interact with other people's political Facebook posts, and how we present our political ideas within our own posts.

We are all entitled to our own opinions and have the liberty, as citizens of America, to express our ideas freely. Unfortunately, sometimes I feel that people express their ideas too freely and do not know how to tactfully express their opinions. With social media still relatively new, and the era of “I can say whatever I want when I'm behind a screen” in full swing, social media etiquette is desperately needed, but still being developed. With this being said, I am not a very political person, and most of my views on hot topics like abortion, gun control, and immigration are still developing, so I am generally very open to ideas from both of the dominant political parties. However, I have found myself in genuine states of anger over some of the political posts that friends and family members generate on their pages. For the most part, the content of their posts doesn't aggravate me, but how they present them does. I have seen people post articles on American politicians calling them a (and I quote): pointy-nosed infantile pillock, chubby idiot, old hag, clown, insane, or monster. Whether these statements by others are true or not, I do not respect people whose idea of presenting a mature political view encompasses the inclusion of grade school insults. Even if some of these posts exclude that language, they are often captioned with something that the user believes to be the perfect balance of witty, with a slight hint of underlying irony and garnished with no less than three exclamation points. So expanding on my dog example from before, if the GIF that was posted was titled, “Dog visits children's hospital,” the poster may caption their share, “Even you dog haters have to agree that this dog is barking up the right tree!” Or, if someone wants to be more subtle the use of the minimalist one word caption, “Dog,” may be the trick to igniting the others side's political fury, which is also tied in effectiveness with the passive-aggressive rhetorical question, “Can dog haters really stand firm after watching this?”

I know that in one paragraph I seemed to exhaust any possible way to present an article, but something that I have found gives me the most positive feedback (on the rare occasions that I share a political post) is to take a line I relate to most from the article for my caption, or to simply leave out a caption. By sharing a post that leans toward your political views, you’re already sharing your opinions, so there is no need to rub it in other people's faces...we get it. While correcting how we share our views may be easy, it is incredibly hard to resist responding to political posts that seem to taunt you through the screen and run completely opposite to your views. Despite this, maybe the best idea is to not say anything, and if you do, back it up with facts, not opinions, because that's when things get messy. I respect people who comment on my posts citing other sources where they obtained their information on their side of the issue. I don't respect people who go on a spineless tangent that just makes me want to respond in a similar manner, and I also don't respect people who belittle the other person they are conversing with, especially when they suggest the person is uneducated and not capable of having their own valid opinions. I would also like to note that everyone thinks that their favorite news source is the only news source that holds legitimate information which is not true, so please stop slandering other people for favoring one news source over another and offering multiple times to direct people to "a good news source for this topic" if they don't ask for it. Another good option may be to unfollow the person. You can still be their friend on Facebook if you desire, you just won't see their posts. I have found this option refreshing, as I can keep in touch with people I care about, but out of touch with their political opinions, which I often don't.

I'm not guilt free, and I know that I have been an offender of many of the scenarios that I have detailed above, but understanding how to present oneself on social media is a learning curve for everybody. Maybe I'm just overreacting, and am simply one of the sensitive millennials that are now everyone's favorite topic to write scathing articles about. However, I encourage you to join me in being a more conscious and thoughtful Facebook user because there is nothing wrong with that.