Could you imagine if we lived in world where Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat all these marvelous pieces of billion dollar corporations weren’t at your fingertips? I probably sound like a broken record. In fact, I can hear you sighing at the computer in disbelief saying “how many times have I heard that one before”. True, you do make a valid point, but goodness it’s a thought that we still need to be thinking about, I’m actually worried for this next generation.

In the times since I was a small little 8th grader, who snuck away to my local public library to access all the features I couldn’t at home (It was cool to have a hotmail account and Windows Live Messenger was a thing). I remember creating my Facebook account back in 2009 and thinking how lame it was compared to Myspace. After all, I couldn't decorate my wall and list my “top friends” because let’s face it, if you can’t showcase who your best friends were (or if you didn’t make the cut - like I didn’t so many times) than what were you trying to accomplish in life? The point is, Facebook was a place to sort of just be in the know, maybe share a status update or two about how life was going, and a means to stay in contact with friends and colleagues that you lost touch with after that whole “burning down the house incident”. I actually went back some circa seven years ago when I was just a small lad starting to become something in this world and, trust me, you don’t wanna know the things I was posting. Apparently I really dug the first season of Glee and I couldn’t wait to hang with my other young adolescent friends. That to me is what I felt Facebook was all about, and this was before Twitter enter the picture, but it was a place to kind of be that obnoxious teenager that saw everyone commenting profusely on whether or not your* grammar was correct. While yes that might have seemed hostile to some, most of it was in good fun and not to cause a ruckus.

So what’s changed?

Well for example I get on Facebook today and if you just scroll a measly two or three seconds (I encourage you to try) you might land on a funny meme or some videos that say “Only 90s kids will remember this” - but chances are you will land on a post declaring someone's political affiliation, their religious views on Target’s transgender bathroom policy or read a comment with someone insulting another user about their intelligence because they choose to stand by their opinion.

Trust me, I know all there is to know about having an opinion - it’s a blessing and a curse especially when you’re a film critic. But see, I encourage people to disagree with me because it starts a fun conversation that usually* doesn’t offend or hurt anyone’s feelings. I feel like debating a “Team Cap” vs “Team Iron-Man” scenario is much safer than a “Bernie vs Trump” one. Yet the comments I was reading on post that Donald Trump shared on his personal Facebook page showcased people being ruthless in anyway they could be. One comment even went as far to call Obama a “muslim” that “needed to be kicked out of the white house”. Folks, it’s comments like those that almost make me want to question the sanity of our culture.

I know the counterargument that is to be made here, if I can have an opinion about movies then people can have an opinion about politics. Yes that is completely 100 percent accurate in all it’s glory, but I was raised that the two things you don’t usually talk about in a social gathering is A) Politics and B) Religion. Both topics draw a fine line between facts and opinions, not to mention everyone (and their sister) seems to get more of their info from Facebook than actual sources. I swear if I see another post proclaiming about how “(Insert famous person name here) is moving to (a local city near me)” I might just quit on society as a whole. Yes you can have an opinion, just don’t be so quick to judge when others think differently than you. Better yet, why don’t you just not comment and leave it alone. Even though I know Tiffany has no right to trash talk 5 Seconds Of Summer when she just became a fan and you have loved them since birth. I know it’s a struggle, but deep down what is commenting on her post saying “you fraud” or “why don’t you jump on another bandwagon” going to accomplish? While it might promote your hierarchy of superiority among the fandom of boy bands, it won’t change anyone mind, and worse, it will just make you look silly.

So why don’t I just quit Facebook then if you feel this way? .. well, you’re reading this article right? If it wasn’t for social media I might have a hard time getting this article out to the world. Which is, honestly, how social media needs to be used, as a platform for talking about positive things in life and sharing local events that might actually benefit you and your family (gasp!). The world is changing very drastically every second of every day, I mean for goodness sake Donald Trump is our presumptive GOP nomination for the President Of The United States, I’m not declaring any political affiliations with any candidate, I’m simply stating if you would have told that statement to anyone 10 years ago, I bet some people would have a hard time believing it. Plus I can watch cute baby videos and cat vines all day.

In an age where social media can be used as an outlet to showcase hardwork and dedication it seems to be treading away from that and becoming more about hate and discrimination. It needs to be a place to share opinions, but in a way that is respective of the people and culture around you. I personally don’t care what your political beliefs are, I still won’t engage in an on-going war in the comments section until it reads “67 comments” mainly because I learned my lesson when all the endless notifications were popping up on my phone saying “so-and-so commented on a post your following” .. when all I said was “agreed”. If we don’t at least to attempt to make changes in the way people are treated on these platforms I feel as though we aren’t working as cooperatively as we should.

Obviously, I don’t think this post is going to revolutionize the way we view social media, but I think it can shed some light that we don’t have to preach hate in order to get our views across. Because, even though we have some strong points to be made, every voice deserves to be heard with clarity, dignity, and respect.

*you’re: is one of the most commonly misused words on the planet and once you become guilty of mismatching the “your” and “you’re” everyone will destroy all credibility you had.

*usually: remember how I mentioned that “Team Cap” vs “Team Iron-Man” debate - yeah pretty sure I lost a few friends in the process.

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Shameless plug: I took a break from reviewing movies with Odyssey Online this week but you can catch up with all that on my personal blog at www.themoviebuffblog.weebly.com