These past few weeks, I couldn't help but notice that I've developed a love/hate relationship with my news feed on Facebook. With prevalent injustices still screaming at me 666 from every side and the upcoming election just around the corner, there's only one word that can describe everyone's chaotic responses: polarized.
Everyone's taking sides. And if you're not on this side, then you're assumed to be on the other side. And people think they can persuade people on the other side to join their side and vice versa. But when nobody changes sides and everyone's left debating, it becomes a total nuisance for those who use Facebook for its actual intended purpose.
We're not connecting anymore. We're breaking off relationships with each other because we don't agree on a certain subject. We think we're always right and anyone else that tests our correctness obviously has no valuable input because we don't agree with them. In the end, we're just wannabe Political Science majors who have more fury than facts.
Here's what I have to say: STOP. Just stop. Please.
You're ruining it for me and everyone else, including yourself. I don't know how you found the word "distrust" in "disagreement," but you sure know how to convey that particularly well. Yes, we all have yet to respond to national and global injustices effectively. Yes, we know that the 2016 presidential election is in the toilet. Don't make pressing matters worse by attempting to make yourself look better.
The only ammunition I see being used against all this fire is, unsurprisingly, more fire. How's that going to move us forward? How can we expect to move mountains when we're focusing on the molehills? How can you expect people to be knowledgeable on subject matter when you're deliberately turning down opportunities to educate those people and defacing them instead?
Here's the problem: nobody wants to change. I don't know if you know this by now, but Facebook was never meant to radically influence people's opinions. Yet we're treating this inability to read others' intentions as something that's possible over a digital network. That's for something commonly referred to as "face-to-face conversation." Amazing, huh?
Now, don't get me wrong. This is not me trying to say "stop putting all your political and social views on Facebook" or "stop hurting everyone's feelings on Facebook." I'm saying that we need to take in every person's perception with a grain of salt. This means we have to start being open to outside influences while courteously disagreeing with any viewpoint that doesn't align with our own. And if we have a reason for disagreement, we politely share and discuss it without the barriers of LCD screens and QWERTY keyboards.
So the next time you want to rant on someone's controversial post, save the topic for a time to truly talk about it. This will not only help you and everyone else to get the most out of Facebook, but it will also strengthen your relationships outside of social media and form a deeper appreciation for those around you.
