UNITED STATES—Oh, the argument, it’s something that we’ve all engaged in as kids, teens and adults. However, there is indeed a right way to argue and a stupid way to argue in my opinion. Hence, the issue with social media. With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat and so many more social media outlets dominating the world as we know, more and more people are engaging in reckless talk and petty arguments with others.
You might be wondering what prompted this rant, well, I’ve seen such things happen over a period of time, but more worrisome is when people have FULL-BLOWN arguments about issues to where the entire public knows where it started and where it apparently ended. This column is slightly inspired about the recent exchange between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I thought it was slightly petty, but that is the world of social media, everyone is on it and we like to voice how we feel which is completely understandable.
However, the question that has to be asked is rather, we really want our public information put out there for the entire world to consume the information. It’s one thing to post or tweet something, it’s another thing to engage in an hour long or 2-3 days social media rant about something that is so foolish. Why? Because I saw this same thing happen with family members (two cousins) engage in a rant that was silly, stupid and frankly annoying. Why?
The argument had no validity to start, and things got worse when members of the family got entangled in this mess? How? It was one of those group chats, where everything and I mean everything was posted for all of us to view precisely what was going on. I was livid, one because I was at work and two because till this day those cousins are still distant for a reason that I can’t even comprehend.
Do they realize that they just made complete fools of themselves to the entire family? Are they aware we have no formed perceptions of who they are based on behavior they participated in? Yeah, kind of crazy to say the least, I must say I’m slightly stunned that they didn’t find anything WRONG with what they were doing.
I mean many family members voiced their distaste of the situation, and they still continued. It got so bad that the argument spilled over to a conference call we had for our upcoming family reunion that ended just plain ugly. Wow, wow, wow, wow, people really have to get a grasp! Social media was invented as a form of communication, not an outlet to spew hate, anger, stupidity and all other things irrelevant. Posting things about your life is great, but you don’t want your social media page to tell your ENTIRE LIFE! Keep a few things private; retain some portion of your identity or life.
I will admit I get most annoyed when celebrities engage in full-blown arguments on social media. Come on, it’s ok to state your opinion, but you don’t have to or need to engage in stupidity. I mean what type of message are you sending to your kids and all those others who respect or look up to you? It’s not a good message, because if they witness you indulging in such naughty behavior they are more likely to partake in that same behavior as well.
Social media platforms are to be FUN, yes, we can get political and inspirational at times, but we should not be bickering, posting harmful things about others and being downright nasty. There are so much other things that should be a focus of contention for Americans. Arguing, out of all the things we can use social media for, why is this something that we would want to focus on?
