Let’s Get Politics Out Of Social Media
This article postulates that debating politics on social media may have a negative influence on your mental health. I know many people that discuss politics on social media, and I have a great deal of respect for many of them. The purpose of this article is not to criticize people that debate politics on social media, but rather to convince you that your life may be significantly improved by opting out from these kinds of interactions.
As our country has continued to become more divided, many of us have seen a sharp rise in the number of politically divisive posts in our social media feeds. Despite your intention when using social media, you are probably bombarded by politically divisive and controversial posts whether you like it or not.
I completely understand the desire to get political on social media; I have done it many times myself. Many of us feel strongly about various political issues and are excited to share our perspective with our friends and family. I find myself especially inclined to do this after finding an elegant articulation of one of my core beliefs or principles.
While I understand the desire, I believe it is also important to identify the intention behind such an action: ultimately, we want to change the minds of people that disagree with us. We may occasionally have other intentions, such as bringing awareness to an obscure issue, but it seems that most of the time we think we have arrived at the best conclusion on a given issue and accordingly assume the responsibility of educating others.
The problem with this seems very simple to me: it’s not your responsibility to think for other people or do research on their behalf. While it may be appropriate to share a few news articles with a small network of family and friends, it seems much less constructive to publicly share and debate them with hundreds of social media followers. Moreover, nothing positive ever seems to come from debating politics on social media. I would be genuinely surprised if, after years of online political discussions, I ever convinced a single person to change their mind. The people that already agree with me usually just keep scrolling, and the people that disagree with me usually just get annoyed or angry.
I have seen lifelong friendships broken apart over trivial debates on social media. I have seen and experienced depression as a direct result of engaging in politically divisive arguments in comment threads. I have seen frustration, hatred, and contempt grow in the minds of countless people as they scroll past the posts of people they once held great admiration for. One thing I have never seen is someone change their mind on a political issue in response to a post shared by one of their friends.
Furthermore, social media was the primary method by which fake news was shared during the last presidential election. By cutting out the middle man (social media) and going directly to reputable news organizations we make it much harder for fake news to spread.
Here’s the thing: we all have access to the same information. If we want to be educated and informed about political issues then it’s our responsibility to research political issues ourselves. By sharing political posts on social media you are indirectly doing research (and perhaps thinking) on your follower’s behalf; not only is this something you are not responsible for doing, it’s also something that many of your followers probably don’t even want you doing.
There are lots of good reasons to be discussing politics right now. Radically different ideas are being proposed by both major political parties, we no longer agree about what facts are, and identity politics has convinced countless voters to stop thinking for themselves. Our country needs people to be researching issues, debating issues, and getting politically active. But social media is not the place for it. For the sake of your own mental health, consider opting out.
