How Social Media is Making Us MORE Close-Minded.

Social Media has brought our society many positives. We are more connected to each other. We get news faster. We watch more funny videos.

What's the downside? We are more close-minded.

You would think that with the increased opportunity for intelligent discussion that more people would tolerate ideas that oppose their own. But from my experience, this is not necessarily the case.

Here is one example: Everyone has that one friend who posts relentlessly about one topic. This could range from gay rights to homeschooling to presidential candidates. Whatever the topic is, no matter how noble the cause, the posts can get quite irritating. It's as if you are at a party and someone is yelling in the background constantly and when you finally ask them to be quite--they claim you are oppressing them and taking away their right to express themselves. Well, no, you're just annoying. I am not discriminating against you because of your topic; I just want you to stop yelling at me. But because these interactions occur over social media the "yellers" either don't realize they are being obnoxious, or they revel in the fact that they can hide behind their computer screens to spread "awareness".

Before social media, these kinds of conversations could only be done in person and impersonal awareness only spread through television. This meant that you had to be respectful to the other person simply due to social context. But being respectful not only helped the speaker sound more intelligent, it helped the listener to actually want to hear the message--even if they didn't agree with it. This led to a benefit for both parties. And if someone didn't want to listen to you, they could simply ask to change the subject or walk away politely. Thereby, both parties save face.

Social media "yellers", however, are not so easy to get away from. Because our world is so enveloped with what is going on online, these arguments seem to bombard us constantly. And to make matters worse, social media has ruined the need to be respectful and sound intelligent. Because we are all behind a computer screen, we do not feel the same need to be respectful. We cannot see the hurt we cause and so don't think about it. The result is that both sides of every argument online are filled with insensitive commenters who take no care for anyone else's feelings. Inevitably, democrats grow to believe republicans are morons and republicans grow to believe that democrats are morons. Instead of intelligent debate drawing us closer through thought-provoking questions, we are growing more divided by judging the other side based upon uninformed, insensitive, loud naysayers.

As this occurs, we become more offended by the smallest mention of a topic we don't agree with. It's the whole "not this again" mentality. In our minds, we have already argued this topic and seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Social media now prolongs every conversation for such a long time that we get tired of it and inevitably commit creative suicide--we stop listening.

The only way that we can come back together as a community is if we stop letting social media run our lives and affect our emotions. We need to raise awareness with sensitivity, take insensitive posts with a grain of salt, and stop getting offended all the time. Disagreement does not equal intentional offense or oppression!

Bottom line, don't let social media tear us apart. Because it is. And it's nasty.