While every election cycle is unique in its own way – and 2016 is certainly no exception – there seems to be one thing that will inevitably remain constant: political posts on Facebook.
I’m sure I’m not the only one whose feed has become inundated with posts from my hyper-conservative uncle or my super-liberal high school friend. However, it seems like I’m the only one who doesn’t mind.
To put it simply, social media is made for sharing. Frankly, it is strange to me that we are more open to seeing what our second cousin twice removed did over the weekend than we are to seeing our friends’ political opinions.
The biggest reason, I suspect, is that we don’t like to see things we don’t agree with. It’s human nature to ignore or push away ideas that question our own views. However, if we continue to do this and continue to accept it as a valid way of processing information, how are we to ever learn?
By not listening to the other side, we enter an echo chamber where our views are met with constant validation, leading us to believe there is no room or no need for compromise. How can we criticize our elected officials for refusing to listen to each other and for causing political gridlock when we do the same things ourselves?
There is nothing more dangerous to democracy than being so set in your ways that you refuse to let in any other information. Doing so creates an uninformed population of voters whose opinions only get stronger over time.
Considering that an increasing number of people get their news from sites like Twitter and Facebook, social media can often provide users with the only political information they get.
It doesn’t help that Facebook, Twitter and Google track browsing histories to show viewers things they want to see and hear, either. It is no coincidence that your news feed shows you the same shoes you just searched for.
The same algorithm is used to influence the news you read. While Facebook can control these ads, they can’t control what your friends post. That opinion will be put out into the world whether you like it or not, and you’re only shorting yourself by refusing to read it.
I’ll also acknowledge that a lot of the time people are not basing their opinions on facts. While I understand that this can be infuriating, you’re doing no one any good by writing a vague, passive aggressive status about how annoying politics are.
When engaged in person, people are much more likely to correct others in a situation like this. Yet when placed behind a screen, we start to care much less about correcting factual errors and voluntarily choose to let the misinformation (which is often in the form of poorly created memes or charts) perpetuate because it’s easier.
Look, I do understand on another, simpler, note that seeing people spout their opinions online is just annoying. However, whether you like it or not, these posts reflect conversations that are happening in the real world, with or without you. You owe it to yourself to at least try to listen to the other side.
At the end of the day, if you are truly that bothered by political opinions on Facebook, then ignore them. No one is forcing you to be a more well-rounded voter, but you have no right to complain when others use the rights afforded to them to do so.
The views and opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section are those of the authors of the articles. They are not an endorsement of the views of The Chronicle or its staff. The Chronicle does not discriminate based on the opinions of the authors.