Social media has funneled everyone’s feeds so your opinions are just repeatedly thrown back at you

There’s a reason there is no ‘dislike’ button

I’m sure your first impression of this article was one of the following: “too long,” “too wordy,” “no pictures,” or “why should I care?” Stick with me and you’ll see that you haven’t fallen into the trap that many critics have claimed is one of the thousands of problems with millennials.

The world is being run by social media algorithms and suggested posts that show you exactly what you already believe or like. If you don’t like something you are supposed to ignore it or delete the person that attempted to share it. Never should one broaden their horizons through discussion, or challenge anything but instead hit the like button in silence.

As a liberal with many conservative friends, I see posts I disagree with all of the time, and when I do anything other than agree with them I am told to keep scrolling, or to “stop preaching.” I have been told repeatedly to keep my political opinions to myself, because most of my friends disagree with me, but is that the point of political conversation?

Instead of real communication, relatable memes are shared and words are deleted. Any discussion is avoided, because the point of the post was only to share something that might contribute to some sense of popularity. If one is to bring up anything adverse they are classified “the annoying Facebook friend,” because instead of commenting a laughing emoji they type out a thought. All of these tendencies that are coming out of social media culture are alienating critical thought.

Posts are actually ignored, because they are “too long to read,” thus twitter was created and the option to “See More…” was added to Facebook to not intimidate readers. This has given users the choice of whether or not to care about what is being said by someone they call a “friend.” Do you read the posts that make you unhappy? Do you ever click see more?

With these concepts in mind I recently created a short experiment with a facebook post that read as follows:

I honestly expected a few responses. I received 112. Most said that I tricked them with my mysterious language, saying things like “I feel bamboozled,” and “fuck you for this,” but either way, that many people read the post and cared to respond. This honestly gave me hope in the fact that people aren’t mindlessly scrolling.

I also hope that enough of those people will start contributing to meaningful conversation and truly listening instead of enjoying the algorithms that throws their opinion back at them.

These concepts have surpassed social media and have become the public climate. Each camp of beliefs are separating instead of combining like we all need to. I ask you to rethink your choices; whether they be to ignore, delete, or silence. I ask you to listen more, and by doing so learn more, even if it’s just about a new perspective. You do not have to open your heart, but your ears and potentially your mind so we can all be for the better.

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University of Pittsburgh