Following Debate, Social Media Explosion Can’t Be Ignored

by kgarafano | September 12, 2012 9:55 am

By KRISTEN GARAFANO

It’s unavoidable. The witty comments, snarky tweets, angry debates and lengthy rants. Every time an event such as a competitive sports game, well known awards show, or anticipated news broadcast is shown on television, people on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter go crazy.

This past Tuesday, when the second presidential debate was shown on TV, things were no different.

Personally, I’ve come across a couple different types of individuals and ways in which they react.

First, there’s the person who thinks they know everything and will not sway from their opinion or consider anyone else’s. These are the types of people who post statuses bluntly declaring who they’re voting for and why they think the other candidate should not be elected. If other people respond hashing out their personal opinions, they will not back down until someone gets tired or bored and logs off the site.

Sometimes the verbal attacks can even get personal, which leads into the next type of person. This individual actually likes to start up drama. They thrive on it. They look for the first opportunity to counter someone’s remark and manage to get thrown into a full on brawl with comments popping up left and right. These are always entertaining to watch happen right before your eyes, but be careful to never get involved. You’ll never get out.

The next person is the one who gets annoyed by everyone tweeting and posting statuses about their opinion on the debate, and announces just how annoyed they are to their followers and friends, therefore contradicting themselves. They think they’re being clever and original, but really, they are just like everyone else.

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For me, I just like to watch as these comments unfold, laugh at the rare funny ones and shake my head at the people who get angry and start fights.

To Ignore or Not to Ignore?

Everyone has an opinion. Some just like to share it more than others. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow people to do just that, and get feedback in response. But while some use these sites as an outlet to spew what they believe, others disagree, feeling that there’s a time and place to discuss political opinions.

Still, who’s to say you can’t write what you want on Facebook or Twitter? One of the first things you see when you open Facebook is a box to post status updates that asks “What’s on your mind?” Twitter users get their own profiles, where they are free to tweet what they want. If their followers disagree with it, they can unfollow them or simply choose to ignore them.

People do have freedom of speech, and the Internet is just another means to vent. I don’t always necessarily agree with what people post, and I certainly don’t like to get involved, which is why sometimes the best thing to do is just close your computer and avoid opening up the sites on your smartphone.

While at times it is intriguing to know how your friends and acquaintances feel about certain topics like politics, sometimes the updates on social media sites can get out of hand. And when that happens, its best to log off.

Source URL: https://class1.ramaporecord.org/?p=9785

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