Whenever I see a comment on social media that I think is wrong, I feel the need to correct it. These arguments can go on for days, even weeks, and if I don’t win the argument, I get overly fixated on it, wondering where I went wrong and so on.
I’m not exactly great at it myself… but my dad used to tell me a story from his job.
There was a guy that made some claims, another desperately trying to correct him and tell him he’s wrong. To no avail, afterwards, he turned to another person that had a doctorate in the very topic they were arguing about. And said “why didn’t you say anything!? You know he is wrong!”
To which the doctor replied “yeah, but it’s not my problem that he’s an idiot”
It’s already been mentioned that some people are putting on a show for an audience. There’s more to the social media metagame too. Many are simply trolls. Social media has gone a lot deeper than basic forum posting days.
Some commenters are setting up their own victory or confirmation bias. They post something incendiary which is an invitation for polar opposite replies so they can dump their prepared responses, which always sounds better than anyone who replies with a comment written off the cuff.
Sometimes they’re reposting a common variant of an (un)popular remark that more people than not will upvote/downvote or reply in agreeance/disagreeance with, thus proving a point to themselves (an audiences).
Of course there’s the ones who are flooding the zone with shit so they can shift the Overton Window.
I don’t know about you guys but the more I think about it the more social media seems like an actual asylum. There’s not an exchange of ideas like back in the older days of the internet. It’s more like the mentally unstable unhoused people who roam around cities arguing with themselves. Social media puts them all in a single room and let’s chaos ensue. All while the tech industry sells ads and subscriptions to view the pandemonium.
Bro dont argue on public social media especially fb. They’re idiots. I only stay there for marketplace and like 2 friends.
I wish i could voice my thoughts on fb but I’d get instantly labeled as a terrorist by the Drump regime for daring to go against dear leader and oligarchy.
On public social media they likely think I’m a right wing Drump voter 😄
Dude, whom do you call idiots? Facebook is still a normal platform. Don’t understand what that fuss is about. It still works as it was.
Mmmm bud its been co opted heavily by the alt right and Russian bots a decade ago, maybe more. Its a cesspool.
Zucc: “they just gave all their information to me. Dumbfucks”
weed
Yeah it can be rough. My strategy is simple; I practice radical acceptance of the fact that 1) I’m always right about everything no matter what and 2) everybody else is wrong and stupid. Also 3) nobody is more knowledgeable than me about any subject, period. Its simply impossible.
I find that this goes a long way towards reducing friction. Hope this helps!
Honestly, if you mean Facebook then I salute you for having the patience. If I had to correct the moronic comments I see whenever I use that platform I’d explode. It genuinely made me loose faith in democracy as a system. I honestly don’t think half of these people should have a vote.
Speaking of Facebook, I’ve been seeing comments there from people who are seemingly completely unaware or in denial of the crimes Trump has committed. Whenever there’s a post about how he ought to be removed from office and/or arrested, these people go “on what grounds?” “Name one crime he’s committed. I’ll wait”. Like, I don’t get the vive they’re sincerely asking, I get the vibe it’s a rhetorical challenge. They think it’s a gotcha. They legitimately don’t think people have an answer fir what Trump has done that should warrant removal from office
I actually mean instagram and x.
Fair play. Instagram I use for reals and that’s it. Pure dopamine idiocy. Basically addicted. X I avoid - I didn’t even enjoy it as twitter, but now it’s just vile. I think Lemmy is the only platform where I actually read and comment tbh. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not. One thing’s for sure, I should definitely get back into reading books
An adage that i found helps: never argue with an idiot, because the best possible outcome is that you will win an argument against an idiot
To put it a slightly different way- think about what you’re doing and why. Will it achieve anything? Will anybody find it useful? Will it enrich your life? Or are you just chasing a cheap, hollow, short-lived dopamine hit?
Add to that the fact that nowadays there’s a reasonable chance that you’re interacting with a chatgpt prompt designed to farm engagement, and it should become relatively easy to have those “…what am i doing?” moments
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Like this.
Realize that they don’t see you as a person, and no amount of logic or reason will change their opinion. You aren’t having a spirited debate about the fundamentals or right and wrong. This isn’t you face to face with someone, where you may have a chance at influencing them.
Spend your mental energies on people in real life. The internet is for memes and jokes.
I used to get in social media fights a lot. Still do occasionally. I’m not sure what advice to give. I’m not sure exactly how I stopped caring so much about strangers opinions. I guess what you need to do is just recognize that you can’t change some people’s opinions and avoid commenting when it will lead to drama. Or just say your piece and accept that people may or may not leave negative replies, you don’t have to reply back every time. I know it’s all easier said than done, you just need to not care as much what people think
Delete the app
I’ve learned if a person is properly egregious, muting them is the best option. I’m doing that for a lot of apologia of bad takes on here.
Leaving social media helps… But if someone is wrong on Lemmy that’s a whole new problem I can’t help with.
I would say don’t sweat it too much and if you eat downvotes sometimes that’s fine.
Easy. I don’t respect people who are wrong on the Internet. I just imagine them as drooling idiots with only two braincells to their name. What could I even accomplish if I changed their mind? Then they’d be wrong somehow but on my side.
