I have a lot of opinions … a lot. I have more opinions than
anybody I’ve ever known and truth be told I probably have more opinions than
most of the people I’ve ever known combined. Those who know me know this to be
true. Those who follow me on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter also
know this to be true. I can’t help but feel that this annoys people. I know for
a fact I’ve even been blocked and unfriended in the past on social media sites
because of my opinions – and most of the time it’s not necessarily because of
the opinions themselves, but simply the sheer quantity of them.
That has always bemused me.
I post stuff – usually my opinions on topics like sports,
music, television, movies and politics – very frequently on social media. It’s
not unusual for me to make more than a dozen posts on social media, many of
these my thoughts, opinions and critiques of stuff, on a daily basis. Sometimes
I’ll even go on spurts where I’ll post maybe a half dozen things in the span of
an hour.
Because of some unwritten social media rules that apparently
exist this seems to bother people. Most of the people who it bothers have
probably already blocked me from their social media timelines so I guess those
that still see my stuff must not mind too much or either they’re better at
ignoring it.
But, it bothers me that my quantity of opinions and thoughts
on a wide range of subjects annoys people. It bothers me because there is
simply no good reason why it should annoy people. People should have a wide
array of opinions on a large group of topics and they should freely share those
opinions. That is a good way to not only get differing opinions out there, but
also a good way to teach people how to debate and defend those opinions when
others disagree, instead of resulting to immature things like name-calling. Nobody
seems to know how to debate anymore – maybe that’s one of the reasons you don’t
see many opinions out there?
When did this unwritten rule about posting too much on
social media or “clogging timelines” come about and why? Which social media
Nazi dictated that social media is simply for things like memes, viral videos
and checking in at various locations – it’s stuff like that I frankly find
annoying on social media, never the opinions of others.
Social media has pretty much become a vast wasteland of
nothing but trash. I say become, but actually it’s pretty much always been this
way. But, we could make it so much more by actually turning it into a place for
conversation on maybe not important topics, but at least interesting topics.
I feel like I do that or at least I try.
I understand there are those out there who might not want to
see a whole lot of sports opinions, but I feel like I offer enough thoughts and
opinions on other topics to remain interesting to even non-sports fans. It’s
the sports thing that always seems to bother people the most, which is why I
point it out. But, even if you’re not into sports I talk about so many other
things that it’s not completely one-sided – as say only whining about one’s
life, as so many social media members do.
Maybe I just have more things that interest me than other
people? But, that’s kind of sad if that’s the case. Maybe other people have a
bigger group of friends and family to share their thoughts and opinions with?
It’s not just that I have all of these opinions it’s that I
enjoy having the audience for them and I really enjoy it when people respond in
some way, even if it’s just by hitting the ‘like’ or ‘retweet’ button because
they agree with my opinion. I really enjoy debating those with differing
opinions, as well, as long as those people can remain mature about it and
actually try to debate.
What I’m really trying to say with this entire piece is why
are we so afraid of 1) having opinions and 2) sharing those opinions with
others these days. And, why does it seem those of us who do it are made to feel
like outsiders for doing so?
There’s the old saying about everybody having an opinion,
but if you look around social media – especially on Facebook – you really
wouldn’t believe it.
