Get your facts straight

PSA: Twitter is not a credible news source

Honestly, I’m just going to say it: Twitter has ruined our generation.

Yes, while there is some high-quality comedy going on in the universe of Twitter, there’s also a boatload of horse shit. It’s as if the internet — an endless resource of information — has ruined people’s ability to think critically for themselves.

Ironic, I know. There’s an endless amount of tweets loaded with ignorance and emotional responses to issues that are just unreasonable. Which is fine, as everyone has their right to say what they please, but it becomes a problem when other people begin to treat those tweets as their main source of credible information on current issues.

It’s so rare to see people be able to remove themselves emotionally from a situation and actually see it from both sides, especially in politics. This is all too clearly displayed on Twitter where the latest viral tweet with over 200,000 favorites is just illogical, emotional ranting, but is labeled as an insightful opinion on a political issue.

Social media in general has kindled this attitude of going viral and it has led to millions of people desperately trying to say the popular opinion before someone else does. It’s as if people don’t even care about knowing all the facts about an issue before forming their opinion. Instead, they form their opinion based on the emotional side of the issue and find facts to support it. This is called confirmation bias and you could pretty much label 95 percent of political tweets with it.

The most frustrating part about this is that it makes me never want to have a debate, or even a discussion, about politics with anyone, ever. Because nine times out of 10, I’ll have seen your opinion on Twitter about 30 times already and it’s just illogical.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that everyone on Twitter is ignorant. Just the loudest or most popular accounts tend to be the most unreasonable and go viral most often. Because it’s what people want to hear, even if it’s not the truth.

Fellow students, please do better. Do your research, be informed and think critically. Especially in the midst of election season, don’t just go with whatever Twitter is saying. Get on candidates’ websites and find out what they stand for and decide if YOU agree with them or not.

We’re all smart enough to get into college. Let’s be smart enough to know what we stand for.