The Election, Media, and Cyber-bullying

The dust has settled, the votes are in, the election season is finally over. If you are like me, you are thankful for the silence on your local news channels, radio, and social media... just kidding. Your social media posts have been submerged in shared articles, soundbites, or links to videos of debates or press conferences of one of the many candidates. The Freedom of Speech is a wonderful personal liberty and right to have in America. Sharing links or posts on social media is one of the ways society can exchange information or ideas on recent political issues and is another great way to stay connected if you are link me and have little time to devote to watching the evening news. 

One difference in this election cycle and others is how people have responded to shared links or news articles on social media that are either for or against a particular candidate. During the past few months I have watched friends, strangers, professional connections "wallow in the mud" as they have responded to political posts with hate, contempt, and ill-will towards their fellow citizens to only ensure that they have "won" a minute argument over a single issue. Even more so, social media has led to a cyber-bullying atmosphere among any social media users that just share a valuable article on a important issue that affects them. 

Not just voters are dabbling in cyber-bullying activities, even the candidates are getting in on the action such as Donald Trump or media outlets. Cyber-bullying is even an issue among the many national issues being debated among the candidates. The LA Times and other prominent newspaper outlets have written articles on Melania Trumps proposal to combat cyber-bullying as one of the issues her husband would address as the next President. 

With so much anxiety, apprehension, and ill-will on both sides of the political spectrum, my advice to you readers would be to breath, relax, sit down, and think if you are posting or commenting to lend light to an issue or increase the understanding among a group of friends, or are you just pushing "send" to reinforce your own opinions on the issue to feel good about where you stand on the issue? 

Works Consulted:

Mehta, Seema. "Melania Trump Lamented Cyberbullying, and the Internet Went Crazy." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.