It’s disheartening when reading replies to some posts on social media. Someone posted a reply regarding Starbucks (not here, but another Facebook page) saying they’ve never been there before. Someone else said, “Who cares? They didn’t ask if you’re been there before. Why would you waste your time posting this?”
I think the real question is, “why am I wasting MY time reading this?” It’s YOUR time that YOU are wasting. It was your choice to read it and respond and how you respond is your own choice and responsibility. An author has a reason for posting what they post. If they’re happy posting it, they’re not wasting their time. Maybe they just wanted to contribute and share and there were no rules on how to reply. I appreciate people's feelings about their right to speak and say what they like but there are those who don't always choose their words carefully and realize how it makes people feel. It's difficult to care more about people we don't know and how they feel but just because it's a right to say what we like doesn't mean we should say them. Our words have consequences on real people and even the real world. Guess what? The real world affects you!
Whatever you’re reading on social media, it doesn’t mean you have to care but it also doesn’t mean you have to be rude or inconsiderate. Whether it’s face-to-face or online through a screen, the people you read comments from are real, no matter how fake social media may seem.
If you find a post or reply that annoys you but isn’t breaking any rules, the best thing to do is to just keep scrolling and move on. I know there are many inconsiderate people and that’s very unfortunate but our behaviors and attitudes do affect us more than you can imagine. If we were more considerate and kind to others, more people would be the same for us and the rest of our day can be more positive and peaceful. What comes around, goes around. I know all this seems cliched but I think it’s worth repeating over and over again until we see changes. We appear to be progressing but we’re not quite there yet! Maybe we’re not supposed to be there yet? Maybe we’re destined to keep doing this for the rest of our lives so younger generations can learn from us? In reality, this could go on forever but we have a choice: let this last forever or finally be the change? Don’t wait for change. Be the change.
We are taught the way we behave to an extent. It’s past time to teach our children and everyone of all ages about kindness and it’s really sad that in 2025 and in the world of social media, we still have to do this. Empathy, kindness and consideration is both innate and taught in some degrees. A young child may be selfish because he wants all the toys to himself and not share them with his younger sibling. So he has to be taught to share even though since birth, he’s had the capacity to be kind.
When it comes to social media, people knows we’re talking to total strangers and that’s very unfortunate we’re talking through screens. So we just say, “who cares what I learned from my parents? People can’t see me, I can just say whatever I want!” and we start treating Facebook like a wild playground with absolutely no repercussions because there is clearly no one around making any rules how to treat others!
Regardless of whether you got a screen in front of you, think about your comments. Are you being kind? Is it necessary? Is it beneficial? Whose time is really being wasted? Theirs…. or yours?
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