Welcome to my World

I want to start by saying I am currently unfollowing people who are excessively posting all the current political trends (this doesn’t sound good, I cannot think of a better word right now) on Instagram. Because of my anxiety, I will randomly spiral into a very manic state occasionally when hearing about upsetting issues. Because of this, I mostly use my social media as an escape- I want to acknowledge that this is very privileged- and I do not follow my friends to see the news. When I want to know the news, I search it out.

I have political opinions, but all my opinions come down to wanting to know the facts. Lately, my opinion on many issues due to time restraints is that I do not feel that I know enough details to have an opinion. For that reason, I don’t think there is any reason I should be sharing my early opinions on Instagram. I believe this is even in the case of Instagram infographics; just because everyone else is sharing, it does not mean you need to. I also believe choosing not to share or comments on politics does not make you a bad person no matter the size of your platform.

My mom has made a good point to me in that the only we can ever truely say something is completely true would involve seeing the actual evidence for ourselves, and not someone elses interpretation of it.

With all this being said, what I do not quite understand is people that think the information going around on Instagram right after events is always correct. You are demanding justice as if that is something that can be given immediately. The legal system takes time because there are systems to get all the facts and a complete picture. I will happily accept though, the thought that it appears some parts of this system might need to change in current times.

. So again, I do not believe sharing information on Instagram is always helpful. Yes, please share petitions and where I can get more information. But if you want to share something that is allegedly stating a fact, fact check it.

To conclude, I want to acknowledge I am privileged in many ways, and I know my privilege can affect my opinions. For that reason, I am always happy to hear other ideas, and I believe discussion is what is important when it comes to politics.   

What do other people think about this? I saw a very interesting instagram post about the Climate Crisis linked here, which I think makes a very good point about sharing on instagram contributing to eco- anxiety, and I think the sames point could be made about other non-environmental issues. There is so much pressure on individuals when more pressure needs to be put on corporations, and governments. I guess the conundrum here is that individuals have to be a part of creating that pressure, so we do have to speak out to get our voices heard.