Leave Politics Alone

https://socialmediaandpolitics.org/

Written by: Jacob Forton 

Watching Me

    As an active social media user, I have noticed now more than ever that whenever I speak something out loud or watch specific videos, those same videos keep reappearing almost like someone is looking and listening to me on a daily basis. I know I can't be the only one who fears they are being watched, yet nothing is going to change due to my active interactions throughout many platforms to keep in touch with my friends and family while using my social media as a way to escape all my problems that I face in this crooked world. 

How I Feel 

    During my social media class these past couple of weeks, we had been discussing politics and how social media plays a role in politics vs back in the day social medias presence wasn't as developed as it is right now therefore people had to gain knowledge on who to vote for where as in times right now you can read an article off of a verified account and make your decision off of that. As I was sitting in class I often found myself becoming bored with the politics topic and I know I can't be the only one... I am aware that certain people are involved and enjoy what they like, as an athlete I love sports but I know many people that could care less about sports and athletes. Therefore, I feel as if this is the same category I fit in just in terms with politics.

     As a young adult, I have been blessed with a chance to vote 1 time in my life and if I am being honest because I am not interested in politics, my vote was based off of what my parents told me to do which really made me question how many others are influenced based off of what people say or what they see on social media. Everyone is aware that politics are important, but for someone like me I have seen differences on candidates and voting for a certain party lead to family members hatred towards one another as well as friends fighting and judging others based strictly off who they want to vote for. This is sad because at this point if i am gonna be judged or lose family because I disagree on who should be president why would I want to vote in the first place. I am just stating how I feel as life is still going to go on whether my vote wins or not. As a man that just wants to find peace in a world that's closing in on him, it seems like peace will never come and picking a side usually will lead to breaking the country apart or split into two sides because if someone is gonna judge me, how many others are being judged too. 

Social Media's Impact 

    Social media is not only a great tool for us to become noticed, but it is also a great way to get fake news too. This also doesn't help when we have presidents who now use social media to make jokes and share all of their business even getting accused of buying followers or using bots. At some point you think other countries are definitely making fun of us. 
    Because of social media's popularity, and a ton of young adults don't watch the news, we use social media to see what is going on in the world whether that is athletes or celebrities and the world around us. But what might have hurt Trump in his recent election was the posts others made about him being racist all because of how he acted on interviews. Now I don't know if that is true but see how I can be convinced all because of a post. This is how we act on social media, we see something and we automatically believe it because it is on the internet. 
    Something must change, we need to leave politics alone and hire solid government officials that have more knowledge than us citizens that are influenced by our votes. Like I said I'm just stating how I feel and I think that not everyone has to vote. I don't see it as a wasted vote because a wasted vote is one that is not educated and is influenced by family or social media and the fear of being judged.