Social media sites (like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit to name a few) allow their users to experience a completely open form of freedom of speech in the online world. Ideally, one could post whatever they please, but this does not come without repercussions. With any opinion that one may have, there will be at least one other person that does not agree with it. This disagreement can lead to incivility. In order to promote a healthy environment for all, civility on social media is something we must all work on.
Everyone wants to feel free to voice their opinions on social media, but we must respect that others too may have opinions that very from our own and they too have the right to voice this difference. When these differences come to the surface, debates are a natural way to relieve stresses in relationships between peers, but there is a healthy way to go about this to promote civilly. In order to do this, when debating make sure to present facts and statistics to back up your information rather than giving bias and uneducated opinions. This way, you add to the conversation thoughtfully and intend to educate the other party rather than to condescend them. When trying to educate and add to a conversation, one must make an active effort to be courteous to the other party and take their opinion to the same regard as your own. This was, everyone can feel as if they are validated and equal in the conversation.
To conclude, when implementing free speech and voicing an opinion on social media, be sure to be courteous of others and their right to voice their opinion as well. By doing this, we can promote more civility on social media.