I have always been very vocal about my political views and therefore have often been engaged in many civil debates with my peers. This election has not been any different. I have made my dislike for the Republican nominee very clear since the beginning and have had only a handful of disagreements. It was not until I officially voiced my support for Hillary Clinton that I started to be unfriended. People who I had been friends with since middle school stopped talking to me because they don’t agree with my support for Clinton or the article I wrote urging them to vote for the Democratic nominee.

This election had dealt with many sensitive topics and evoked many passionate opinions. Thanks to the technological advances and many forms of social media, many individuals are able to share their political opinions with friends and family, faster and easier than ever before. The combination of both has unfortunately caused a rift between individuals since most were accustomed to not knowing other friends’ and family members’ political stances. People are growing more uncomfortable with the sharing of political opinions and in an effort to avoid confrontations they resort to blocking and unfriending people they do not agree with instead of having a civilized conversation about their differences.

It may seem easier and tempting to hide someone’s posts or just delete or block an old friend or even a family member, but people should not be unfriended or ostracized because of their political opinions. That is how things get so polarized, to begin with. We already have people take in one-sided media like FOX News, we do not also need more polarization from people silencing seemingly offensive opinions from friends and family. We do not need people existing in spaces where they only hear only one type of opinion. We do not need more echo chambers. We instead need to be exposed to multiple ideas and opinions to grow as human beings.

Surrounding themselves with only their own opinions prevents people from hearing or getting to know the other side of things- which leads people to be intolerant of others’ opinions which perpetuates a cycle. We need more open, civil political discussions at a time like this -- not less.