The polls are closed. Voting is over. Social media though, will keep going on, seemingly forever. It has a way of grabbing everyone’s attention and spreading like wildfire. Social media is used by nearly everyone in the 21^st century. Information travels incredibly fast and someone around the world can be heard from in an instant. It is important to remember that all forms of social media are used for open expression, but this can get people into trouble. Recently, the United States elected its 45^th president, Donald Trump. Whether you are glad or upset with this fact, social media probably played a big part in your decision to vote for or against him. It seems that every form of social media has been flooded with propaganda for every candidate in the past few months. I believe that next time the election season comes around, social media should not be focused on so heavily.

Facebook and Twitter are used frequently in the daily lives of millions of people. Videos pop up on news feeds constantly and it is easy to find yourself lost in the endless loop of video after video. Even if you are not really paying attention to what you are watching, even if it’s on in the background, it is influencing you. The influence is probably subconscious, but it is there nonetheless. Every time I see a video on my timeline in regards to politics, I usually skip it. This is not because I do not care about politics or the fate of my country. It is simply because, I want to make decisions for myself.

The videos about a candidate, whether or not it is for or against them, are all biased. The person talking to you has probably already decided who they are voting for and they are trying to persuade you to see it their way. The format is usually the same. It is a voiceover of someone who loves or hates the candidate they are talking about, while a video plays beside them. They talk about all the great things that the candidate has done or they point out the faults of the other. The strategy is easy enough to understand, but it is difficult to not fall victim to the ideas at play. The videos are often taken out of context. The creators of the video know that not many people have time to sit down and research a candidate, so they rely on short videos to get the facts. There lies the problem. It is easy to see the faults or accomplishments of someone from a two minute video because the video does not show the whole picture. No one is perfect and a short video can build someone up or tear them down in an instant.

I’m not saying that you need to delete your social media accounts when we vote in four years. Keep your accounts; they can do so much good. But I would warn against relying on them for information. People on the Internet show what they want you to see. There is a problem here that can be so easily combatted, just by taking a few minutes out of the day to focus on what could be the fate of a nation. It would be such a shame to wake up one day and POTUS has done something you do not like, just because you were not informed. America has the resources to find the answers to all the questions. Its time we start deciding if we are looking in the right places.