Whenever I see a comment on social media that I think is wrong, I feel the need to correct it. These arguments can go on for days, even weeks, and if I don’t win the argument, I get overly fixated on it, wondering where I went wrong and so on.
I don’t argue with people who are wrong. I point out where they are wrong, and why, for the sake of passers-by who may need more complete information, because most people are lurkers, and most people tend to believe what’s typed on the internet without much further question.
Yeah, I tend to reply for lurkers, not to change the OPs mind.
Lurkers who haven’t entered a dog in the fight are more likely to be convinced than someone already wound up and swinging. As they read, they are more open, much as I am when I lurk.
This is also why I don’t necessarily mind “fake” posts. The original situation in the post might be fake, but the discussion from people responding does tend to have good or interesting responses in varying levels of nuance.
You don’t argue with people you think are wrong.
Leave all meta products; they are build in a way that arguing is promoted. Only reply once to a post; never twice, tell you opinion and stop.
The problem with the internet is that however many people to convince to join your side – or even just correct – there will always be more. It is beyound your capability to correct them all, and you will burn out. So why even start. The rule I follow is to only discuss politics when it’s face to face, IRL – like in a pub. These kinds of discussions are better IRL anyway because people feel a duty to keep discussions civil so there’s much less chance of it descending into a nasty flame war
Don’t bother. Most people don’t care about facts, they just want their existing beliefs to be reinforced. You will not sway them, only waste time. They may even be intentionally posting incorrect information to troll or mislead. Don’t give them the time.
I see a lot of “just don’t” comments in here which doesn’t seem very helpful.
What are you afraid will happen if you don’t correct the wrong comment? Let’s start there.
I’m afraid that some people will be misled by this misinformation and that it will become increasingly widespread in society.
If that’s where this feeling is coming from, you could think of it this way: you will post the correct info. The OG will probably not change their mind and may argue with you with more incorrect info. Someone else might see your comment, see the OG, and think “huh yeah I didn’t realize the OG was incorrect”. You have helped someone who may have been misled.
By continuing to argue with the OG, you are just giving them more opportunity and platform to spread more misinformation. If you just post once, with the correct info, the idiot might reply and post more dumb things but you dont need to give them the time of day because you know that other people will see that they are wrong.
Well put. Often a single well said response will make OP come across better than endless arguing too. So if they want to change other’s minds, staying above the fray is the way to go.
I usually reply once. I don’t argue. I said what I said, bye.
This is the correct way. Reply -> turn off notifications -> forget about it -> live a happy life.
Self discipline.
Once I learned the skill of purposely removing myself from certain online things…world of Warcraft and social media arguing were two big ones…I got a lot of my life back.
It really just comes down to self discipline and self control, which are necessary to learn if you want to actually mature and grow up.
Edit: you could also consider it the art of learning boundaries.
I’ve realized for myself, the social media platform itself can make a difference. Lemmy with the clear direct replies makes it much too easy to get into a direct back and forth, whereas on Mastodon it’s way harder
But also, finding things to do with my time offline has helped immensely in breaking some of those nasty feedback loops that digital stuff is designed to sink people into
You should stop treating arguments like a game. The point isn’t to win - it’s to find the truth. Every argument should start from the acknowledgement that you might be wrong, and if so, you wish to not be wrong for a minute longer than necessary. I can’t think of a single thing that better demonstrates intellectual honesty than someone actually changing their view when faced with a convincing argument.
However, not all arguments are worth continuing. When your opponent doesn’t even engage with what you’re saying, or when you’re not even open to the possibility that they might have a point, there’s no reason to keep going - there’s no end to it. So many online “arguments” are just people performing for an audience with no real regard for whether their points are landing or not. They’re after applause, not a change of mind.
I can’t think of a single thing that better demonstrates intellectual honesty than someone actually changing their view when faced with a convincing argument.
What if this argument is actually weak, and only appears strong because you have no counter-argument? Should you still change your mind? Does the fact that it is persuasive mean it is true?
Well, no - it doesn’t always mean they’re right. However, why would you hold on to your old view if someone makes an argument against it that you can’t counter? At the very least it should give you some pause and make you look more deeply into the reasons why you’re clinging to that view in the first place. Even if it doesn’t directly disprove your point, it should still show that maybe you don’t actually have the level of understanding on the subject that warrants the confidence you have in that particular view and perhaps you just want this to be the truth.
It’s okay to have an opinion on something or lean toward A being more likely true than B, while still acknowledging that it’s just your current view - not necessarily the absolute truth.
I mean, imagine not being able to respond to someone who defends the flat world. Even though I don’t know enough about this, I trust scientists, even if I can’t provide enough arguments that the earth is geoid at that moment, is this a good reason to question my view? We have a lot of beliefs in life that we don’t defend very well. If we want to justify all of them, I guess we won’t have time to live.
In a situation like this, you’d need to consider whether them being right on this particular point would actually shift your position.
A flat-earther might claim the moon landing never happened, show you a picture, and explain how it was actually taken in a studio. Okay - maybe you can’t prove them wrong. Maybe they even made a valid observation about that picture. What happens if you grant them this one point and acknowledge that yeah, they’re making a good point and maybe this particular picture is fake? Then what? Does that prove the moon landing never happened? No. Does it prove the earth is flat? No. At most it proves that one specific picture was fake. You still have a mountain of evidence supporting your belief that the earth is a sphere, not a disc, so it doesn’t shift your original view. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. Just because someone proves to you that jet fuel doesn’t melt steel beams doesn’t mean you have to grant them that 9/11 was an inside job. It’s not a logical contradiction to hold these two views at the same time.
These arguments can go on for days, even weeks, and if I don’t win the argument, I get overly fixated on it, wondering where I went wrong and so on.
Gotta have a strategy for deciding on a stopping point. A good overall goal for a social media argument is to get people reading to consider things they might not have thought about or been aware of before, so it’s probably not going to help if all you have left to say is finding new ways to rephrase the points you’ve already made, or explaining in detail basic uncontroversial things that your opponent is playing dumb about. It isn’t bad to let them have the last word if there is nothing that you really need to clarify or address.
Unfortunately when you get an inbox notification and read some inflammatory things, making that call to walk away is hard because emotionally you get worked up about it. This is why I think “disable inbox replies” is a good feature Reddit has and threadiverse software should implement it, a lot of the time you know in advance that you’ve already said your piece and whatever someone writes in response to you, it’s very likely going to be a mistake to respond again, and it helps a lot to just remove the temptation.
Discuss don’t try and “win,” what are you winning I’m not turning up with a prize.
There’s an XKCD for that as always: https://xkcd.com/386/
If the person does not seem like they would be receptive to seeing another view point, I probably just ignore (and, if transphobic, racist, sexist, etc., typically block the person). Every once in a while I might make a comment and judge the reaction first.
If the person seems like they actually want to consider their and other positions, I might make a comment with some back and forth.
I guess the exception to that is when I see posts like ‘Japan is like X’ or ‘All Japanese people do Y’ and it’s just plain wrong. In those cases, I will always post at least once.
I also work a fulltime job, have a small farm, and have a house to maintain so I’m not typically swimming in free time for arguments anyway.
Bro dont argue on public social media especially fb. They’re idiots. I only stay there for marketplace and like 2 friends.
I wish i could voice my thoughts on fb but I’d get instantly labeled as a terrorist by the Drump regime for daring to go against dear leader and oligarchy.
On public social media they likely think I’m a right wing Drump voter 😄
Dude, whom do you call idiots? Facebook is still a normal platform. Don’t understand what that fuss is about. It still works as it was.
Mmmm bud its been co opted heavily by the alt right and Russian bots a decade ago, maybe more. Its a cesspool.
Zucc: “they just gave all their information to me. Dumbfucks”
Ah, the irony I tried to do was to start arguing online on Lemmy about it, by presenting the opposite opinion.
However I forgot about notification function, and missed all replies.
Facebook sucks a lot for sure.
It happens !
Honestly, if you mean Facebook then I salute you for having the patience. If I had to correct the moronic comments I see whenever I use that platform I’d explode. It genuinely made me loose faith in democracy as a system. I honestly don’t think half of these people should have a vote.
I actually mean instagram and x.
Speaking of Facebook, I’ve been seeing comments there from people who are seemingly completely unaware or in denial of the crimes Trump has committed. Whenever there’s a post about how he ought to be removed from office and/or arrested, these people go “on what grounds?” “Name one crime he’s committed. I’ll wait”. Like, I don’t get the vive they’re sincerely asking, I get the vibe it’s a rhetorical challenge. They think it’s a gotcha. They legitimately don’t think people have an answer fir what Trump has done that should warrant removal from office
