Your social media feed is toxic.

On the surface it may seem reassuring.  Reading social media leads you to believe that many others feel the way you do. It’s superficial.

Spending time on social media doesn’t strengthen your position in the real world. It just strengthens your chosen view of reality.  And it’s not real strength born of hard work. It’s strength born of tension.  The way a rubber band’s tension is strong enough to hold a big bundle of letters together, but if you stretch it too far it snaps.

If confirmation is all you seek, that’s fine.  But if you’re looking for action that leads to real results, do what our outgoing President suggests.

Talk to people in real life.  People you disagree with.  Talk to them as people. You probably won’t change their minds, but you shouldn’t enter the conversation attempting that.  Your goal should be to understand their mindset more completely.
Don’t worry if they care about yours.

When you talk to people you disagree with, don’t talk.  Listen.  Let them tell their story, and don’t rebut it, even if they have facts wrong.  Then, ask them questions. Calmly. Let them explain themselves to you and justify their arguments as clearly as they can. From that exchange, you’ll learn whether any of their arguments have merit. Don’t be surprised if some of them do.  You’ll also see where the flaws are in their logic.  That insight is valuable to you.  To work toward the change you want, you need to understand the obstacles you’ll face and devise a way around them.  Taking potshots on Facebook doesn’t get you on that path.  Human dialogue does.