By ANN-MARIE KHOR
brats@thestar.com.my

IN an era where our most mundane thoughts can be tweeted or turned into Facebook statuses, you’ve probably come across a bunch of thinkpieces written about our modern dependency on social media.

Being a social media addict myself, I’m not one to judge. Yes, I, too, am guilty of posting the occasional #selfie and holding up an entire table of people from eating just to get an Instagram-worthy photo of my meal.

However, if you think about it, the Internet and specifically, social media, is truly amazing. It gives you perspective on how big the world can be with the seemingly boundless array of information available to us.

In certain moments, however, it reminds us of how small the world truly is. When the Beijing-bound Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared, the worldwide social media community seemed to converge on this topic.

Suddenly, social media was flooded with people who seemed to have become aviation experts overnight with their in-depth analyses of all kinds of theories.

There were also some who dismissed any search and rescue efforts undertaken by our country as useless, as they had to depend on submarines and ships from other countries.

Sure, we have a submarine that can’t go オンライン カジノ underwater but did you know that the Scorpene is not equipped with search-and-rescue capabilities? Not everything needs to be politicised.

Scrolling through my news feed, it got a little infuriating as I realised that the people who are sounding off at every little thing are not doing anything particularly helpful for the family and those involved in the tragedy.

What we all need to do is learn to be the bigger person on the Internet. Firstly, not everything online warrants a reaction. Frankly, some people are just looking for attention anyway, and by broadcasting their behaviour – thus propagating their posts to a larger audience, enabling it to go viral – you’re actually doing them a favour.

Next, before you retweet, comment, or post something up, think about how potentially hurtful your words can be or if they’re constructive in any way.

If you can’t verify the information you’re about to share, or if it’s bound to invoke negativity more than anything else, then you’re better off keeping your thoughts to yourself.

It’s high time we – regardless of how old we really are – grew up online.

The writer is a member of The Star’s BRATs young journalist programme. For more info, log on to facebook.com/starbrats.