With great bandwidth comes great social media responsibility

We interrupt our regular column for a special public service announcement. We’ve always had opinions. That hasn’t changed. But somewhere along the way, there came an urge to voice our opinions (no matter how small) to everyone on the Internet. And it turned us into a**holes.

It escalated in the form of blogs. Time spent writing about things that affect us. Hours on end telling the world our thoughts on matters that selfishly concern us. Today, the hours have been replaced by seconds, and lengthy blogs by 140 characters.

Even reason has been set aside for what people think to be wit. Educated opinions replaced by bare and shallow comments. We’re not here to claim that we are gifted with the highest form of intelligence — we barely passed economics in college. But we’d like to think we know a little about respect.

Our mother always taught us that if you can’t say anything good and right, don’t say anything at all. We wish more mothers taught this modern-day proverb to their children — or that more of the children actually listened to their mothers, instead of learning everything from @wannabeprophet123. A highly respected friend of ours, and one of the most talented writers of her generation wrote, “Everyone thinks they’re so profound on Facebook. Get over yourselves, people! It’s a social networking site, not a philosophy class!” We couldn’t have said this any better.

A small tip we can give is, if your opinion’s success is indicated by the number of likes or retweets it gets, it may not be worth a damn thing in the real world. Twitter debates and Facebook controversies come as fast as they are forgotten. We’ve become so lax in accepting comments from “armchair critics” that it endangers the opinions that do matter. The rise of social networking sites has given birth to faux-experts. They are the masses of commentators who think themselves boxing analysts, professional stylists, graphic designers, and (god forbid) activists.

There is nothing radical or compelling about some know-it-all criticizing real professionals about real work. Nothing suffers more than integrity and intelligence. There’s something to be envious about our parents or grandparents not knowing much about technology. Their lives are simpler. Their time less cramped. Their work is more productive. The moment you start making fun of your parents for not knowing what Angry Birds are, is the moment you have become something they’ve feared all along: a failure.

Technology isn’t an advantage. It is a privilege, as corny as that sounds. If there are so many rules to driving, there should also be for social media. Getting a car represents growing up. A concrete turning point in one’s life that shows one is ready for more responsibilities. The same goes for what you put online. It’s not about showing off online. It’s about giving out and receiving real information. So put that Instagram away because no one really needs to see how good you look in a sando.Humility is another thing seemingly alien on the Internet. No one ever says sorry anymore, especially on the Internet. It’s been replaced by “I didn’t mean to hurt his/her feelings. It wasn’t my intention to…” You know, half-apologies.

Here’s the thing: if you’re going to try to make a hash tag trend with the words “sex” and “tape” on it, it is 100 percent your intention to do whatever it is you intend to do with that hash tag. And in that truly rare, almost impossible occurrence that it really wasn’t your intention, then that just shows that you need to be a little more careful with that you put online. Or you know, just don’t go online.

Like the great Aaron Sorkin once wrote, “The Internet’s not written in pencil, it’s written in ink.” So man up and say sorry whenever you do harm to someone in the Internet for the sake of being cool. Trust us. It’s easier to spot bullsh*t in 140 characters than it is below actual bulls. This is an opinion about opinions. Everyone has them. This isn’t an attack on one, but an address for those who care for it.

We’re not saying that people shouldn’t give their opinion. That’s just stupid. We’re not saying that you can’t have fun or act a fool online. What we’re saying is that there must be a distinction and separation to everything. You wouldn’t want to listen to someone talking about Mitos Magsaysay while watching Walang Hanggan. You wouldn’t want someone showing you what they had for dinner while you’re dancing in the middle of Republiq. If you’re going to post pictures of yourself getting drunk last night, don’t follow it up with some awful RH Bill meme and then call yourself an activist. We’d like to think you’re discerning enough to know what is proper and apt.

In short, it won’t hurt to shut up once in a while on the Internet.