Social media has never been the home of empathetic and balanced conversation. From the earliest time a troll could hunker down at a keyboard and translate their grunts into comments, polarising and inflammatory discourse has been the hallmark of online engagement.

If you’re smart, you keep your accounts private and only post banal life updates – a coffee from your favourite cafe, your morning dog walk, life milestones like a promotion or pregnancy announcement – the easy stuff. But if you’re politically engaged, it’s hard not to use social media to air your political and social views.

The Israel-Hamas conflict has been a flashpoint on social media.Credit: Getty

Personally, I’m not shy when it comes to expressing my opinions online. For a start, I write opinion pieces, but I also have had strong views on almost everything since I was a child; both of which don’t always make for great relationship building.

When I post online opinions some deem to be inflammatory, people often get their noses out of joint. For example, I’m an avid animal welfare advocate, and have a particular bee in my bonnet about people buying pedigree or designer-breed dogs instead of adopting animals from a rescue or shelter. This is, according to some people who follow me, is a radical opinion to hold. I know this because they have either brought their disagreement to me via private message, complained to mutual friends about my views, or posted a response pushing back on my view without naming me.

For the most part, I’m pretty philosophical about it. If people don’t like what I’m saying, it probably means I’ve hit a chord.

But it’s the questioning of why I share my opinions online that bothers me. The implication being, why can’t I just post about my morning walk or the latest show I’m binge-watching? Of course, to some, dog adoption is a relatively trivial topic of concern. The past few years have been rife with more serious political issues that have stirred even the more reticent social media users to action.

First, it was COVID-19, vaccinations and state lockdowns. Then, the Voice referendum. As we got closer and closer to voting and both sides of the campaign started ramping up their energy with advertising and carefully placed messaging all over social media, the pressure to show your support (or not) for the Voice to parliament mounted.

As a staunch Yes voter myself, I applauded my networks for their passion on such an important issue. But the flipside was discovering how many people I knew were No voters.