Better, less toxic, social media starts with us

Philip Ellis:

But lately, I’ve found myself wondering: When I quote-tweet a bigoted remark, am I providing much-needed counter speech, or am I simply further amplifying harmful content? Am I changing hearts and minds, or squabbling with trolls who just want conflict for its own sake? I still don’t have a surefire answer to this, but I’m beginning to believe that “joining the conversation” is a responsibility none of us should take lightly — not just for the sake of progress, but for our own mental health and agility.

Journalists, in particular, should be very, very careful about this, because they are often handed an effective megaphone by virtue of their jobs. And then your mistakes become more significant.

(I have a longer piece in the works on this.)