I'm not sure when or where this occurred, but at some point I just became less inclined to speak up on social media. I still do, of course, but now there's this little...cringe....inside of me whenever I do. The sarcasm, the gaslighting, the armchair 'experts' who seemingly exist just to punch holes in whatever opinion I have - this mean-spiritedness has made me far, far less likely to engage in most conversations online. And, I've watch this translate over into my offline life, as well. It seems like my world has become a gigantic minefield where every step could potentially blow up in my face from someone who somehow got offended by something I said, or someone who has made it their life's mission to correct every opinion I have. I just....stopped engaging, for the most part.
What's even worse is that I've found myself exhibiting the exact same sort of behavior from time to time. It's like social media is trying to train me to be argumentative and rude. Everyone tells me that it's 'just the way it is', but I can't help feeling like we can do better....or at least wishing that we could.
To be cringe is to be free. Posting opinions and feeding trolls online is generally a losing game though.
IIRC term "Social Media" was coined at the time of MySpace-Facebook, where a person mostly interacted with real people they knew, just online. Now it is mostly strangers in the same niche/community/subreddit.
I have a complementary opinion - no one likes jerks, but IRL people are often too "polite" to call others out on their bullshit. So that one coworker who says terrible things thinks he is right because no one confronts him. And your relative believes that online armchair expert. And some asshole does not pick up after their dog at a public park.
I understand what you're saying, but calling people out just pisses them off and starts an argument that usually ends with both parties walking away swearing and namecalling over their shoulder (if things don't get violent). At least that's been my experience. Which is why I simply don't engage, or at least try not to. It's the same both online and offline, as far as I can tell.