It's estimated that we only get about 75 years to live on this planet and that amount of time might at first seem like a long time, but once you get older those years sure appear to go by much faster. Time is said to be the most valuable resource because you cannot get it back once it has been spent. Because time is so valuable, it's important to be thoughtful with what we do with it; that we don't waste it on something that we might later regret.

One of the things that I have found throughout the years to easily swallow up a great deal of valuable time, is the activity of arguing with other people. Especially with social media today and the ease of responding being just a click away from our fingertips, it's easy to post things and engage in confrontations that we might later regret. Many years ago, after engaging in this fruitless behavior for years, I finally had a thought occur to myself one day 'do you remember who you argued with/what you argued about 3 weeks ago online?'... of course I didn't. 'What about even 3 days ago?' 'What about 2 years ago?'... The majority of the aimless arguments that I had engaged in, were not even worth remembering. That was the first time that I decided to much more aggressively seek to try and avoid engaging in verbal battles online.

I'm not perfect and I still have my weak days where I sometimes fall for the bait, but I do have my mind set on the goal of wanting to try and fuel peaceful and cooperative discourse, rather than anger and arguments. There have been many occasions where I was able to adapt/change my views, after engaging in a discussion with others who disagreed with me, and because of their patience and guidance it enabled me to embrace a new way of thinking. In those circumstances, I never had to get angry and argue first.

When it comes to trying to influence others or teach others some truth that we want to share, or what we believe to be truth, I believe there are more appropriate times/places for such discourse to occur; over others. Aimless and thoughtless discourse, in an argumentative fashion, likely isn't going to change any minds and it's really only going to be good at one thing--wasting time.

Aside from being a giant time-waster, it's also detrimental to your health to engage in conversations that might increase the blood pressure. Researchers have suggested that too much arguing can cause stress, heart attacks and strokes, muscle pains, even mental issues, and possibly triple your risk of dying early; compared to those who argue less often.

A Symptom Of Low Self-Esteem

There are some people who really struggle with the issue of arguing and I used to have a much bigger problem with it than I do now. For some people out there, it really is difficult for them to spend time around others and hear those individuals say something that they don't agree with, and that person not be overwhelmed with a feeling of wanting to respond/retort. Or having to have the last word in a conversation. But is it always necessary? or will it help the situation? Sometimes it just makes you an ass.

It's also an indication of low self-esteem.

If you feel that you need to always correct the views of others, then that could mean that you don't feel secure in your own capabilities. In every circumstance when you argue with someone, I think it's important to pause and consider 'why' we are doing what we are doing and what we hope comes of it. Do we just need to be right?

Say you want to argue with someone about abortion over Twitter, okay but what do you think will come of that? Even if you do change that persons mind, which isn't likely, you then need to go on and change the minds of millions or billions more toward your own view; you don't have enough time. And is that really your goal in life? And why? I think it's important to think about these kinds of things and maybe if we have answers figured out then we will better be able to determine which conflicts are worth our resources and attention, and which aren't.

People don't like to be interrupted, corrected, and contradicted. When we choose to blatantly engage in confrontation with others in a thoughtless manner, it's difficult to expect that those individuals are going to be open to embracing any new ideas, rather than being closed-off and defensive toward our actions.

Don't Get Me Wrong

Debate is a healthy activity for furthering and exploring ideas, fostering innovation, and advancement etc, learning from mistakes. And I am making a distinction here in my post between beneficial peaceful debate/discourse, and disrespectful, heated, angry/argumentation. A lot of the arguments that I had engaged in online are now simply lost in a sea of triviality, on Youtube videos and memes etc, and they are comments that the majority of people in the world will never see or give any attention/care toward. Yet those are seeds of wasted effort that took resources that I will never get back.

Sticking our head in the sand and ignoring meaningful issues isn't going to be beneficial to us or anyone else. We don't have to stay silent on things that matter, causes we are passionate about, in fact I think it's a detriment to the human spirit not to bring attention to whatever you care most about. But that doesn't translate into it being a well-informed idea to engage in any and every argument that you can online. Or to snap back at every comment you hear or read that doesn't agree with your own individual worldview.

Being more cautious about which arguments we funnel our energy into and which we don't, is only going to help benefit us in the long-run.

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The information that is posted above is not intended or implied to ever be used as any substitute for professional medical advice, or diagnosis or treatment. The above is posted for informational purposes only.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2626080/How-arguing-partner-TREBLE-risk-dying-young-The-stress-cause-heart-attacks-strokes.html
http://www.livescience.com/45471-frequent-arguing-early-death.html

Other Posts On This Topic
Dealing With People Who You Don't Agree With
https://steemit.com/philosophy/@doitvoluntarily/dealing-with-people-who-you-don-t-agree-with
Using Communication As A Tactical DE-Escalation Tool
https://steemit.com/philosophy/@doitvoluntarily/using-communication-as-a-tactical-de-escalation-tool