EVER since I have limited my social media use and started observing the behaviour of people around, I have realised that the young generation — my generation — has lost its ability to listen and respect others’ opinions. Whether or not it ever had the ability in the first place is a matter of another discussion.

Many people share news and opinions on social media with enthusiasm and back their arguments with ‘researched’ facts, but if someone tends to differ with their opinions, their overwhelming sense of self-righteousness takes over to the extent that they stop listening to the other person’s views.

They want to win an argument, dominate the other person, and dismiss opinions that vary from their own.

As a generation, I feel, we have forgotten the basic social value of respecting others and their opinions. I agree that some of them are too outrageous to be respected, but many people are open to new perspectives if educated properly. And one can only educate a person if s/he is ready to listen and understand.

Respect for opinions is an art that can be mastered with self-control and tolerance.

We have all been debating for far too long and far too often. It is about time we started listening and giving ourselves the opportunity to re-examine our own views and perceptions. Our egos and sense of self-righteousness will get us nowhere.

Noor Jehan
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2021