Social media has become indispensable to daily life.
In letting us connect casually with distant friends and obtain information from around the world in an instant, its convenience is immeasurable.
Yet as social media has spread, new problems have arisen one after another.
Cases in which false information spreads as though it were fact and throws society into confusion are endless.
Posts that viciously attack others under cover of anonymity have also become a major social problem.
Calls for legal regulation are growing louder, but tightening controls risks undermining freedom of expression, so this is not a question that admits of an easy answer.
In my view, what is ultimately in question is the attitude of each individual user.
We have entered an age in which, when taking in information, we have no choice but to make a habit of checking whether the source is trustworthy and whether fact and opinion are being conflated.
Social media itself is not to blame.
How a tool is used is, in the end, left to us humans, so information education at school and at home should be made still more substantial.
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