'If you love them, go talk to them' – Plato

We are all social media users. Whether we like it or not, we spend a significant amount of time on the internet to connect with our loved ones or people we like less, to exchange information, and to learn new things. However, there is one aspect of the internet that bothers me a lot: QUOTES. Motivational quotes bearing the signatures of classical or contemporary authors, or quotes describing countries, nations, or emotional states are shared. When you read these, you realize that it is almost impossible for that person to have said such a thing.

Sharing all kinds of quotes is not a problem in itself. The problem is that some quotes are signed by people, whether living or dead. Most likely, these people would be absolutely surprised if they saw their names used in such quotes. It is true that there are pages where some users compile quotes from well-known people for entertainment purposes (just for fun). We all laugh when we see them. But there is a problem here. It is that some users take these quotes seriously and share them, thinking they are true. To understand the seriousness of the problem, read the following quotes:

"If you love them, go talk to them" – Plato

"Girls take after their aunt, boys take after their uncle" – Charles Darwin

"At weddings, the groom's side should rent the hall, and the bride's side should buy the groom's suit" – Sigmund Freud

The most touching words belong to Elon Musk: "What really matters is a person's good heart"

Einstein's "signed" quotes are among people's favorites. Einstein could be called the champion of fake quotes. There is no evidence that the quote saying, "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots" belongs to Einstein. At the very least, this information can be found on the website www.quoteinvestigator.com, which was created to verify the origin and authenticity of various quotes.

Another historical figure to whom various quotes are attributed is ATATÜRK. Here, we must not forget the historian İlber Ortaylı, whom we all love. In fact, in an interview, while talking about quotes that he did not say, Professor İlber said, "I didn't say these, but I liked these words very much."

People share quotes for different reasons. They want to share something they like with their friends to motivate them. However, most of the time, these quotes can also be shared to convey hidden messages that they do not dare to say directly. At this stage, the first "wall" we hide behind is social media, and the second "wall" is the quotes we share. The reason some people share such quotes may stem from their desire to appear more knowledgeable and smarter.

The internet and social networks have provided people with freedom of expression they could never have imagined. With a single click, someone unknown to anyone can become recognizable or at least visible in the online environment. Social networks provide access to everyone, including the educated and the uneducated. Italian author Umberto Eco said the following about ignorant people: "In the past, there were village fools who would talk after drinking two or three glasses of wine at the cafe. But someone would immediately curb and silence them. Social media now gives a voice to armies of fools. Now, thanks to social media, they can speak as much as a Nobel Prize-winning author. It is an invasion of idiots."

It has been scientifically proven that masses of uneducated or uninformed people are much more active, bold, and loud on the internet. Thanks to algorithms that make the boldness of these masses more visible and mobilize them, they also come to the forefront on social networks. The speed and frequency with which they publish or distribute information often lead to impressive, shocking results.

The passive consumer of traditional media has turned into an active consumer in the age of social media. One of the communication theories developed by American sociologist Elihu Katz and his colleagues in the 70s is the Uses and Gratifications theory, which suggests that the public has control over media consumption and actively influences media content. At the same time, this theory states that people use media to satisfy specific desires and needs such as obtaining information, emotional stability, increasing status, or strengthening interpersonal relationships. In the digital age, the satisfaction of these needs is already taking place through social networks.

The widespread use and distribution of quotes that we do not know whether they are true or not raise some ethical questions. In a world where things that are not true can be shared without asking questions, this situation contributes nothing but an increase in the level of ignorance.

Social media is like a double-edged sword: It can be used for good, noble, or humanitarian purposes, but it can also be a place where we can drown in a dump of information. Which edge do you choose?