When you were younger you probably giggled at the idea of wearing someone else’s shoes. Now, as a teen or adult, you may groan, probably skip this column, look at the page’s graphics and then skim through the article. But there is a reason why people have been repeating this cliche phrase to you for as long as you can remember.

In a world full of opinions getting slung around the Internet faster than they can be read, it’s simple for us to control what pops up on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. We can have our screens flooded with videos of how to cook that German chocolate cake we’ve been craving, or heartstring-jerking stories about people overcoming hardship or in my case, adorable photos of guinea pigs in geeky costumes.

Nothing we don’t agree with gets through, and if by some off chance it does we can resolve it with a single swipe of our finger. That person who constantly posts political rants supporting things you oppose? Poof! No longer a problem. You may now resume posting photos of a Starbucks cup where your barista hilariously misspelled your name.

It was a lot harder to ignore people back when they would walk door to door (“Do you have time to discuss this pressing issue our country/state/town/neighborhood is facing?”). You couldn’t exactly pretend you weren’t home with a car in the driveway, windows open, lights on, the tv or radio blaring, and you mistakenly opened the door thinking it was the UPS man or lady. Fortunately, with the expansion of social media, those people don’t come around anymore, and you can get the clothes you ordered online in peace. The only people these days are lawn services that throw bags with a rock and slip of paper on my driveway in the summer (jokes on them, we didn’t have to refill landscaping pebbles this year).

By controlling all media that passes our eyes and ears we have been able to completely surround ourselves with only the opinions we agree with. And while this may cause us the most peace, what happens when someone whose opinion is vastly different from our own manages to breach this wall of homogeneous thought?

With the recent election, and even in the years leading up to it, we have seen an influx of vocal opinions. People who you previously believed thought the same as you turn out to be rooting for the “other side” (oh my!). Social media is filled with people bashing each other’s opinion and calling each other things like “those effing Liberals” or “those misogynistic, racist bigots.”

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the JEA/NSPA Fall 2016 Journalism Convention, and yes, to some degree the convention was full of liberal journalists. Later, when reflecting upon if that stereotype held true, I asked a friend and got into the conversation along the lines of:

Them: Yes, because really the only conservative news site is—

Me: Fox

Them: Exactly, and the fact you responded with Fox, proves it.

So while at convention I made a split second decision to attend a session called “LGBTQ journalism: Getting beyong the letters.” The speaker, Bethany Grace Howe, had a great sense of humor and managed to relay her points incredibly effectively through that humor. But among these, one particularly serious point struck a chord:

“When you go out and tell these objective stories about the LGBT population, those [who are] opposed, not all of them are bigots or racists” she said. “They come by their views sincerely […] Don’t demonize them. Go talk to them and figure out why they have a problem with [some of these efforts].”

Sitting in room full of primarily liberal, teenage journalists, I believe this was the most important thing Howe said in the entire hour-long seminar. Because while many came to specifically learn how to write LGBTQ stories, they left with an important message:

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

Not just as a journalist, but as a human being who lives a world with varying perspectives, opinions and motives. It has become all too easy in this multimedia-dominated world to tune out people different from you even though it is the variety of ideas, cultures, opinions and people that have lead to humanity’s success.

Listen, truly listen, to the other side. Try to understand where they come from and why they have formed the opinions they have. Only after you have done this can you logically and morally remove that post with a swipe of your finger.