Millions of people use the internet every day, including those who spend most hours of waking up on social media. It might surprise some people, but not all of these users can see pictures or read text easily. People who experience visual impairments often rely on accessibility features, unfortunately, sometimes there is no or very cannot be used on several platforms.

One of the biggest causes is a humble image, which naturally requires a number of visions to adequate adequately. In the ideal world, pictures on the web all have text descriptions so that everyone can benefit from them, but not all platforms make it easy to add this kind of text. Social networks are very bad when it comes to this kind of accessibility feature, but Twitter finally takes big steps that will make the platform more accessible for everyone, including those who might not be able to see what happened to their schedule.

Alt, short for "alternative text," has been around since the early days of the web; It is a way to use a piece of text to describe images and are especially designed to function as a placeholder if there is a picture failed to load or if the web browser does not support displaying images at all. This ability eventually becomes an important accessibility feature that the screen reader will use to talk descriptions of images for blind users.

Although this is the best practice to provide alt text for images that you upload to a page or social networking, it is not always easy to do, especially when the platform does not make the feature easily visible. Starting today, Twitter launched two important improvements related to this, starting with the badge of "Alt" which stands out in the corner of the image that carries the description of the text. Clicking or tapping this badge will trigger a popup description, which can be used by a screen reader or just to provide additional information about an image.

Twitter also makes it easier to add a description to the photo. Although it is possible to add descriptive text on Twitter since 2016, the feature is easy to miss. Now there is a "added description" button that is very visible and the "+ alt" badge on the cellphone to contact your attention on simple but very helpful actions.

You know, I just had an idea spark so I'm going to run with it and see where it goes.  This is a section of my blog that I want to call "Chew on This" where I want to take a topic and kind of rant or debate on it a bit.  I've done some posts like this already and these seem to be the types of posts people enjoy, and I like sharing my opinion and hopefully giving people something to think about, so why not make it a regular thing right? The Topic:  Why are we so cruel as a society these days? And it's not just one section of society either.  It's not just females, it's not just males, it's not just whites or just blacks or just any other race or ethnicity, it's not just the young or the old, and it's not just the religious or the athiestic.  It's everyone, everywhere.  We are such a horribly jaded and bitter people, selfish and cruel to so far beyond a fault that it's considered normal.  And don't get me wrong, selfishness and cruelty are not something that have developed in the last decade or something, but they have become more accepted. It starts with "freedom of speech".  Yes, world, you have the right to say whatever the hell you want and no one can stop you.  That is your God-given right (or whatever you believe if you don't believe in God, but trying to keep it simple here).  Do you know what else you were given?  A brain to think about what you say.  A heart to feel the emotions behind your words.  As with anything and everything in this world, these gifts and abilities we as humans have can be used for good or for ill.  The choice on that is yours.  It was put in your hands.  You alone have the power to decide will I be a decent human being?  Or will I be a dick. So why do so many people, especially on the internet, choose to be dicks?  Why instead of helping each other and thinking about others feelings do we lash out and hurt each other?  And we do it without even thinking! The answer, when you think about it, is very simple and was well said by a pastor I used to know.  He said "People who hurt hurt people".  Stop and think about that a moment because it's true.  We lash out at people when we're hurting; when we're stressed or frustrated or angry or feeling spiteful or when someone has somehow hurt us.  It's a defense mechanism because we've been wounded and are trying to protect ourselves from more pain.  It's a natural, built in response.  pain, physical or mental, is uncomfortable by default.  We don't like it, it hurts, so of course once you've been hurt you don't want to be hurt again, and if you have to lash out to keep that from happening then it's better than the alternative. Now again, this is nothing new, however in our society today there are more people hurting than ever before.  Internet trolls and cyber bullying are such a constant that it's pretty much been accepted as the norm, like a thorn under your skin that's been there for so long you think it'll hurt more to pull it out than to just accept it and leave it be.  You know my mom was telling me this time that someone asked my step-dad if he could get rid of one thing in the world what would it be.  his answer?  Selfishness.  Because selfishness is and always has been the root of every problem ever experienced on this earth.  If you think about it you'll see it's true, I know I was astonished when I did and realised he was absolutely right.  People are so used to being selfish that they don't know any other way to act.  Even those who aim to reach out and try to help have their wounds and when poked and prodded enough will snap back.  Criticism, hatred, and close-mindedness have forced everyone to 'grow a thicker skin' or be considered "weak" and someone to be trampled underfoot, but there's a problem with that sort of 'survival of the fittest' mentality among trolls, bullies, and society in general. It's easy to be cruel. It's easy to be a bully. It's easy to find someone who's down and pick on them. It's easy to fall prey to stereotypes and assumptions. It's easy to trust no one and look out for yourself first. You want to know what's hard?  Being kind and thinking about other people instead of yourself is hard.  Standing up for someone who's being picked on is hard.  Getting to know someone despite what the stereotype and/or assumption you associate them with at first glance is, that's hard.  Trusting people enough to get to know them and care for them even when it might leave you vulnerable, THAT is hard.  Thinking outside of the box of what you know instead of assuming things must be how you think they are, that is really hard. So think about that when you next say/do something.  That if you're being the troll or the bully, YOU are the weak one.  If you're picking on someone, YOU are the one with the problem, not them.  If you're falling into the trap of stereotypes and assumptions then stop generalizing and look at people for who they ARE as an individual, not who you THINK they are because of their race/gender/ethnicity/religion/sexuality preference/etc.  No one's perfect, and this isn't to say that even the best person won't occasionally slip and lash out because we all do it, but the more we try to be conscious of how our actions effect others the better off we'll be. The Bottom Line:  If we would all as a society stop being selfish and really, truly think about other people, can you imagine how much better the world would be?