Technology.
It's gotten us to some amazing places and has reached some amazing feats the more it has progressed. It's improved our lives on many levels, but sadly, has done us a disservice in a big way. It has lead to the creation of people who post, comment, and share the most insensitive, insulting, and hurtful things. These people come to manipulate and twist what is being said or what's seen, all while hiding behind a keyboard where no one can reach them.
Yes, I'm talking about trolls. An internet troll, or online bully, deliberately tries to offend, cause trouble or directly attack people by posting derogatory comments on Facebook posts, blogs, under YouTube videos, on forums and other social media, such as Twitter and Instagram.
( Definition found at: https://www.endsleigh.co.uk/blog/post/what-is-internet-trolling/ )
It takes innocent posts, photos, and videos and turns them into something awful, stirring up anxiety in the user that posted the content. I've had experience with this in the past, but became reacquainted with it this week. I posted a video of my 4 month old on TikTok trying baby jarred bananas (With approval from her pediatrician). She got a little bit in her mouth and that was it. It was cute, it was harmless. I woke up at our usual 3 am feeding to find that my video had blown up with very hurtful comments suggesting abuse and negligence. It so bad, I took the video down for my sanity.
I suppose the point I'm trying to get at is we've become a society that has way too much time on our hands and now has the ability to stick our noses in other peoples business without the repercussions of doing so. A society that hits send and asks questions later. We can post harmful and false statements to anyone and anything we want just because we feel like it and not have a second thought about it. We forget that the posts are made by real people who have real feelings.
Don't get me wrong, there's a time to speak up and out about things that are harmful to someone or others and misinformation. But we have taken that to a whole other extreme by doing so with any and everything we see. Sometimes, you just need to scroll away. You don't have to respond to everything you see that you don't like. If it isn't harmful to themselves or others, if it isn't hurtful, if it isn't false, if it is just clean content and fun, it's okay to just let it be. Not everything requires a response or a reaction.
Save your time and energy for the things that truly matter and let people be. Not all our opinions are gospel and not all our statements are helpful, learn to pick your online and offline battles wisely. The world's a difficult place as it is, let's try to make it a little more kind.
That's it from me! Hope you found this helpful and thoughtful. I'll catch you next time!