Monday 10 November 2014

Negativity On The Internet















Why is it people are so keen to be nasty towards others online? Recently Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella from Youtube) wrote a blog post about her recent experience with online bullies, and let's face it, they are good old fashioned bullies hidden behind a computer and the knowledge that nobody will find out who they are. But why do people do it? What compels someone to think being nasty to someone they don't know is acceptable?

The other day, I completely by accident stumbled across a gossip forum dedicated to Youtubers, this forum was basically a place for people to critique or compliment (you can imagine how many times the former outweighed the latter) Youtubers. I know I should have just clicked away from the site and not read anything but the more I read, the more I just couldn't believe that these people were spending their lives saying mean and hurtful things about certain Youtubers that they didn't know personally. I don't understand that mentality at all, why watch something you don't enjoy?

Personally, there are certain Youtubers that I am not a fan of and who I don't particularly like. Therefore, I don't want their videos, I don't follow them on twitter or instagram, I avoid them because I know I would not get any enjoyment out of watching them. And that is what Youtube is for, entertainment, nobody is forcing you to watch these videos, nobody is forcing you to comment on these videos calling someone a "b***h" or any other rude and hateful words I've seen people use.

I will say however, that it can also go too far the other way, the way people are almost too loving towards Youtubers creeps me out sometimes. I feel like it's important that these Youtubers aren't just surrounding themselves with people that will constantly tell them how amazing they are, but that's a blog post for another day. What I'm trying to say is that sometimes, critique is a good thing. But I think these bullies on the internet are confusing helpful, constructive critique with simple, shameless bullying, there's no other way to describe it.

It's such a shame that people like Zoella are afraid to upload content for fear of what these cowardly, spiteful people will say. It's not right that these anonymous people are able to sit behind a computer screen and scrutinize every tiny detail, you wouldn't sit in front of someone you hate in real life and tell them to their face that you hate them, that you think they're too fat or too skinny or too this or too that, so why is it okay to do it when the person can't see your face? Put yourself in that position, would you like to read hundreds of comments every day insulting every tiny part of you?

There is far too much negativity on the internet and in most cases the answer is simple, If you are not enjoying what you are watching, go and find something more to your liking. Life is too short to be so nasty when your time could be better spent spreading positivity and making somebody happy.

I'm sorry for how long this post is but I've been thinking about this for a while and I feel like it's a really important discussion. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Hannah xxx

(You can find me on twitter, tumblr, instagram and bloglovin)

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