All Topics

Internet Drama: How to Get Over It

Internet Drama

It was last June, as a new blogger, that I began to notice the phrase ‘blogger drama’. Being new on the scene, I was pretty baffled. I struggled to grasp what about being a blogger could be so dramatic. Fast-forward to the present day and unfortunately, I’ve become a little more savvy. You’re probably pretty savvy too, otherwise, why would you be here?

I’ll begin by saying that as a blogger, I’ve found Twitter to be one of the best and most useful social media sites. Through it I’ve made connections with brands and bloggers. I’ve found a great deal of amazing, inspiring content, and if that wasn’t enough, I have also utilised it to drive traffic back to my own blog. Despite its many benefits, one of Twitter’s best and worst qualities is its abundance and diversity of opinions. Surely though, that isn’t Twitter’s fault? Twitter enables millions of users to follow like-minded content, to tweet feelings and experiences and stories and opinions. How we use that freedom is entirely up to ourselves as users.

My Experience

Thankfully, almost a year into my blogging journey I’ve managed to successfully avoid all direct ‘blogger drama’. I haven’t managed, however, to avoid all drama. Whether you’re a blogger or not, there are people sitting in their online bubble who possess Twitter accounts seemingly for the sole purpose of causing arguments. It doesn’t matter how uncontroversial you may think your tweet is, these strange and damaged people (or possibly bots, I don’t know how those things work) who arguably enjoy challenging themselves to find a flaw or offence in order to shit on both your tweet and your day.

It may come as a surprise to you to learn that I’m not perfect. Although I’d love to preach this lesson in a concise manner, maybe via a meaningful (and unoriginal) one-liner like; ‘turn the other cheek’, it would make me a hypocrite. It would also turn this into a rather short and boring post. I admit that in the past I’ve allowed myself to be dragged into an argument. All because (someone who didn’t even follow me) had an issue with one of my pro-environmentally friendly tweets. I mean, clearly, this guy hates the whole world. I’ve since reflected and concluded that arguing with a stranger online is a bad idea. It not only caused my blood pressure to rocket, it was also an absolute waste of MY time.

If you’ve been involved in any kind of online drama (which is very likely if you’re reading this post), then you may or may not have come to the same conclusion as I did. IT’S JUST NOT WORTH IT.

How to Avoid It

I don’t even follow some of the accounts that seem to constantly be in the midst of the (usually blogger) drama. However thanks to Twitter showing me the ‘likes’ of the people I follow, it manages to spread much like a plague (or at least a pretty nasty cold) into my view. Trust me, I know how tempting it is to click onto the thread and read the hundreds of tweets. All of which have been furiously typed by different users who decided to allocate their time and energy into unnecessarily involving themselves. I don’t know, maybe some of these people think that they have good reasons. Maybe they’re defending a friend who posted a seemingly innocent tweet that an unfortunate, clearly bored person has started a witch-hunt against.

If you’re the unfortunate, clearly bored person who has caused the drama in the first place, then you need more help than this post. Consider whether you’d have the audacity to go up to a stranger and speak those words to their face. If you would, then you’d be better off reading a post like ‘how to be a nicer person’. I guess we’ve already established that you don’t allocate your time well.

Twitter is not high school. There is absolutely no need for bitchy comments and judgmental people that think they’re better than you because they’re vegan or skinnier* or have a higher follower count etc. Once you have noticed said drama, I’d advise you to follow either of these two options:

1. Scroll past it and carry on with your day! (have a good one)
2. Take action! Find out whether you follow any of these unnecessarily negative nelly’s and click UNFOLLOW. If you don’t follow them, then head over to their account and click ‘mute’. Unless you have a serious and direct issue with someone then I wouldn’t advise that you click ‘block’. This can just cause even further drama (when they find out that you’ve blocked them).

If the drama has come directly to your virtual doorstep, then I’d advise you to reconsider your tweet. Is it possible that you wrote it in a hurry or a temper. You may not have realised that it could come across as offensive? If so, delete it, apologize and move on. (It’s probably not the case, but its worth a second thought.)
If you stand by your tweet, then follow the steps outlined above. Either simply ignore the negative replies or click ‘mute’!

None of this is groundbreaking advice. However if like me, you needed a little self-reflection and encouragement to leave that drama alone, then I hope I’ve helped! Next time you ignore negativity then grab yourself a beverage and take a small moment to congratulate yourself on GETTING OVER IT. You can now spend your precious time on more productive and enjoyable things.

*I have nothing against vegans or skinny girls. These were used purely as (hopefully comedic) examples so please don’t start any blogger drama over here!