A winter scene of both discontent and peace of mind {photo taken in the mid 2010s}.
I've been going through a spate of blahness this week, in that things that would normally roll off my back decided to affect me mentally. Which in turn kind of affected my blogging, as I had a very difficult time in coming up with a suitable topic to blog about. But, as you can see, I did, so here we go.
Back in my younger-ish days (say three decades ago), I was very much, as I like to call someone today, a Richard Cranium with my interactions with people. I didn't bother playing nice with people, made a complete nuisance of myself online, and all around I was generally not a very nice person to be around.
Fast forward to now. I'm a father and a grandfather and I've managed to mellow out quite a bit, both with the general public as well as my family. I'm way more tolerant and easy going with my RW interactions. Online though, is a whole different enchilada.
Life is way more polarized online now, than it has been before. It really doesn't matter what platform is being used nor what topic is being discussed, it's gotten to the point where you can simply start a flame war simply by pointing out the fallacy/hypocrisy of a person's argument. Especially if the person is a part of the entertainment industry (granted, this is a very big umbrella).
Lately, I've been forced into the position of unfollowing people on the various social media platforms, as it seems to be the only way that I can give myself peace of mind while following a basic tenet that people have seem to completely abandon today.
Scrolling on by. Not watching. Not reading. Completely ignoring.
I learned this lesson early on while participating in socialized media. Basically, it works like this: no one is forcing you to read, to watch or to listen to anything that you come across. If you no like, you no have to participate. It's just that simple. Normally, if I see something I don't like, I don't pay attention to it and I try not to engage, which in today's world is very hard to do.
The hive mind is a terrible thing to experience, mostly because the hive mind will often be led by people who portray themselves to be open-minded, but show themselves that they're anything but. I have experienced this on numerous occasions, and it pains me deeply whenever I'm forced to deal with it. Constructive debate is always a good thing, and I enjoy a healthy difference of opinions. But it's hard to have a healthy debate of opinions when the other participants don't want to....well, participate.
So, it truly saddens me when I'm forced to go NC or LC with people who I've known for years (mostly online), simply because of their inability to play nice, at least with people who do not share the same viewpoint as they do.*
*this is the closest that I will come to laying out the actual reasoning to me going NC and/or LC with others. pretty sure you can make an educated guess.
It bothers me greatly when my online world is nothing like my real world. It was, at one point decades ago. But now, people completely embrace the keyboard commando ethos with their online world and ignore the collateral damage they leave behind. The collateral damage is very much real and quite destructive in the long term.
I'm turning 60 this year, and to be frank, I'm way too old to be dealing with the close-minded hypocrites of the modern world. It's tiring, dull, and very unimaginative, especially if you're dealing with the hive community of whatever topic that is being bandied about (e.g. writing). I have better things to do with my time than to make an attempt at engaging in a polite discussion with people who choose not to do so.
Thank you for allowing me to bend your ear about playing nice in 2025. The one thing that you should take away from this, is that sometimes, you have to stay in your own lane if you want to maintain your peace of mind online. There is absolutely no shame in applying the philosophy of "scrolling by" in your online world, nor is there any shame of going LC or NC with someone in your online world.
Peace of mind is something we all can strive to acquire and enjoy, especially in today's noisy online world. Remember, you have the power to simply walk away and unplug. Do it today, and you'll feel better tomorrow.
