Inevitably, you are going to run into a person in the world of Social Media who just drives you nuts. Everything that they say seems, for lack of a better word, really dumb to you. With every tweet, they dig deeper under your skin. But you know that lashing out at someone is probably inappropriate. Still, you find yourself drawn to their blog posts to see what they are saying. You are part of the silent masses.
Then, one day, it all comes to a head. Your coffee was gross AND spilled all over your car. Your sweet and sour chicken came without the sweet and sour sauce at lunch (this really happened to me once). And then, to top it all off, your favorite person wrote a post that goes against everything you believe. It’s all just too much. You decide to leave a comment on this once, and all of a sudden, you become the comment equivalent of a screaming banshee. Upon later reflection, you might even wonder who that person is. Damage done though. You just went from silent to troll.
It’s actually okay to disagree with someone
How can you avoid this problem? I always reflect on the story of the Emperor with No Clothes. In this case, the “emperor” is the person who drives you nuts. Sometimes you even see this person get tons of credit and applause, which can really make you want to blow a gasket (or fry your friddle, as Suzanne likes to hear me say). Well, you don’t have to sit there silently, but you can also vent off a bit of steam by…ready…disagreeing with civility.
I know, I know. This is going to take a moment to absorb. You might need to read this post a few times for this concept to sink in. In the online world, you can disagree with someone, debate, converse, etc., and yet not be cruel, demeaning, patronizing, or otherwise crude. You can be like the child in the story of our emperor friend, who simply states, “Dude…you’re like, totally naked.”
If you debate someone, state your point with respect, and then move on, you will not have that red hot magma of anger building in the pit of your stomach. You will not feel like everything this person does is an affront to all you believe is right and pure with the world. And perhaps most importantly, you won’t suddenly blow up and confuse the heck out of people with your random troll-like behavior. Because after all, nobody will know that you have actually been controlling yourself for months. They’ll just see the stream of molten lava spewing from your smiling avatar.
And that’s just not good for anyone, right? Least of all, you.
Whadya think?
This is post #25 in The Engagement Series. 25? Really? Hey, we’re a quarter of the way there! 🙂 Let me know if this is helping you and what I can do to help you more!
Image by Crow Girl. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/kfawcett