Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to Delux Designs (DE), LLC. Occasionally I step away from the art scene and just use this site as a way to reflect on things either affecting me during my daily activities in life, or to open a free dialect on a variety of topics that interest me for everyone following to take part in.

Today’s topic is avoiding negativity and toxic people online.

Lately, I have been running into….well they have been running into me……some highly angry people online. It has either been that they don’t like how I have said something, or they just don’t agree with what I have said online and use negativity to get an up rise out of me. This specifically happens to me on Twitter more than anything, but occasionally on Facebook as well. Facebook’s misconceptions are mainly over politics and religious beliefs but nothing as serious as the Twitter drama I have witnessed and even been apart of myself lately.

But I’m not here to speak on those situations, nor to speak on what is right or wrong, but to elaborate on how to avoid situations like these all together. I believe that this internet thing has become so big and powerful, that some really do channel their negative thoughts and anger through their social media pages for pleasure. Some have created these pages online to specifically spread hate and anger to others for their own sick pleasures and benefits. Now, what are the benefits of treating people crappy online you say? Who knows, but I do know there are major benefits to avoiding pages and people like this while being virtually socially active. Check out a couple tips I have listed below on how to avoid toxic social networking:

1. Do Not Feed Into The Negativity: When someone comes at you the wrong way online, don’t stoop to their level and feed into the negativity. The main thing they want you to do is to give them something to work with against you. The more you give, the more they will take. Try to ask what the problem is and resolve it like an adult first before jumping to conclusions. If that doesn’t work then there is nothing you can do but ignore them. It will hurt them more to not get a reaction out of you, than to actually respond to them.
2. Think Before You Speak: There have been many cases of people losing their jobs, families, and have even ended up in jail for comments and reactions towards those who attack them online. Don’t fall for the hype. You never know who may be watching what you post and how you react to certain things virtually.
3. Stop Caring About What Is Being Said: That famous saying for relationships, “the person who cares the least has the most control”, also applies for dealing with toxic encounters online and offline. The more you do not care and take your feelings out of the equation, the more control you have over your own emotions and the entire situation at hand.
4. Don’t Try To Get The Last Word: Some may not realize that by you trying so hard to get the last word in, you are in fact stooping down to a toxic person’s level. A toxic person’s main aim is to ruffle your feathers for an extended amount of time whether they do it directly or indirectly. They know a typical person who is angry will try and try to prove their point over and over again, which can in fact can stress you out more than necessary and have you confused about what is going on all together. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. They already know they are in the wrong and either don’t care or they like the idea of getting away with wrongdoings. Walk away from them, it is not worth it.
5. Limit Profanity Usage: Listen there is nothing worse than a toxic person online throwing out profanity towards innocent people and trying to say that it is communication. Never, ever respond back with the same slurs towards them. Uphold your own true character and move smart when dealing with negativity online. Using a lot of profanity just doesn’t help anything nor anyone. I was always taught that when a person uses a lot of profanity when speaking with you in a negative way, it means they are too ignorant to comprehend and say what they really feel and mean. This leads to assumptions and deliberate miscommunication. Don’t waste your time on conversations like these.
6. Kill Them With Kindness: Nothing, I mean nothing, kills a negative person mentally than you being nice to them after they’ve been mean or hateful towards you. They won’t understand why you’re being so nice to them because they are so used to people dropping down to their level when pressured. I know this may be hard for some, to be real this is the hardest for me to do. Especially if you have a lot of pride and principles about certain situations in life, but trust me you don’t want to seem and look just as mean online as them by reacting to them the same way.
7. Block or Delete Them: This should be common knowledge but just a reminder, if things are getting too far out of hand for you online and a person is causing too many problems for you in the public eye, and you just don’t have time for all the tactics and maneuvers for them, just go ahead and delete them and even block them from being on your pages all together. With social media being so broad and popular now, some may think they have to have certain people on their pages and that is just not the case. Some toxic people feel like they have a right to watch your every move online and cause multiple problems for you. But I am here to tell you that you don’t have to interact with anyone online who is causing you problems. Your page is your page, and you have complete control over it and no one else.

I hope these tips help keep your online experiences good, and provide you with a better head space when socially networking among others. Please keep in mind that this is the world wide web and everything is not always what it seems online. Some pages online may be of real people and others may not be of real people, but ran more by robotic servers put in place for some businesses and even scammers. Some may be run by people you know, and some may be run by others whom you do not know who are perpetrating as though they are someone else. Just be smart when dealing with others and pick your battles wisely online. What we entertain and ingest online really does affect our mental health positively and/or negatively.

Stay positive out here everyone! Happy blogging!