So let’s talk about social media. Why do we go on it? For interaction, right? The reality is that if you engage on social media, and make your accounts public, you open yourself up to trolls. These are people that go onto your page, posts, comments, and speak derogatorily to you. They start arguments, they say contentious things. Sometimes they curse, or call you names. People are extremely brave behind the anonymity of their keyboards.

For this discussion I’m going to focus on those trolls we don’t personally know. I’ve had my share of people that were once in my circle who come onto my posts and always seem to argue with me. Question me, remark on things that have no bearing on them. We like to call them “instigators” and if you confront them, they get angry and defensive. Dealing with people like that is much harder because unfriending them or arguing with them can bring a lot of personal drama.

I’m talking about the people we don’t know. There is a very simple way to respond. BLOCK THEM. I’m on Threads and I block people nearly every day. I never go onto social media to be confrontational. I might want to spur a discussion, but I never go on to intentionally hurt someone. Nearly always the keyboard warriors arise just to create tension and drama. Anything can be taken out of context and it’s exhausting trying to defend your words that were meant to be innocuous to begin with. So, I go to their profile and look at them first and see if they have followers, a photo, and review their posts. Invariably they post really strong, contentious content. You can easily see how they speak to a certain gender. Their political affiliations, how they feel about marginalized groups. Once I do that tiny bit of research, my decision is easy. Block them. Threads also has a way to hide their conversation for everyone so your followers don’t have to even see the thread. If you would like to follow me on threads, click here.

We must always try to protect ourselves. Unfriending people, blocking people and such, is sometimes the only way to protect yourself. Happy posting!