As the old internet adage goes, you should never read the comments.
This is because the comments section is apparently an unmoderated cesspool of hatred and idiocy, with comments on social media sites and content sharing platforms like Facebook and YouTube supposedly being the worst of the worst.
But is this really the case? Are internet comments really that bad?
Honestly, I don’t think they are. In fact, I think comments and comment sections are some of the most unfairly maligned aspects of the entire internet, and that most of the hatred people have them is way overblown.
And I think that’s the case because people don’t realise one thing about them. One thing that makes all the difference in how the comments for an article or video turn out.
Namely, that the topic of the article or video in question sets the tone for the discussion to follow.
Seriously, that’s all it comes down to. Discussions about politics and religion will almost always be more ‘toxic’ than those about games, music or movies.
It’s not surprising at all. Especially as (another) old adage says you shouldn’t really be discussing said topics with people you want to remain on good terms with, or that you don’t deeply trust/get along with in some manner or another.
So of course things will be bad if that’s what you’re reading comments about. Discussions about…
