Keyboard Virus

 Being in the age of being followed everywhere by social media, we've all had our encounters with keyboard warriors. As annoying and sometimes disgusting as it is, these people feel so confident in saying things that they would never say face to face. And most of the time we allow it by just ignoring it and following the advice of “Just Keep Scrolling.” And sometimes that just doesn't happen.

Now I am not one to confront people on social media and always just scroll past something I don't agree with or a person's rude comment to something they didn't agree with. There is a difference between stating an opposing opinion and just being flat out rude and mean to someone because you dislike or don't agree. Those that know me know that I love my friends and family and will not keep my mouth shut when someone is being a jerk, in person or online.

This online event happened a while back in a social media group for my local area:

So, I have a neighbor whose dogs are escape artists and are consistently getting out. Actually met this neighbor because one of their pups was in my driveway when I got home from taking my daughter to school one day. Keep in mind that I can see their fence from my house where the dogs escape and can say that they have be working on their fence to keep their dogs in their yard and care very much for them. But these little fury kids still manage to escape and people on the local social media group post where they've seen them or if they were able to hold them in a yard for the owners to pick up. One particular time after a person posted about spotting the pups on a road, another neighbor decided to make an unnecessary and rude comment. In so many words she said, “You obviously don't care about these dogs. You don't deserve them or the amount of care you receive from others who find them.”

Yes, I did remain respectful while calling out her rudeness.

Mind you, I had only met this neighbor once and her sweet pups a few times, and while I agree that when dogs are getting out a lot it does get a little annoying. I would probably have an issue and talked with the owner if the pups were mean and destructive but that's not the case. And, like I said, I had seen how these owners had been working to keep their dogs in their yard.

The point in me telling this story is to show how complacent we've become in allowing these keyboard warriors to continue and spread their trash. You can still be respectful and not stoop to their level of filth and call them out on their crap. They feel the need to have an audience to be rude and show the cyber community how big and bad they are. Then use that audience and flip the script to expose them.

Stop allowing venom and just all out crap to spread like wildfire throughout social media. That crap they're spreading is a virus, and we need to stop it. Speak out and expose it and you will be surprised by how many feel the same and will speak up in your support. Most people just want to enjoy social media and I get that, but by calling out the trash we push them back to their hole. I have seen many debates on social media between people who are on completely opposite sides of an issue but they never resort to belittling or demeaning each other. And they unite to call out any asshole who tries to bring in trash.

Be confident and your ability to silence the bored ones seeking virtual validation. Be unshaken in your strength.