Internet Comment Sections

Let's face facts here, internet comment sections are terrible.  They just are.  Sure, there might be the very occasional bright spot in most of them, but 99% of the posts are just not worth reading.  Youtube comments have the worst reputation, but honestly, I don't think they're the worst.  A couple of Youtube people I'm subscribed to actually have comment sections that aren't immediately terrible, but I think that's more attributable to the fact that they are channels based on a video game with a very small, devoted fanbase who in general know what they're talking about.  No, in my experience, the worst comment sections I've ever seen are on the CNN site, which I suppose I shouldn't find to surprising, but somehow it still does.  I have literally never read a single comment on any article that I felt added something to the discussion. It's awful, but I think that it's just as much the fault of journalism tending towards the sensational in order to attract the worst parts of the internet, who have absolutely no attention span and constantly pipe into discussions despite having absolutely no knowledge on the subject, or worse, incorrect knowledge.

Where am I going with all this?  I've seen a lot of internet comments over the years, I've cringed, I've beat my head against a wall at the sheer brain-melting stupidity, and it has conditioned me to never, ever comment on anything.  I know that I would definitely add something to the discussion, but I've trained myself to believe that anybody who comments on something else on the internet is a terrible person.  I don't want to be like them, so I don't say anything.  I know that's not true, but the conditioning is there, and it's difficult to surmount.  I don't even use social media that much anymore for the exact same reason, and it's the same reason doing blogs has been such a chore for me.  I convinced myself that there isn't a single voice on the internet worth listening to, not even my own, so I basically shut myself out completely.  It's slow business overcoming this, I have a Twitter, but I know I'm not using it properly, and as for the million other social media sites out there, I am completely clueless.  I do have these blogs.  It's a start, anyway.


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