Small piece of advice learned from experience for anyone looking to get into any industry that involves content creation online. Do not... Google... yourself. Don't search yourself in any way, don't do it on Twitter, don't do it on Google, don't do it on forums.



It's tempting, really. I used to justify it to myself when I did it, by saying that it was important to track where my content was getting traction and to gather feedback, but as I found out over a long period of time that was really just an excuse. Why did I (and so many other people) do it? I think anyone that creates content online to some degree craves validation, but what they will often find is negativity and somehow, you end up falling into this nasty mental trap in which you start to actively seek it out, which can feed a persecution complex and make you feel like the world is against you.



In reality, it's not. For every person talking about how terrible you are online there are way way more just enjoying what you do. It's so easy to read 100 positive comments and then obsess over the 1 negative one and it's a very hard thing to break out of. I'm still going to therapy sessions to figure it out. Do yourself a favour though and don't go in search of negativity. Anyone who creates content online will receive quite enough of it directly, some of which can be considered harassment (which by my definition is an attack sent directly to you online with the goal of upsetting you in some way), but all you're doing by searching your name online is burying yourself under self-inflicted persecution which can be easily avoided.



I say all this as someone who did it for years and who has a real problem that got to the point where I felt I required professional help to deal with it. If you do this there is absolutely no way you are not going to feel like the world is out to get you. It's a giant case of confirmation bias, you are ACTIVELY seeking out people that don't like what you have to say. Why put yourself through that? You have the power to make your life better by simply not engaging in that activity. Harassment is a real problem online, but you are creating your own problems if you go out of your way to look for negative comments about yourself. That's not harassment, they're not attempting to hurt your feelings because they assumed you would never read what they had to say to begin with. There are tons of reasons why people might vent in such a way and surprisingly, most of them are not about making you feel bad. If they wanted to do that, they'd go after you directly, it's so very easy to contact people online. If you actually wanted to harass someone, why would you avoid just contacting them directly? I think perhaps the last year has turned the term harassment into something meaningless and that's a shame because we do have a real problem with cyberbullying and sustained personal attacks online and a lot of that is getting shoved to the side in favour of claiming anything and everything negative said about anyone constitutes harassment. It does not. By law such things require mens rea, specific intent and common sense dictates that while there is a risk that you will be stung by a bee if you walk around outside, those odds go drastically up if you start sticking your hands in beehives when you could just not do that thing.



Make your life easier online, don't go looking for trouble, you've got enough shit on your plate to deal with. You owe it to yourself not to fall into that vicious mental cycle. I've been there, it sucks, but you do have the power yourself to avoid it. There's not a day goes by when someone isn't talking shit about me on the internet, but why the hell would you add to the pile of stress by going out of your way to find it? Don't, just don't do it, please, don't become like me. I'm broken and in the process of being slowly fixed. That's not a place anyone should desire to be in. If you obsess over the idea that people you don't know in places you don't read are hating on you, you will end up a slave to the idle comments of people you've never met and likely never will. You gave up control over your own life when you engage in these activities and you deserve better than that.



“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson