The internet is getting heavy. As someone who is beyond passionate about mental health from the sides of both a medical professional and personal life experience, I am happy to stand in the corner and support other warriors who are fighting silent battles. My entire platform at Tea Talks with Tia was created for that reason. Though small, my purpose has been since it’s conception to bring support, hope, inspiration and relatable content pertaining to mental health. As we all know, the silent battles Simone Biles is facing have in ways become public. We may not know details but they are irrelevant when it comes to support. Millions of Americans have posted and shared their love, support and understanding to her and she has responded with the same love back. It’s been amazing to see. At least it was. As always, there are the internet trolls who come out with their harsh words and zero level opinions. We all know how they show up in a comment section and by now we all know what they say and in this instance, have said. For the sake of my own mental health I took yesterday “off”(from the internet). I felt like the positive message was clear, millions of us rallied our support, now let’s let her heal. Let her do exactly what we supported! I wanted newsfeeds to go back to “normal” and the reason wasn’t because I felt a need to stop supporting her. The reason is because I didn’t. Hear me out. We have seen and it’s been shown that the longer a topic holds the publics conversation, not only do the trolls continue to look for post prey but the media also begins to scramble for the most shocking news headline. THEY want to be relevant. Their goal is their own and is less about the subject of their initial “story” , even if they have to sway narratives to have people now disagree just so their story stays at the top. Now, the positive energy that was being used for support and love turn away from the intended and are inadvertently repositioned to another for their own personal gain. It’s a crafty tactic and most don’t realize it of course but nonetheless it happens all the time. The best way to keep the love flowing in the right direction over social media is to give it, write it, share it, and then…let it go.
The internet is getting heavy because the focus is shifting. Everyone wants to make their point, to be heard and to change minds. Friends, the internet will never change minds. It may sway someone on the fence depending on the topic, but most people hold (as we can see) very strong opinions to begin with. I seen this focus shifting less than 24 hours after Simone Biles announced her decision not to compete.
I am in no way saying not to love, support, encourage, educate and all the other positive things many of us are doing in our small spaces of this huge world on the web. I understand the very way we do this is with our words and our posts. I guess what I am saying is to make sure your purpose remains on the original path. Sometimes that means sharing the love and letting it go. Don’t “post hop” finding the trolls or feeling the need to defend your truth or anyone else’s online. It is in those very passionate places where we feel we are supporting the most that the focus actually shifts away and we are actually doing the least. The internet is getting heavy. Let’s all try to let our love just flow virtually and make it light again.
📸 Phot cred: Unknown
