Don't Read The Comments

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook, kind of the way I imagine some people do with crack or heroin. I know it’s bad for me, and when I go on Facebook it makes me feel even worse, not better, than I did before, but somehow I can’t seem to just walk away either.

We have all heard the adage “Don’t read the comments” and I have to say I whole heartedly agree with that. It’s where the worst of the worst dwell. Plus some really well-meaning people who CANNOT SEEM TO TURN OFF THEIR CAPS LOCKS BUTTON. Or those who think typing is just the same as speaking and so whatever they are trying to communicate becomes lost in a jumble of one giant run-on sentence that would make your English teacher scream.

But even more that not reading the comments, I believe in refraining from participation in the comments on 90% of the posts on Facebook. Don’t read, don’t write one. Because as soon as you write one, the trolls come out in the sub-thread and you are no better off then you were before! Now, if you post a cute picture of your dog for is 7^th birthday, I will probably stop and wish it a treat filled day, because that’s harmless enough. Kid graduated high school? Congratulations are certainly in order! Posting about how Donald Trump might actually be the second coming of Christ and you want to have him sign your Bible? Yeah……I’m going to give that one a wide berth.

This is a hard fought battle on my part, let me tell you, but I think I am winning.  I had a blog post go viral two and a half yeas ago, and to this day I have not read all the comments. I always used to tell my kids “Participation is the key to having fun!” and here I am not participating! But, as my mother used to tell me “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” And that’s what we are going with.

For now anyway.