Anatomy of a comment

It’s interesting to slow things down when you find yourself triggered by a tweet or a comment on the internet.

The sense of outrage. The disbelief. The rush of adrenaline that can be so addictive. And then the spin off into generalisations and assumptions about the whole of the rest of the world.

Then the feeling that you have to do something, you can’t just let them get away with this.

Then the rehearsing of the clever response that asserts your superiority, the humorous put down that does the same but doesn’t make you look like a smart arse, or if called for complete verbal Armageddon that makes you feel so, so good.

And then on to the next one, carrying that increased residual tension but with an ego pleased with itself for having done its bit in defending your oh so fragile little self.

None of this has any meaning whatsoever. Your eyes reacted to some patterned pixels on a screen and your mind made the whole thing up.

How much of your day do you spend doing this?

Whatever your answer – it’s too much.