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voiding

> posted 4/29/23 at 23:22

There are many reasons why people go to social media, like getting to know more about what's happening in their world, to better interact with their friends and acquaintances, and to get their thoughts out their to the world through a veil of anonymity and safety. Let's talk about the latter.

It's completely normal to feel negative emotions like sadness, anger, and hopelessness. We all have our different ways of coping with this, and one of those is talking about it online. Whether it be through messaging or using social media platforms, we can talk about things that bother us in a more safe environment. Usually, we refer to this as "venting", since you would be releasing your negativity and frustrations into somewhere else. It's also quite well known already on the internet, with things such as anonymous message bots in Discord which let you send messages to people without your name. It also isn't quite the same as writing a diary or journalling, since people can actually see this, and even comfort you. Venting is a nice way of dealing with life's problems when you need a slight break.

That being said, there are problems with venting. Eventually, it becomes a sort of crutch when problems come your way. Missed a deadline? Vent about it. Had an annoying interaction with a person? Vent about it. Just feeling blue? Vent about it. Of course, you shouldn't let negative emotions build up inside of you. However, venting is only a solution to one's problem of how to deal with your feelings; it's not a solution for your problems in general. But, since venting works so great anyway, it subconsciously feels like it is. I've been a victim of this myself, actually. When left uncheck, venting can become a routine, or a chore. Of course, that shouldn't be the case. Why would you not think about the things that bother you?

When venting becomes an activity without thinking, you start thinking less about the other things too; the people you're venting to, what you're venting about, and if you should even be venting about it. Eventually, it all just becomes a void. The people you vent to don't react the way you want them to, as if you were talking to a void. Venting starts to seem like it's void of results. But, since it worked so well in the past, you might as well just keep doing it. Maybe it's just not working out today. Even that kind of thinking is already void of reflection. You could even call it... "voiding".

Okay, maybe I'm using the void puns way too much, but I can't emphasize enough how eerily appropriate it is to use the term "void" here. And sadly, this kind of behavior is something that is seemingly embedded into internet culture at this point. Can we do something about this?

Unfortunately, it's hard to think of anything that could help with this problem. That doesn't mean we can't at least try, though. Venting is something that a lot of people already do, and the internet is the perfect place for voiding to manifest. And nobody wants to be told that they've been coping with their problems the wrong way. I definitely wouldn't like it. Perhaps, then, we could help in our own little way with the people with know. Ask people questions that they're having trouble figuring out themselves. Ask them details about their problems, to help them internalize and reflect on their situation. When we vent, we can also keep these in mind, to avoid being a part of the problem.

Many people say that the pandemic is one of the most life-changing events we have ever gone through, due to the years of isolation that we had to go through. Millions of people went through tough times throughout the lockdown, and had to deal with the struggles of life alone. The internet was a huge godsend throughout these tough times, but it still couldn't quite replace what we had before. In a way, however, I believe the pandemic was a blessing in disguise. It was a slap in a face, a kick in the stomach, a punch in the gut; and perhaps that was what we needed all along to get ourselves together. Although, we're probably already worse off than how we already were before. But hopefully, from this fall that got us into the lowest we've been so far, may we learnto rise higher than we've ever done before.

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