Life’s Too Short

I’ve been busy lately with blocking and unfollowing some folk on social networks. Well, busier than usual, anyway. I don’t think I’m getting more sensitive in old age – rather the reverse, I would say – but I’m a little less tolerant.

Facebook is usually one of the more friendlier forms of social networking. That’s because the whole purpose of is people being “friends”. But there are friends of different kinds. You don’t need me to list the types, but they can range from close friends right through to people you have never even met. Facebook friends. Generally, I think it’s A Good Thing.

Twitter has nothing to do with friendships. It’s a mishmash of everything – opinions, trivia, rants and a whole lot more. And it’s also a vehicle for some people to be rude.

I can deal with rude. I dealt with rude people all my working life, although few of them were actually work colleagues. Rude came with the job. I don’t mind people being rude about things I write on here because that’s the nature of the beast. There’s no need for rude, but my skin is immeasurably thicker than when I set this site up. But my tolerance levels for rudeness on social networks are through the floor and I am afraid I have blocked a few more people on Facebook and Twitter.

I have a golden rule on the internet. There is nothing I would say on here that I would not say to someone’s face, possibly to both their faces. This is not a statement of aggression, or indeed an invitation to a fist-fight. There are other ways of settling differences, like arguing and preferably debating. It is so hard to do that on the internet and hugely uninteresting for the casual browser to put up with. So I just can’t be bothered to deal with it.

It’s not always personal if I block and unfollow people. Not always. I’ve never done it to a close friend of many years, but then they know better than to behave in a troll-like, abusive manner. And it’s not a case of having steam come out of my ears when I read certain things. The truth is that I just can’t be arsed with it.

I do “get” why some people get so shirty on the internet. I used to be like that sometimes on Bristol Rovers football forums and my toes curl when I think about it. I knew best and everyone else was wrong. You see, I could be a right twat too, maybe still am. It didn’t do me any favours though, appearing as I did an intolerant, abusive know-it-all, pretty well by design. Now if I act like that, it’s definitely by accident. I was wrong. I may have been in a bad mental state at the time, but I was still wrong.

Perhaps the edgy, aggressive types have their own issues too? Job insecurity, erectile disfunction, financial worries or merely anger management issues. Who knows? Well, I hope they get them sorted soon. I really mean that. I’m not taking the piss. Much.

Above all, life really is too short to get into pointless, angry arguments, often with people you don’t even know. I’m not saying I’m always right and they’re always wrong but I wouldn’t go to the pub to exchange angry insults and abuse, so I won’t do it on the worldwide web either.