Have Your Freak-Out…Offline

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I’ve observed Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr a lot, and I’ve noticed a really common, really unfortunate trend.

This post is not intended to call out any specific person on their behavior, or even a specific group of people. But this is something I’ve noticed in people regardless of their gender, race, or political affiliation.

Now, people freak out, panic, cry, or otherwise break down emotionally. This happens to everyone no matter how hard we try not to.

The problem is when someone take these deeply emotional moments…and post them online immediately. They will proceed to let out their rage, tragic sadness, or malaise via tweets and posts.

I don’t believe they do this for the attention on themselves. Sometimes a person does this with the intent of saying “hey, I’m not perfect. And I know this scenario I’m going through happens to other people. I’m posting this DEEPLY EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWN BETWEEN MY TEARS because I’m looking for a kindred spirit or letting people know they’re not the only ones. That this is more common than you think.”

However, sometimes it’s not necessary to make it public right away.

This is NOT an announcement to tell you to not be angry/upset/etc. BE those things. Get angry! Get upset! Get so teeth-gnashingly frustrated that you can’t handle it!

…But do so offline until you get it out of your system safely and privately.

Take care of yourself first before you go online and post anything. Get some distance, temporally and physically, between yourself and the keyboard.

Trust me, I’ve been there. I’ve gotten so angry that I went to social media and posted like gangbusters to let out my emotions.

But, again speaking from personal experience, I find that taking that energy away from the keyboard and towards art, crafts, journal writing, and talking with friends has helped me a lot more than posting a deeply emotional situation on social media for colleagues, relatives, and potential employers to see.

I realize this is a common sense-type thing, but common sense ain’t so common.

Take care of yourself before you post. Stay away from the internet until you feel calm. Then, if you still feel the need to post it online, go for it.

Take a deep breath. You’ll be ok. And social media will still be there.

Thank you for reading.

You. Are. Awesome.