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Self Care Sunday: Post in Peace; Turn the Comments Off, Sis.

Social. Media.

The outlets that we use to connect, (over)share, display and communicate with people - strangers and friends alike - on a daily basis. We share our highs and lows, our loved ones and our enemies (discreetly, so we think), our happiest moments and even the sad moments that make our followers wonder, how sad are they really if they are posting about it on IG live?

Sharing on social media has become a huge part of life.

And with sharing comes the one thing that we hardly ever ask for but always seem to get an abundance of....

Opinions!

Ah, yes! Opinions. Those things that your friends give you when you tell them whats going on in your life and instead of truly listening to the agony on your voice they give you their opinion because they love you and gotta keep it real. And in that setting, it's acceptable because that's your friend and you know how they are - they just care. But, do you ever wish you could turn it off?

Like, turn off your friends opinions that you didn't ask for while pouring your heart out?

Well...
While it may be harder to do this while venting to your friend, you can do this on Instagram - and thank GOD!

Social media can be extremely triggering and can threaten our peace of mind. So you can only imagine the joy I felt when I discovered you could disable comments under your posts.
I cannot tell you how many times I read comments on IG and end up screaming at my phone, "COMMENTS! OFF! TURN THEM OFF, SIS! SAVE YOURSELF!" looking like a maniac. I so desperately want the owner of the account and the photo to hear my spirit screaming at them from however many miles away so they can disable their comments and keep their peace of mind after sharing their personal life on social media. But, my message never gets through to them and instead they get flooded with comments filled with hate, bullying, judgement, other people's IG names to bring in more onlookers, misinterpreted bible versus they did not ask for and the list goes on and on and on. I eventually get burned out. And if I end up in a funk from reading someone else's comments, I can only imagine how the person on the receiving end feels. Whew! Triggering.

So, I know what many are thinking -  "You can't be triggered if you don't read the comments."

While that definitely sounds like the logical thing to do, it's not realistic. I mean, I am sure once your comments section has reached a certain amount, it is nearly impossible to read ALL of them. None the less, just knowing they are there can be overwhelming for someone who didn't ask for folks comments, opinions or nasty remarks under THEIR photo.

Which leads me to my next point. Shouldn't they just not post anything if they don't want the opinions of onlookers?

My answer is No. They shouldn't avoid posting to avoid the aftermath that follows.

People's IG, Facebook, Twitter and whatever other social media outlet the kids use these days - are theirs. It's theirs to share what they want as they please, as long as they aren't risking themselves and causing harm to others, of course. Now, I do believe in taking a mental break once in a while as a practice of self care because the images and messages can have a huge effect on people and their peace of mind. I am also an even bigger advocate for turning off the comments. It's necessary. In my opinion, it's probably the best feature Instagram has included in one of their many updates. It allows users to post their photos freely without worrying about what people are going to say. No one to comment on why a woman is still with her man, how nasty someone's food looks - which is the most rude thing ever, in my humble opinion- or any negative remark that may comes from posting a photo or video on IG. While this also disables people form posting positive comments, listen - the ones who like it will double tap and the ones who do not will keep scrolling. And that is exactly how it should be.

POST IN PEACE.
No one should feel attacked or bullied after posting to their personal social media page. I know, that sounds silly, right? But it's real. And it's sad.

If you deal with even the slightest harassment in your IG comments please, save yourself. Turn the comments off.

And if you are one of the people who give your unwarranted opinion in peoples comments, please, stop. It's okay to keep things to yourself. If you can't say anything nice what so ever, say nothing. You will feel better about yourself and you won't contribute to someone feeling less.

Happy Posting!

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