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Does it mean anything to be hurt emotionally on the internet?

What does it say about you to be damaged by something a stranger on the internet says?

There’s a saying going around some circles of the internet that seems to apply almost universally, at least online. People are too comfortable with saying terrible things without getting punched in the face for it. It’s all too easy to be aggressive without considering the effects that attitude may have. Many times, you don’t even see that effect. After all, you can just hide how you truly feel by saying nothing.

What does it feel like to be alone against the world? To be an outlier in a place where you enjoy being and to feel excluded for it?

To call someone out for being disrespectful in a social setting is daunting. What makes it even worse is when nobody else brings it up, like it never even happened. You can type for minutes on end, but at the last second, you’ll delete everything because you’re afraid everyone else will dogpile on you for being negative, for going against the grain and making the group uncomfortable.

What’s it to you anyway? After all, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Anybody who can’t live with the aggression or the pressure should just leave.

And yet, leaving still feels like the worse option. Why run away from a place where you have conversations? Surely it’s better to have bad talks than to have none. Even through all of the pain, you’ll still come crawling back because it’s better to feel pain than to feel nothing, or worse, to want to be nothing without anything to distract you from it.

All you can do is hope that they recognize that what they are doing is wrong. It’s unrealistic to even expect an apology.