HomeSituationsCriticism and insult

A stream of negative reactions appears under your post.

Take this situation apart. Each piece goes in one box: yours, or not yours. There is no third box, and almost nothing falls in one piece.

Yours
  • Whether you answer, and when the screen goes off.Read one criticism with substance if there is one, and let the rest pass. Whoever answers every reaction gives his evening away to people who would not give him back a minute.
  • The conclusion you draw from it about your own work.A hundred anonymous voices feel like a verdict, but a stream is not a jury. Whether the post was good is measured by what you meant to say and by the few readers you trust, not by the volume of the anger.
Not yours
  • The reactions, their tone and their number.The internet has no volume dial that you operate. What strangers type, and how many of them, is street noise from a thousand open windows.
The reasoning. The stream flows on without you; turning off the screen is the only reply that only you can post.
Practise this situation

Nearby situations

In a meeting your idea is credited to someone else.Criticism and insultIn your performance review you get a criticism you disagree with.Criticism and insultSomeone is spreading a story about you that is demonstrably untrue.Criticism and insult

More on this topic: Criticism and insult

Yours, Not Yours · A Stoic practice ground · All cases · Questions or suggestions