The The Almighty Netizen? Or Is It Just a Matter of Perspective?

There’s this thread on Threads discussing how netizens behave on educational content. Take, for example, a health education post by a doctor about the dangers of preservatives in food. You’ll always find comments like, “I’ve been eating instant noodles since I was a kid, doc, and I’m perfectly healthy.”

According to the thread’s author, why bother leaving comments like that? Surely, the doctor who made the post has already done the research on the harmful effects of preservatives. If you’re healthy, then why say anything at all?

I find this topic pretty interesting. In my opinion, why comment on other people’s comments? Don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying those netizens are in the right, but everyone has the freedom to comment. Especially in today’s social media era, people can say whatever they want, expertise or not. Content creators know the risks that come with it. Any post will attract positive comments, negative comments, or maybe no comments at all.

For me, every reaction we get to our content has value, even if it’s something like the example above. At first glance, it might seem like just another snarky, unhelpful comment. But if we take a different perspective, there’s actually a hidden message there.

Maybe the content itself came off as too judgmental or discriminatory toward people who still consume foods with preservatives. This could trigger a defensive reaction from netizens who happen to enjoy such foods. From this point of view, the comment can actually be constructive. It’s feedback. The creator can review their content and, for future posts, adjust the tone or choice of words to avoid unintentionally offending anyone.

Are any comments truly wrong?
Honestly, no. What’s wrong is how we view them. When someone has a different perspective than us, should we blame them? Should we label them as the “almighty netizens”? Of course not—it’s unfair.

Instead, let’s change our perspective. Negative comments don’t just come out of nowhere; there’s always a reason behind them.

Be more empathetic towards others. Open yourself up to new perspectives. The world is full of differences, and we always have the choice to see them as opportunities to learn, not reasons to judge.