Social media has blown up since the rise of social network giants such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter. With the rise of social media, there has also been a rise in trolling.
Trolling means, “making deliberately offensive or provocative online posts with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them” (Webster).
I am not just going to talk about trolls, who are usually people who are “annoying” and actually do not want to see the blogger/vlogger progress.
Hair bullies are people who try to discredit, humiliate, or provoke an emotional response from someone with respect to that person’s hair because they feel they know more, and they may actually have beneficial information, but may not know the best way to address it.
Hair bullies can also be friends and family members who may criticize hair and looks. Although, they may have good intentions (some of them), they may hurt the blogger/vlogger’s reputation and feelings.
Although a lot of hair bullies approach people in person, most launch their attacks from behind the screen. Social media’s rise has allowed young people to make money from posting blogs and video, and others to comment on these blogs and videos.
Because of the increased access to social media, subscribers, fans, and even hair bullies, who may be thinking that they are helping the blogger/vlogger to become better, are having increased access to sites and are mostly free to comment and reply to the blogger/vlogger. The comments can range from “That’s so gorgeous” to “Kind of weird” to “You’re ugly, you should not do hair videos.”
We have not talked a lot about trolling in the hair community, but it is very prevalent and very hurtful for vloggers as well as for bloggers because these people spend their careers trying to help other people understand more about a topic – hair mostly – but some also touch on topics like beauty, fashion, health, and even life skills.
The expectation is that if you are doing something that is designed to help people, you will be noticed for it, and can maybe make some money doing it. Vloggers are very much human and deserve dignity and respect because although they talk mostly about their looks, they are not, for the most part, “shallow” and “over-consumed with their looks”, nor are they “barbies” and “ugly.”
Yet, people continue to be hurtful and cruel to women and men who use Youtube, for example, as a platform to raise awareness about many causes, including dealing with low self-esteem, loving oneself, spreading positivity, and getting jobs / being successful in certain fields.