What if you were to comment on everything?

Update: Answer

I don’t often comment on anything online.

Mostly because I don’t believe I have anything to say. The person sharing already knows what I’m going to comment, so why say anything at all. Things you say can come back to haunt you.

These are all false.

I do have something to say, especially if it’s encouraging.

The person sharing never actually knows what I have to say, and if it’s positive I know they’ll love to hear it.

Things don’t often come back to haunt you; they won’t come back hard if they’re positive.

Experiment: Comment on Everything

It’s like receiving a letter and writing a reply.

Aim: Encourage

My general reason for doing this is to encourage.

Not:

• Overwhelm myself with work
• Clout
• Be on my phone more
• Be a critic
• Reply guy

Reasons

When someone talks to me, I listen, I nod, I give affirming words, I may repeat what they say to let them know I am listening. However this doesn’t happen online. Online is one-way, send and receive, message to message.

I’d like to give these affirming, encouraging words online. I know I’d love it if I received a comment from a friend.

I’d like to provide this for my friends.

Challenges

I worry this is just me learning I can comment on things.

The only difference is that I’m commenting on everything because everyone deserves encouragement.

This will change the way I consume content. I’ll suddenly be thinking about what to say rather than enjoying the thing.

Quality of comment is not necessarily important, the comment is.

Execution

Comment on everything I see.

Use popular platforms where the people are. Be where your friends are.

Hypothesis

• Decrease of general media consumption
• Decrease in speed of life
• Increase of gratuity
• Increase in reply to other messages
• Increase of friendships
• Increase in writing
• Makes you pick and choose, and think about what you’re consuming
• Challenges you to face things you’re uncomfortable with
• Finish more movies and TV shows because they deserve a comment, or admit I didn’t finish
• Desire for longer content that requires 1 comment rather than shorter content

Rules

• Only encourage, no negative comments
• Stick to commenting on friends things
  • However I also have to comment on non-friend things otherwise I’d avoid friends altogether
• Don’t be a creep
• Don’t comment on girls stuff
• Comments are comments, not articles or reviews
• Some comments can be adapted to be blog posts
• Don’t ‘cross-post’ between platforms
• Comments are not always relevant when searching the internet

Things I can comment on

• Mastodon
• Instagram
• Tweets
• YouTube videos
• Articles
• Podcasts
• Movies
• TV Shows
• Albums
• Reddit
• Recipes
• Food?
• Restaurants?
• Places?

Update: What if you were to comment on everything?

Answer: Constant thinking about comments, avoidance of short videos, and eventual cease of all commenting.

I thought this would be an experiment in ‘endurance commenting’. Turns out, it was an opportunity for growth.

I never commented up until recently. It was terrifying! Publicly acknowledging you’ve seen something, and sharing your opinion? No way.

I wouldn’t even comment on friends Instagram posts.

From commenting on everything, I’ve seen they can bring delight to the creator and the viewer, they give you a sense of outward contribution, and they build people up!

But if you’re not careful, they can also bring people down.

A negative comment is ten times louder than a positive comment.

Even if your post is a sea of positivity, one pinch of negativity can send you in a downward spiral.

So I encourage you; go out there! Give someone a comment!

And make sure it brings, encouragement, delight, and positivity.

November 2022