Are People On the Internet Okay?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that social media comment sections are garbage cesspits. As someone who’s been creating content on the internet for six years, I’ve gotten used to that by now.

However, a recent video I posted broke my personal record for comments that wildly missed the point, and the situation was so bonkers that I simply have to write about it.

My boyfriend and I have a joke where he tries to read my own to-be-read pile faster than me. Thinking this was a fun content idea, I posted the following video complaining about his behavior:

To be exceedingly clear:

• My boyfriend does this as a joke.

• I made this video to complain about it in a joking manner.

• If it truly bothered me, my boyfriend would stop immediately.

The comments on Instagram uniformly understood all three of these points. On TikTok and YouTube, however … hooooooo boy.

I hope it goes without saying, but before I get into sharing some specific bonkers comments, a disclaimer that I do not want anyone to go looking through my comment section to find these people and harass them. Please leave them alone!!

I can divide the comments that misunderstood the video into three categories:

1. Comments That Think I Don’t Know My Boyfriend Well

The most innocuous of the three categories, this type of comment came from well-meaning people who didn’t understand that my video was a joke and wanted to give me relationship advice.

I appreciate that they were mostly trying to help me out, but I found it funny that they assumed I don’t communicate with my boyfriend about his motives for doing stuff. A sample:

• “I can assure you this is all a good sign. he wants to share these experiences with you.”

• “Isn’t he just trying to connect with you?”

• “I fail to see the problem here. he may not be actively making a competition out of this, maybe u just see it that way????”

2. Comments That Hate My Boyfriend

Now we get into the wilder categories of comment. This group of people didn’t seem to understand that my complaint about my boyfriend was a joke, and they determined that he is a toxic jerk who I should dump immediately. Bafflingly, multiple people accused him of stalking me because he dared to look at books that I openly display on my bookshelf. A sample:

• “Dump him, red flag he’s going through your stuff.”

• “Her boyfriend was just too obsessed with competition.”

• “Instant red flag. If someone is creeping though my stuff so they can go out of their way to read my collection before I am. Yeah sorry. That's crazy and obsessive behavior.”

• “That negativity comes from his toxicity. She even comes off as regretting ever meeting him.”

• “Break up with him. Don't blame it on the reading. It's something else psychologically off.”

• “Date a humble man, not an impudent boy.”

3. Comments That Hate Me

The third type of wild comment came from people who seemed to get that my boyfriend was joking, but not that I was joking. And then proceeded to get angry at me for being a toxic girlfriend … somehow. A sample:

• “I hope this is facetiousness, because if not, it's a huge red flag that your boyfriend should leave you before ruin his life.”

• “Maybe, just maybe YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!!!!”

• “Sounds like someone's looking for problems where there aren't any. Major red flag that.”

In Conclusion

Poe’s Law states that if you jokingly express an extremist belief online, at least some people will think you genuinely hold that belief, no matter how hard you try to make them realize you’re joking.

In a similar vein, any joke made online at all has the potential to be misinterpreted, especially if the algorithm boosts your joke to people who aren’t familiar with your usual style. I’m pleased that my video did well on YouTube and TikTok, of course, but it came at the cost of getting a lot of confused people in my comment section.

At the end of the day, all I can do is have a good chuckle … and go read some more books from my TBR before my boyfriend catches up to me!

What I Read This Month

One of my biggest flexes is that I’m on the advance review copy distribution list for my favorite publisher, Orbit Books! And they sent me an early copy of one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

Releasing on April 20th, The Knight and the Moth is a romantic fantasy with gothic vibes about a young woman who can see the future, who must rescue her fellow Diviners when they go missing. It features plenty of mystery, heart, and a silly gargoyle who is more than he seems …

For my full thoughts, read my full review of The Knight and the Moth on Storygraph.

In Case You Missed It …

In which I round up my other favorite fun posts that I made this past month! I’m taking a break from long-form YouTube videos this month because I was busy traveling, but I still created some fun stuff that I’m pleased to share.

First, the new season of Doctor Who is currently airing, so I’ve been posting my reviews of every episode on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok! I’ve put my reviews into a playlist on YouTube and TikTok, and a story highlight on Instagram, to collect them more easily. I’m loving the season so far, and I hope it can stick the landing!

April 8th marked my six-year anniversary of creating bookish content on Instagram, so I shared a “meet the bookstagrammer” post reflecting on how much has changed over those years:

Later in April, I participated in my friend @ukamushu_the_bibliophile’s We Belong to One Another book tag challenge, which aims to raise funds and awareness for helping a family escape the war in Gaza. The books featured in this post are all books by Palestinian authors that I really enjoyed! If you would like to help Ebrahim’s family, please donate to their fundraiser.

And finally, on Instagram and TikTok, I posted a preview version of my latest YouTube video about the Handbook for Mortals bestseller list scandal:

Thank you so much for reading! Until next time, bookish friends.

Love,

Ellie