On February 18th, popular Youtube creator Jake Paul, tweeted, “Remember anxiety is created by you. Sometimes you gotta let life play out and remind yourself to be happy and that the answers will come. Chill your mind out. Go for a walk. Talk to a friend.”

The tweet was meant as an inspirational thing and could be viewed as generally good advice; however, the internet blew up.

“Right, because it is just that easy for people with actual diagnosed anxiety disorders to just ‘chill out’!” said one Cosmopolitan article. 

People on Twitter were upset, claiming he was misrepresenting anxiety as a disorder when, in reality, he seemed to be talking about the day-to-day anxiety that the average person feels. When faced with life’s problems, it is easy to feel nervous or anxious, but the answers really will come with time. 

While Paul has been accused of other problematic behaviors previously, it’s unfair and absurd to get this angry over something so little. Paul’s tweet truly will have very little impact on people with anxiety disorders and the way they are viewed by the public, contrary to the general backlash. In fact, if people hadn’t gotten so upset about it, I wouldn’t have even known the tweet existed.

This isn’t the first time the internet has blown up over stupid, unimportant issues. Sites like Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube have created a new ‘culture’ of sorts, in which people like Paul have the ability to make interesting content and share their lives with their viewers and the viewers have the ability to publicly love or hate these influencers. There’s even a new type of channel gaining popularity on Youtube: “Tea” channels.

Tea channels are dedicated to ‘spilling the tea’ on or ‘exposing’ influencers and celebrities, essentially calling them out for their bad behavior. Some of their reporting actually exposes lies, scandals, and scams pulled off by these people, but a good chunk of the reporting is just getting upset at people over random things. 

Whether they’re recording various tweets or a picture posted several years ago, people have no shortage of things to get unnecessarily angry about.

“The internet is a place that feels perfectly anonymous,” said senior Jaxon Mawhiney. “They feel more comfortable sharing controversial opinions when they don’t have to associate that opinion with themselves.”

The anonymity of social media gives people a sense of security; they believe there won’t be consequences for the things they say online.

Sometimes, however, there are consequences.

The same false sense of security that makes people feel they have the freedom to say whatever they want to or about celebrities makes them feel like they can say whatever they want to or about people they know as well. Fortunately, these people actually face consequences. Schools take cyberbullying very seriously, and they find out more often than students would think.

Another consequence is that others on the internet will call people out for the things they say. Some celebrities will even respond, which opens them up for both positive and negative responses.

Often, it starts massive arguments in the comments of a post on Instagram or Twitter.

“I saw a guy tell someone else to kill his mother because she cuts sandwiches vertically instead of diagonally,” Mawhiney said. “I wouldn’t say its easier to get angry, but it’s much easier to aggressively express that anger.”

Next time a tweet is upsetting or a comment on a Youtube video is annoying, maybe take a step back, take a deep breath, and let it go. There are so many other, actually important things going on in the world. In the long run, it doesn’t matter. We can all do our part and avoid contributing to the culture of fury building online right now.