Blue Hair Don't Care; the Lesson of "Just Keep Scrolling"

Photo Credit Olivia Brey of Oh! Photography

The picture you see here is probably not the first controversial thing I posted on social media, and I can tell you for a fact my recent post about allowing my kids to cuss is not the last thing that will spark some negative comments. I love the positive vibes you can get from social media done right. I love being connected to my tribe even when we may not share the same neighborhoods (geographically speaking). Every once in a while though, something can be posted or shared quite innocently and heat up into a raging inferno of emotions and conflicting view points.

An important thing to remember when we are talking about the spoken word, the written word, social media, or writing a book/short story is something my dad would say:

"You can't please all of the people all of the time"

If I say, share, or type something, it is never with the intention of hurting someone. Intentions are important when it comes to keeping it all in perspective for both the writer and the reader. An equally important tool is this one:

"Just Keep Scrolling"

aka:

"Do Not Engage"

You don't like my kids haircut or the color of his hair?
You think it's terrible that someone would breastfeed their toddler?
You would never recommend that book because the F word is included so often?
You are upset about that picture of a farmer because you're a vegetarian?
You won't read anything by that author because she divorced her husband and became a lesbian?
He was once a she so you'll never patronize his coffee shop much less share his FB page?

...the list is endless...

We are all entitled to our opinions. Even the best of friends don't agree on everything. Even my husband and I can agree to disagree when it comes to certain topics. What we don't do is engage in the negativity. If I see something on social media I don't like, I keep scrolling. When someone says something negative about me, my articles, my religion, my this that or the next thing, I just simply don't engage them. Is it because I have nothing to say? Absolutely not...it's because I know I won't change their mind and arguing only builds walls. I'm all about building bridges.


Have you ever engaged with the negativity? As authors, I think it's only natural to want to defend our work like a mother defends her child. What has been your experience?

What about social media, do you follow the "Just Keep Scrolling" motto or do you have something that works better for you? What do you do if you see something you disagree with or something that hurts you?

Please share your ideas, experiences, and comments - we would love to hear from you!

Crystal is a council secretary and musician at her church, birth mother, babywearing cloth diapering
mama (aka crunchy mama), business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Publicist with Dream of Things Publishing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, four young children (Carmen 10, Andre 9, Breccan 3, Delphine 2, and baby Eudora due this fall), two dogs, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, and over 230 Holsteins.

You can find Crystal riding unicorns, taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books, baby carriers, cloth diapers, and all sorts of other stuff here, and at her personal blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade!