Since the beginning of social media, the comment section has been a cherished place to share your feelings and opinions both wanted and unwanted, but has the comment section become too dangerous? Attention has been recently brought to the variations in comments on different media platforms. While many share the same kind of content, some comments- specifically on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts- tend to be more hateful and inappropriate. The question has lingered for a long-time whether comment sections are hurtful or helpful, and there doesn’t seem to be a consistent answer.
Comment sections have been used to give readers opportunities to interact, to discuss stories, and to learn from each other. In many ways comment sections can be helpful in receiving feedback from others. One growing example is Tik Tok, which was launched in September of 2016. It wasn’t until 2018 when the platform became huge, surpassing Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube in downloads. People can interact with one another’s comments by liking, disliking, and responding. This lets people bounce around ideas, answer questions, and spread positivity on other’s videos.
On the other hand, many users have admitted that they go straight to the comment section on funny or embarrassing videos. Many comments seen on these videos could be viewed as harassment or bullying, so a new feature was added to the platform called “comment filtering,” which allows creators to delete comments and block accounts in bulk, up to 100 at a time and for AI to delete comments that seem like harassment.
TikTok has made attempts to end this cyber bullying, however many have been questioning if Instagram will do the same. Instagram reels were launched in August of 2020, which is a section of the app that greatly resembles Tik Tok where users can post short videos. Unlike TikTok, Instagram does not automatically delete inappropriate comments, which leads to increased amounts of hateful comments on many reels.
While comment sections can be a very helpful place to answer questions and share ideas, they can also be incredibly dangerous and toxic. Make sure you use comment sections responsibly and be safe on social media.
