I’m 16, and I get ragebaited by things online way too easily. It happens constantly, and I genuinely don’t know how to stop letting it affect me so much. It sounds silly, but sometimes something I see online can completely ruin my day. I end up spiraling and feeling miserable until I get some kind of reassurance, and only then do I feel okay again. It’s like this endless cycle that I know is unhealthy, but I seriously don’t know how to break out of it. I don’t even know how I became like this because I genuinely wasn’t this sensitive before. Now it feels like everything online gets to me so easily, even when I know it probably shouldn’t.
What confuses me is that I feel things way more deeply online than I do in real life. If someone said something rude to me face to face, I honestly probably wouldn’t care that much. But when random people online say things I disagree with or argue about something, it affects me so intensely. I don’t really understand why.
i also feel really disconnected from people in real life, so maybe that has something to do with it. The algorithm definitely makes it worse too, especially on YouTube where ragebait content gets pushed constantly. I know feeding into it is hurting me mentally, but I can’t seem to stop checking, reading comments, arguing in my head, or looking for reassurance afterward. I just don’t know what to do anymore.