Don’t be mean online. Life is too short. — Nikita Bier

Don’t be mean online. Life is too short.

Author: Nikita Bier

Insight: We've all felt that sting—a thoughtless comment, a pile-on, a moment where someone's words landed harder than they probably intended. And we've probably all done it too, typed something sharp in a moment of irritation and hit send before thinking. The internet makes cruelty feel frictionless, like there's no real person on the other end absorbing the hit. But here's what's easy to forget: the person reading your words is having a genuinely difficult day, or week, or year. They're navigating something you know nothing about. And your comment, which took five seconds to write, might stick with them for months. That's not because they're fragile—it's because words accumulate. They matter in a way we pretend they don't when we're behind a screen. The non-obvious part? Being kind online isn't actually a burden or a sacrifice. It costs you nothing and often costs the other person everything. The time we waste on being sharp with strangers is time we'll never get back, and it genuinely doesn't make us feel better afterward. Not really. So the question becomes: what are you actually protecting or proving by being mean? Life is short enough without spending it that way.