Opinions in an Online World

We always want to hear good things…

You have heard me an endless amount of times extol the value of online education, this is not another one of those blogs don’t worry. In light of the current events being covered in the media and the debate being had by friends, family and followers I wanted to talk about how this online world is changing.

I love getting peoples opinions. I encourage people to leave me as much honest feedback as possible, even if it isn’t positive. The opinions of my students whether good or bad are key to me creating the best lessons for my students.

I got some feedback last week that, when I first read I admit, upset me. You often don’t want to accept other peoples opinions no matter how politely they are put to you. This email wasn’t rude, they made their points clearly and it seemed like they were being genuine. But my first reaction was along the lines of ‘That’s not fair!’ I was hurt, I felt attacked and I decided in that instant that the feedback was wrong, they were lying because all the other feedback I had gotten was positive!

I’m ok with admitting that my ego took over at the start as it does with everyone. No one likes hearing that they or their work isn’t good enough (unless you have a Sub/Dom thing going), but that’s not the point. The point is that when people leave feedback they aren’t attacking you at all, they are helping you. So even though I was stinging a little I read it again.

To be quite honest with you, they made some good points. They didn’t insult me or my work, instead, they pointed out things that were not what they were expecting. What made it more difficult for them to complete, what they thought they would learn compared to what they actually learnt. Yes, these were still negative comments, but they were intended to make my work better, not make me feel offended. I vowed to take them on board and improve.

On the other hand, being online also means that I can sometimes get comments that aren’t helpful. Not even comments aimed specifically at me, you get comments from people outside the industry mocking what we do. People who don’t understand the work that goes into being a nail tech, nail educator or nail artist in any way but feel fit to comment.

I wouldn’t tell my bookkeeper how to do her job or tell the window cleaner that actually their job doesn’t have the struggles they say it does because I’ve watched him do it and therefore I know best. Being online means that anyone and everyone can see you, it means that anyone and everyone who does see you feels like they are in their right to tell you what they think. No matter what they choose to say, I mostly ignore them. In fact, because I have someone who does my social media, more often than not I don’t even see them. They are usually deleted by Ethan before I go onto social media meaning that I can read your comments and reply to them without ever knowing they exist. 

But do you know who does see it? Your friends who may also be in the industry can now see what you really think of them. This is my point, everything you do online is seen by everyone else. So when you post things out there that you feel you have a right to say, you need to realise that you may not be even hurting the person it is aimed at, instead, you are hurting those closest to you who have to read what you think.

No matter what you think of someone, no matter what you think you know about their life. Take time before you put what you think of them out there as you never know who may be suffering from the same thing.