How to set boundaries on the internet and social networks?
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 4:24 am
A few days ago I was watching a vlog. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the vlog was playing in the background and I don't know what it was exactly about, and I was reading the comments under the video because the discussion seemed very interesting, especially to someone who works professionally in the online world.
This is a vlog by a person who has just over 700 thousand subscribers on YouTube, receives between 160 and 300 thousand views per video, between 4 and 4.5 thousand likes, and more than 500 comments. Just to give you an idea of the online popularity and that this is a person who has full-fledged influencer status and earns extremely well from their work.
This time, the person's followers weren't happy, which is why I was estonia whatsapp list at the comments under the video. The problem was that the person in question had started doing vlogmas. For those who don't know, vlogmas are vlogs or videos that creators record and post every day from December 1st until Christmas, and are a very popular form of video and entertainment in the YouTube community.
However, the person in question didn't finish the vlogmas until the end. Don't ask me at what point she stopped it because I don't watch her videos or how many she posted before that. The point is that she didn't finish the vlogmas as she promised (or as her audience expected), disappeared from the face of the earth (YouTube) for a while and now she's reappeared with some excuse about being tired and wanting to be with her family that didn't sit well with the audience.
Because why would someone interrupt the online fun of hundreds of thousands of people and prevent them from living someone else's life just because they need to take a break and spend Christmas with their family? And without any announcement or explanation, as people constantly felt the need to point out in comments that went something like this:
What you're doing isn't work, what are you tired of?
If I didn't come to work without an explanation for just 1 day, I would be fired.
We trusted you, and you let us down.
You live off of us, if we weren't there you wouldn't be a rich influencer and drive an Aston Martin.
Don't forget who pays your bills.
Try working a minimum wage job you hate for at least a week and you'll see how much you need a break.
You don't appreciate what you have.
Some people get it all and still complain
The problem is not with the comments. It's not with whether the job of a YouTuber is a real job and whether it's harder and more tiring than an office job. It's not with whether someone got something in their lap and in what quantity. It's not with paying the bills. The problem is with setting boundaries or the lack of boundaries.
Enough about others, let's talk about me...
It's easiest to be a smartass without a cover. Although I've always tried to understand others and not be too much of a smartass about topics I don't know enough about or haven't tried firsthand, I can't say that when I started my blog, I didn't sometimes wish for super-developed interaction and response from the rest of the internet to what I was doing. I would enthusiastically welcome every message and respond to it within a minute. At the latest!
I promised myself that I would respond to everyone's comments, messages, emails, and whatever else comes in. It doesn't matter if they wrote that they liked what they saw or had a problem, everyone gets a response because it's nice and polite.
I've written numerous articles about how to be a successful blogger or how to run your own business, and I've constantly emphasized how the absolute priority is to respond to everyone. How it doesn't matter what you do or how much time you have (or don't have) because you have to communicate.
I still maintain that one must communicate and respond to messages, especially for business purposes, but things have changed a bit. Gone are the days of waiting for an email or comment. Gone are the days of posting without any interaction with the published content. The times of reaction and action have come.
As you develop your content and yourself as a content creator, it is logical that your work (if you are persistent and persistent) will start to attract more and more people. People will contact you, and as their number grows, you will have to prioritize who you will respond to and who you will ignore, because a question/comment or reaction does not require any feedback from you, and it takes up too much time that you do not have anyway.
The problem with the internet is that people often think they have a right to your time or that everything on the internet is free. If you are good at what you do, and you work a lot, then it is completely logical that you will value your time and charge for your services. Just as I can't get a free haircut or massage, it is not possible to get a free business analysis, marketing plan or social media strategy plan. Very simple.
Likewise, not everyone can get an answer to the question asked because that would mean spending all day corresponding with people on the internet who suffer from excess free time or who only correspond with you, and you receive 165 messages per minute.
That's why it's essential to set boundaries and stick to them. If you want to maintain your sanity, you'll set boundaries right away because there are only 24 hours in a day. After you've finished work, slept, prepared and eaten, and done all the other things you have to do during the day, exactly how much time do you have left for yourself?
This is a vlog by a person who has just over 700 thousand subscribers on YouTube, receives between 160 and 300 thousand views per video, between 4 and 4.5 thousand likes, and more than 500 comments. Just to give you an idea of the online popularity and that this is a person who has full-fledged influencer status and earns extremely well from their work.
This time, the person's followers weren't happy, which is why I was estonia whatsapp list at the comments under the video. The problem was that the person in question had started doing vlogmas. For those who don't know, vlogmas are vlogs or videos that creators record and post every day from December 1st until Christmas, and are a very popular form of video and entertainment in the YouTube community.
However, the person in question didn't finish the vlogmas until the end. Don't ask me at what point she stopped it because I don't watch her videos or how many she posted before that. The point is that she didn't finish the vlogmas as she promised (or as her audience expected), disappeared from the face of the earth (YouTube) for a while and now she's reappeared with some excuse about being tired and wanting to be with her family that didn't sit well with the audience.
Because why would someone interrupt the online fun of hundreds of thousands of people and prevent them from living someone else's life just because they need to take a break and spend Christmas with their family? And without any announcement or explanation, as people constantly felt the need to point out in comments that went something like this:
What you're doing isn't work, what are you tired of?
If I didn't come to work without an explanation for just 1 day, I would be fired.
We trusted you, and you let us down.
You live off of us, if we weren't there you wouldn't be a rich influencer and drive an Aston Martin.
Don't forget who pays your bills.
Try working a minimum wage job you hate for at least a week and you'll see how much you need a break.
You don't appreciate what you have.
Some people get it all and still complain
The problem is not with the comments. It's not with whether the job of a YouTuber is a real job and whether it's harder and more tiring than an office job. It's not with whether someone got something in their lap and in what quantity. It's not with paying the bills. The problem is with setting boundaries or the lack of boundaries.
Enough about others, let's talk about me...
It's easiest to be a smartass without a cover. Although I've always tried to understand others and not be too much of a smartass about topics I don't know enough about or haven't tried firsthand, I can't say that when I started my blog, I didn't sometimes wish for super-developed interaction and response from the rest of the internet to what I was doing. I would enthusiastically welcome every message and respond to it within a minute. At the latest!
I promised myself that I would respond to everyone's comments, messages, emails, and whatever else comes in. It doesn't matter if they wrote that they liked what they saw or had a problem, everyone gets a response because it's nice and polite.
I've written numerous articles about how to be a successful blogger or how to run your own business, and I've constantly emphasized how the absolute priority is to respond to everyone. How it doesn't matter what you do or how much time you have (or don't have) because you have to communicate.
I still maintain that one must communicate and respond to messages, especially for business purposes, but things have changed a bit. Gone are the days of waiting for an email or comment. Gone are the days of posting without any interaction with the published content. The times of reaction and action have come.
As you develop your content and yourself as a content creator, it is logical that your work (if you are persistent and persistent) will start to attract more and more people. People will contact you, and as their number grows, you will have to prioritize who you will respond to and who you will ignore, because a question/comment or reaction does not require any feedback from you, and it takes up too much time that you do not have anyway.
The problem with the internet is that people often think they have a right to your time or that everything on the internet is free. If you are good at what you do, and you work a lot, then it is completely logical that you will value your time and charge for your services. Just as I can't get a free haircut or massage, it is not possible to get a free business analysis, marketing plan or social media strategy plan. Very simple.
Likewise, not everyone can get an answer to the question asked because that would mean spending all day corresponding with people on the internet who suffer from excess free time or who only correspond with you, and you receive 165 messages per minute.
That's why it's essential to set boundaries and stick to them. If you want to maintain your sanity, you'll set boundaries right away because there are only 24 hours in a day. After you've finished work, slept, prepared and eaten, and done all the other things you have to do during the day, exactly how much time do you have left for yourself?