Normally, when I get a chance to use this editorial space it is for good news, exciting happenings and all round horological goodness, but this week I want to share something that is increasingly unsettling. There seems to be an increasing amount of hate that is occurring on social media when watch brands post something new. Haters can get riled up about anything from the position of a date, to the colour of dial, the design of a bracelet, or even a folding clasp. What is the big deal? Why are people getting on their high horses about this stuff? If they don’t like it, why don’t they just scroll on?
I was talking to one CEO the other day who told me he was getting nervous about posting things on social media for fear of a potential back lash. It usually starts with one person and then others jump on board trying to outwit each other with sarcastic comments. There have even been haters chiming in on the Only Watch models destined to raise money for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Who are these people? What is their end game?
I have a friend who is a very successful watch YouTuber who gets so many hate comments that his wife constantly has to go through the feed deleting the trolls so he can actually find the motivation to keep going and serve his close to a million subscribers. This just isn’t right.
Now, I know all of you WorldTempus readers are serious watch lovers with hearts of pink gold, so I have a plan, and I need your help! At my children’s school, you get points for acts of random kindness. The teachers are always on the look-out for heroes. So, if you open a door, help someone who dropped their books, console a friend who fell over, or pick up trash when no one is looking, then the teachers are there to dish out kindness points.
So, my secret non-evil plan, is to start a revolution, where if you see a positive comment on social media, support it, join in the conversation, like it, give it a thumbs up. Let’s leave the negative commentators with no hearts, no love. Let’s leave them hanging in their negativity, because I really feel that things are starting to get out of hand.
And if, like many of us, you sometimes struggle to find what to say, here are some of my favourite positive comments from this last week that could lift up a whole industry on their own! Guys, you rock!
