I wrote this because I wanted to make sense of a habit that I have, and to modify it so it serves me better. I think the important thing is that my day-to-day behavior should serve my larger goals. My big-picture goal is to build good relationships with good people around the world. So if I’m arguing with somebody, it had better be in service with that. Also, I need to be thinking about the opportunity cost – ie what could I be doing with my time instead?

I have a habit of arguing with people on the Internet.

There are pros and cons to this.

Pro 1: is that I typically refine my own thinking and writing abilities.

Pro 2: Sometimes (I wanted to say often, but that’s BS) if I feel the urge to engage somebody, it means that there’s something potentially pressing or interesting about that issue. I have occasionally written blogposts or status updates that have helped people, and I like helping people. Helping people makes me feel good.

Though to be honest, more often than not, it isn’t really the helping-people part that feels good, it’s just getting positive feedback and validation. It makes my brain think “ah, everything is good and right and okay with me.” This is a dangerous thought– it’s a drug, like heroin or something, and it’s probably why there are so many angry trolls etc on the internet. It’s a sort of escapism. It gives us something that feels like validation. Or it feels like… Because very often, NOT all is right But not necessarily. I have often

The con is that this is rarely the most fruitful use of my time. I usually have better things to do. Part of the problem here might be that it’s not always clear to me in the heat of the moment what’s the best thing for me to do. Do I, at any given moment, know what’s the best thing for me to do? What’s the single absolute most important thing for me to do? I do not, actually. I improvise my way through it.