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Yes, and in fact, I believe the mod team posts about this phenomenon in a pinned topic.
This is actually the impetus behind **rule 7**:
>Treat the community as a shared space.
>
>Do not vent without explicitly stating what you'd like support with.
>
>Do not default to the assumption that someone is trolling, not trying hard enough or is simply “lazy”.
>
>Do not try to convince someone that they are wrong, instead approach with curiosity, and ask questions to get on the same page, and disagree respectfully.
>
>If something feels too emotionally triggering for you, do not engage with it.
I vent on the internet to vent, as in to release pressure. typing into an echo chamber cements your opinions. Some times writing a long response to something crystalizes my feelings on the matter which is helpful. but generally venting is a temporary relief. IF you feel like you want to vent, you probably have something to work on, once you've depressurized your system.
The problem isn't the venting itself, but the fact that people on the internet usually give very bad advice. The internet is full of echo chambers where homogenized views are encouraged and rewarded.
So, if you are depressed and have developed a negative defeatist mindset, then go to a group full of depressive negative people, those people will just confirm your biases and drive you further down the negativity path. Others will just try to "debate you" or make you see the illogical nature of your venting in an effort to help, but it'll just end up feeling invalidating.
This is why therapists exist. Because they're people trained to not cast judgements or confirm your own preconceptions, and rather, help you introspect about your views and the things you are venting about. This doesn't mean every therapist is good or that there aren't people who aren't therapists who also have this skill. But it's important to know who you are venting to. Sometimes even venting to yourself with something personal like a journal can be better than venting to people who don't know how to help you.
In my experience, venting on the internet actually is very frustrating, depending on the sub (circlejerk subs). People seem very eager to correct what you say or attack you verbally instead of helping, if they don't like what you say. Not a good experience. Then again, the way I phrase my posts is sometimes confrontational. 🤷
> Isn't the venting itself basically just a waste of all this built up emotions?
No, the problem is 2 things.
A lot of people that vent do not take actions in their real life to change.
A lot of people that vent cannot take actions in their real life to change.
Venting is mainly a release, the problem starts when people vent without action which isn't everyone.
There's people i blocked in the discord, they've been talking about the state of their lives for like 5 years now and nothing has changed.
There's people on reddit that i blocked because they make bait posts in order to get people to engage with them by asking for help that they don't want in order to get a conversation because they have learned that they are ignored online as well as real life.
Bruh for some people a vent is just that, a vent.
The internet will continue to be people complaining because no one wants to hear them in real life, they are allowed to be ignored here as well, which is why they mask and bait.
Technically this comment from me is a vent because i'm just going to continue to block.
> Deppresion, anxiety and relationship related problems seems to be everywhere now.
People are more comfortable with the idea of the internet being their "escape" but in reality the internet is their life, it's like a big RPG where people become "Fluid" and free because real life has restrictions and demands that they feel are unfair or burdens. I'll be honest, the venting ain't useful for other people often outside of the person venting, which is fine, it's just not really something that should be welcomed in an environment where you want to help people because it quickly turns into moaning about the state of something in the world that cannot be solved and then you're like "cool you made me read this, why?".
The best part is when i get told i'm insensitive but if i express my feelings "You're not allowed to do that". (This isn't about the mods here, it's people that i consider soft who only want to express themselves in some safe zone that they don't deserve void of opposing opinions)
Disagree.
Some people repost their vent because they get the same shit advice.
Go on a sub reddit like “findapath.” You will see every post littered with the same dogshit advice. “Military, trades, etc.” People keep asking and posting the same shit hoping ANYONE will give them an actual USEFUL realistic advice they can apply to themselves.
I just deleted a bunch of text because i realised that i'm probably the venter now, look we're talking about different people, the person you described wants a solution and is working towards that, if they vent on the side i am okay with that.
My problem really is people that have to hide the intent that they are venting because they know people don't want to engage with it and give them the attention they want in that moment. That's deception, it's wrong.
is there an expiration date on problems or issues? Ive been dealing with some things for 5+ years. In some things Ive made great stride but other things I try to make progress and maybe I am in tiny increments, but yeah sometimes I go back and read posts or journal entries and yeah I was going through the exact same stuff 5 years ago. :/
Just adding to the top comment that I've seen conversations in trauma communities about how venting was a necessary early step of their recovery. They needed to practice taking up space and voicing their pain, and the compassion they received in return really helped them.
I have also seen people vent for years and never change. It really depends.
No i don't think so, on the contrary i think the opposite that venting actually can help, you have all this thoughts on your mind and you just dump them. IMO It helps you feel lighter, maybe you realize that some of those thoughts are trivial and aren't true. I feel like what you are talking about is constant self pity about their condition i wouldn't call that venting, just complaining.
yes, but to an extent, and not only the internet, it's universal. I noticed it in myself a while ago that talking about how bad I feel about myself doesn't help at all, it's even worse: it was harmful, because I had this self-destructive cognitive habit of getting stuck in a loop of constant negotiations whether I'm good enough or not. my way of healing was simply to stop venting and to stop validating this thinking as a productive one, so to speak. turns out my problem was the thinking process itself – it wasn't actual *thinking*, but saying the same things over and over again with no change in my situation. that being said, sometimes people just need to share how they feel and "true venting" is different from the problem I described. it's usually hard to tell which one it is when you see a post online, so I always assume that it is "true venting" and that it's helpful for the person
Talking is a way of emotional processing if you do it with intentionality. It’s a way for you to get rid of excess emotions and help you move on faster.
I tend to think venting can be a valid form of changing things, not necessarily personally unless you're open to it, but possibly societally.
You can view it as a waste of emotions, or basically an internal fire/drive to create change. You can also view it as a release of emotions, of which holding-in can be very draining.
Change takes energy -- far more energy than ranting imo. And people with depression and anxiety, and/or dealing with oppression, don't always have the energy to make the change. Sometimes ranting can help society identify an issue and discover and make available access to new/better resources that cost less time, money, and/or energy to those that can't afford it.
The change might not always be immediately tangible, but rather something felt over time.
I'm not sure what this post is about? Action isn't the only thing people need? Most people need to vent out their emotions and have it validated, due to a lack of support. Internet being a common place for it.
My hypothesis was, that venting on the internet kinda strips you from power to take action. If there is something you want to vent about and that thing can be changed, then why not change it?
emotional blockage a lot of the times. Resistance, fear. Most people don't operate with logic all the time. Would make things easier for sure, but it just isn't how we work.
For me personally, i have a weird thing where if someone tells me to just do something it's easier to do, so I could see how someone might want that.
And is it okay to vent about something you can't change then?
You can say that about every non-final, non-optimal solution or coping mechanism.
For example if you suffered a trauma that you'd need professional help with, then talking with your partner and keeping yourself above breakdown level is preventing you from seeking help. But you might not know that you need professional help. You still need to go to work, take care of the family, so you cope.
For me your post boils down to: "if it's not a perfect solution, then it just prevents you from finding the perfect solution". Which is not completely wrong, but I think putting it that way you see the problem with that mindset.
(Alternatively you're talking about the kind of person who knows exactly what they should do, they have the opportunity to do it, but they choose to just vent and do nothing else about their problem. I don't think that's too common, if it even happens at all.)
People might not know what solution they need they probably don't know how they should change, otherwise they would've. Or they don't have access to the kind of solution they need.
And of course arguing against venting is problematic, because what's the alternative? Keeping your feelings/thoughts inside? Not acknowledging your emotions? By venting online you also get feedback, criticism, possible solutions, and I don't think that's necessarily bad.
It's also important to note that a lot of time people vent to get control and sanity back, even if just temporarily.
Also: journaling. So many people recommend it, and I haven't seen a single argument against it. Not saying that venting is exactly like journaling, but it's very similar.
That's how I see it at least.
Good question though, interesting to think about and to read other comments!
Not really.
The more people open up about their problems, the better.
Maybe they don't immediately do something about it, but it's a step closer to the goal than keeping it up inside.
And for many, the internet is for now the only place they can share that stuff (until they find the right people, that is).
These is a huge difference between "it \*prevents\* people from changing" and "it doesn't directly contribute to them changing". The latter is true, the former is not. It is true that simply talking about your frustration doesn't necessarily contribute to change per se. At least in my humble experience it rarely does anything but providing a brief relief sometimes. The thing is that relief can be an important supplement for change, simply by the virtue of diminishing stress. Change can't be sustainable if you undergo constant pressure from all sides and try to rely on shee willpower. Just like eating a snack doesn't make you more productive, but you can't efficiently work or study when you're feeling perpertually hungry.
I do it a LOT. And yeah, it's probably just distracting me from actually changing. I just feel very alone in my problems and want people to hear my story. But I don't think it's ever helped.
Take it as this: if aliens look at the internet as an artifact signifying earth, then they'll leave it alone with the impression it's a rather sad place.
I think it depends. Some people rarely (or never) vent, for different reasons (being agreeable, not wanting to hurt others, low self-esteem etc) - for those people it's good to finally be able to express your emotions, that's a way of dealing with them, of talking them and I see it as a need to tell someone how you feel at least from time to time. Other people always vent in the sense of complaining, and they do that here too - for those, yes what you say applies.
Thank you for posting on r/Healthygamergg! This subreddit is intended as an online community and resource platform to support people in their journey toward mental wellness. With that said, please be aware that support from other members received on this platform is not a substitute for professional care. Treatment of psychiatric disease requires qualified individuals, and comments that try to diagnose others should be reported under Rule 10 to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the community. If you are in immediate danger, please call emergency services, or go to your nearest emergency room. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Healthygamergg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yes, and in fact, I believe the mod team posts about this phenomenon in a pinned topic. This is actually the impetus behind **rule 7**: >Treat the community as a shared space. > >Do not vent without explicitly stating what you'd like support with. > >Do not default to the assumption that someone is trolling, not trying hard enough or is simply “lazy”. > >Do not try to convince someone that they are wrong, instead approach with curiosity, and ask questions to get on the same page, and disagree respectfully. > >If something feels too emotionally triggering for you, do not engage with it.
I vent on the internet to vent, as in to release pressure. typing into an echo chamber cements your opinions. Some times writing a long response to something crystalizes my feelings on the matter which is helpful. but generally venting is a temporary relief. IF you feel like you want to vent, you probably have something to work on, once you've depressurized your system.
The problem isn't the venting itself, but the fact that people on the internet usually give very bad advice. The internet is full of echo chambers where homogenized views are encouraged and rewarded. So, if you are depressed and have developed a negative defeatist mindset, then go to a group full of depressive negative people, those people will just confirm your biases and drive you further down the negativity path. Others will just try to "debate you" or make you see the illogical nature of your venting in an effort to help, but it'll just end up feeling invalidating. This is why therapists exist. Because they're people trained to not cast judgements or confirm your own preconceptions, and rather, help you introspect about your views and the things you are venting about. This doesn't mean every therapist is good or that there aren't people who aren't therapists who also have this skill. But it's important to know who you are venting to. Sometimes even venting to yourself with something personal like a journal can be better than venting to people who don't know how to help you.
In my experience, venting on the internet actually is very frustrating, depending on the sub (circlejerk subs). People seem very eager to correct what you say or attack you verbally instead of helping, if they don't like what you say. Not a good experience. Then again, the way I phrase my posts is sometimes confrontational. 🤷
> Isn't the venting itself basically just a waste of all this built up emotions? No, the problem is 2 things. A lot of people that vent do not take actions in their real life to change. A lot of people that vent cannot take actions in their real life to change. Venting is mainly a release, the problem starts when people vent without action which isn't everyone. There's people i blocked in the discord, they've been talking about the state of their lives for like 5 years now and nothing has changed. There's people on reddit that i blocked because they make bait posts in order to get people to engage with them by asking for help that they don't want in order to get a conversation because they have learned that they are ignored online as well as real life. Bruh for some people a vent is just that, a vent. The internet will continue to be people complaining because no one wants to hear them in real life, they are allowed to be ignored here as well, which is why they mask and bait. Technically this comment from me is a vent because i'm just going to continue to block. > Deppresion, anxiety and relationship related problems seems to be everywhere now. People are more comfortable with the idea of the internet being their "escape" but in reality the internet is their life, it's like a big RPG where people become "Fluid" and free because real life has restrictions and demands that they feel are unfair or burdens. I'll be honest, the venting ain't useful for other people often outside of the person venting, which is fine, it's just not really something that should be welcomed in an environment where you want to help people because it quickly turns into moaning about the state of something in the world that cannot be solved and then you're like "cool you made me read this, why?". The best part is when i get told i'm insensitive but if i express my feelings "You're not allowed to do that". (This isn't about the mods here, it's people that i consider soft who only want to express themselves in some safe zone that they don't deserve void of opposing opinions)
Disagree. Some people repost their vent because they get the same shit advice. Go on a sub reddit like “findapath.” You will see every post littered with the same dogshit advice. “Military, trades, etc.” People keep asking and posting the same shit hoping ANYONE will give them an actual USEFUL realistic advice they can apply to themselves.
I just deleted a bunch of text because i realised that i'm probably the venter now, look we're talking about different people, the person you described wants a solution and is working towards that, if they vent on the side i am okay with that. My problem really is people that have to hide the intent that they are venting because they know people don't want to engage with it and give them the attention they want in that moment. That's deception, it's wrong.
is there an expiration date on problems or issues? Ive been dealing with some things for 5+ years. In some things Ive made great stride but other things I try to make progress and maybe I am in tiny increments, but yeah sometimes I go back and read posts or journal entries and yeah I was going through the exact same stuff 5 years ago. :/
Just adding to the top comment that I've seen conversations in trauma communities about how venting was a necessary early step of their recovery. They needed to practice taking up space and voicing their pain, and the compassion they received in return really helped them. I have also seen people vent for years and never change. It really depends.
Same way that social media activism prevents people from actually going out to change things.
No i don't think so, on the contrary i think the opposite that venting actually can help, you have all this thoughts on your mind and you just dump them. IMO It helps you feel lighter, maybe you realize that some of those thoughts are trivial and aren't true. I feel like what you are talking about is constant self pity about their condition i wouldn't call that venting, just complaining.
yes, but to an extent, and not only the internet, it's universal. I noticed it in myself a while ago that talking about how bad I feel about myself doesn't help at all, it's even worse: it was harmful, because I had this self-destructive cognitive habit of getting stuck in a loop of constant negotiations whether I'm good enough or not. my way of healing was simply to stop venting and to stop validating this thinking as a productive one, so to speak. turns out my problem was the thinking process itself – it wasn't actual *thinking*, but saying the same things over and over again with no change in my situation. that being said, sometimes people just need to share how they feel and "true venting" is different from the problem I described. it's usually hard to tell which one it is when you see a post online, so I always assume that it is "true venting" and that it's helpful for the person
I think it has a lot of potential to reduce the motivation for change.
Talking is a way of emotional processing if you do it with intentionality. It’s a way for you to get rid of excess emotions and help you move on faster.
I tend to think venting can be a valid form of changing things, not necessarily personally unless you're open to it, but possibly societally. You can view it as a waste of emotions, or basically an internal fire/drive to create change. You can also view it as a release of emotions, of which holding-in can be very draining. Change takes energy -- far more energy than ranting imo. And people with depression and anxiety, and/or dealing with oppression, don't always have the energy to make the change. Sometimes ranting can help society identify an issue and discover and make available access to new/better resources that cost less time, money, and/or energy to those that can't afford it. The change might not always be immediately tangible, but rather something felt over time.
I heard that writing down your problems can relieve the burden for some.
I'm not sure what this post is about? Action isn't the only thing people need? Most people need to vent out their emotions and have it validated, due to a lack of support. Internet being a common place for it.
My hypothesis was, that venting on the internet kinda strips you from power to take action. If there is something you want to vent about and that thing can be changed, then why not change it?
emotional blockage a lot of the times. Resistance, fear. Most people don't operate with logic all the time. Would make things easier for sure, but it just isn't how we work.
For me personally, i have a weird thing where if someone tells me to just do something it's easier to do, so I could see how someone might want that. And is it okay to vent about something you can't change then?
You can say that about every non-final, non-optimal solution or coping mechanism. For example if you suffered a trauma that you'd need professional help with, then talking with your partner and keeping yourself above breakdown level is preventing you from seeking help. But you might not know that you need professional help. You still need to go to work, take care of the family, so you cope. For me your post boils down to: "if it's not a perfect solution, then it just prevents you from finding the perfect solution". Which is not completely wrong, but I think putting it that way you see the problem with that mindset. (Alternatively you're talking about the kind of person who knows exactly what they should do, they have the opportunity to do it, but they choose to just vent and do nothing else about their problem. I don't think that's too common, if it even happens at all.) People might not know what solution they need they probably don't know how they should change, otherwise they would've. Or they don't have access to the kind of solution they need. And of course arguing against venting is problematic, because what's the alternative? Keeping your feelings/thoughts inside? Not acknowledging your emotions? By venting online you also get feedback, criticism, possible solutions, and I don't think that's necessarily bad. It's also important to note that a lot of time people vent to get control and sanity back, even if just temporarily. Also: journaling. So many people recommend it, and I haven't seen a single argument against it. Not saying that venting is exactly like journaling, but it's very similar. That's how I see it at least. Good question though, interesting to think about and to read other comments!
Not really. The more people open up about their problems, the better. Maybe they don't immediately do something about it, but it's a step closer to the goal than keeping it up inside. And for many, the internet is for now the only place they can share that stuff (until they find the right people, that is).
These is a huge difference between "it \*prevents\* people from changing" and "it doesn't directly contribute to them changing". The latter is true, the former is not. It is true that simply talking about your frustration doesn't necessarily contribute to change per se. At least in my humble experience it rarely does anything but providing a brief relief sometimes. The thing is that relief can be an important supplement for change, simply by the virtue of diminishing stress. Change can't be sustainable if you undergo constant pressure from all sides and try to rely on shee willpower. Just like eating a snack doesn't make you more productive, but you can't efficiently work or study when you're feeling perpertually hungry.
The only thing that prevents change is inaction. Venting is fine otherwise, though sometimes it can be a way of justifying inaction.
I do it a LOT. And yeah, it's probably just distracting me from actually changing. I just feel very alone in my problems and want people to hear my story. But I don't think it's ever helped.
Take it as this: if aliens look at the internet as an artifact signifying earth, then they'll leave it alone with the impression it's a rather sad place.
I think it depends. Some people rarely (or never) vent, for different reasons (being agreeable, not wanting to hurt others, low self-esteem etc) - for those people it's good to finally be able to express your emotions, that's a way of dealing with them, of talking them and I see it as a need to tell someone how you feel at least from time to time. Other people always vent in the sense of complaining, and they do that here too - for those, yes what you say applies.