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When Did Society Become Filled With So Much Hate?

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Montclair chapter.

In the past few years, I feel like I’m always surrounded by negativity. Whether it’s social media or just someone’s attitude, the world has become more hateful than in the past. Especially on social media, there’s always someone hating on someone else even if it’s the most pointless thing in the world. I hate seeing this much negativity all the time, and I feel like it has affected my attitude. Every day I find myself asking the same question:

When did the world become filled with so much hate?

COVID-19 definitely affected our viewpoints on life for obvious reasons. For over two years, we’ve been dealing with health scares, quarantines and feeling isolated from the world. All this turmoil has caused us to feel more alone than ever before. Due to this, most of us have become very negative. Whether it’s yelling at a service employee that there’s a shortage of your favorite product, leaving hate comments on online posts or fighting over politics, our world definitely has become more negative than in the past.

Politics have definitely shifted our attitude toward each other also. Ever since the 2020 election, there has been a clear divide between conservatives and liberals. If you don’t agree with someone’s political views, you will be insulted. People have their reasons to dislike a president or government official. Just because you disagree with them doesn’t mean you have the right to hate on someone who supports them. I wasn’t old enough to vote in the 2020 election, and neither were most of my friends, but I still listened to people my age hating on each other for their political beliefs. I won’t lie, I’ve made Donald Trump jokes in the past and maybe rolled my eyes at a few of their supporters, but I never took it further than that. 

Not only have our attitudes changed for the worse, but current events haven’t been too positive either. The past two years have been filled with hateful and negative acts in the world. From the murder of George Floyd and the BLM protests in June 2020 to the current crisis happening in Ukraine and everything in between, our world is pretty negative right now. It makes sense why people are starting to hate everything and have a negative outlook on life. 

Besides everything that’s been happening in our world, there are people who like to hate on others just because. Those who feel lonely or insecure are more likely to hate on someone else than someone who is content with their lives. I’ve been there before – hating on someone solely because it looks like they’re living a better life than I am. However, instead of leaving a nasty comment on someone’s page, I realize that I’m sitting here hating on the couch while the other person is living their best life. Even if you don’t have the same novelties as someone else, it doesn’t mean they’re living a better life than you and there’s absolutely no reason to hate on them.

Our society needs to start working on having a more positive attitude and outlook on life. Instead of complaining about something not going your way, work to fix it! You are your own worst enemy, and if you let the negativity win, you won’t get anything accomplished other than hate.

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Emily Spillar

Montclair '25

Emily is a Junior, Communication & Media Studies major at Montclair State University. She loves all things fashion and beauty, while also finding new experiences.