Are you a Radiator or a Drain online?

Are you a Radiator or a Drain online?

I think it was Oprah Winfrey who once said that people can be divided into two camps – radiators and drains.  Radiators beam warmth, kindness, love, happiness and enthusiasm. They smile when you walk into a room, are genuinely interested in others and make you feel good about yourself. Radiators bring out the very best in people.

Drains have a more negative outlook on life and their glass is always half-empty. They can be self-absorbed, demanding and will often TAKE TAKE TAKE without ever giving anything back. Drains zap your energy levels with their constant need for reassurance and leave you feeling totally diminished. Drains are toxic.

Over the years, I like to think I have got pretty good at differentiating between the two and tend to steer clear of mood hoovers.

However, I have been less careful about letting drains into my online world and I have recently noticed that my timeline has become infested with them.

Online drains take to twitter to complain that someone else just got sent a packet of biscuits and they did not. They DM people to ask how they got on the list for free biscuits and speculate as to why they were excluded. Then they start tweeting that the biscuits are all shite anyway and the people who eat them are too.

If you tweet ‘I love biscuit’, drains will pull you up for bad grammar. They will then ask you to RT their blog post about the injustice of not being sent biscuits and how the selection process must have been a fix.

They see another’s success as their failure.  What you want to say is ‘Look, there are plenty more biscuits out there’ but you know it will end up in a 4-day twitter stand-off between people who are capable of being happy for others and people who are not.

But let’s just say you think they may have a point about the biscuits, so you do RT them. Don’t always expect the favour to be returned, unless of course you are also tweeting about them not getting any biscuits.  Drains will continue to ask for your time and your resources while rarely offering anything back. Some take offence if their messages go unanswered. They have an ability to make almost every situation about themselves and are relentless in their self-promotion; whether that is by complaining, arguing or leaving snarky blog comments.

Whereas, radiators start their twitter day by asking if anyone fancies a cup of tea.  They respond positively to good news and are generous with their likes, shares, mentions and virtual gin.  They are engaging, genuine and make the twitterverse a nicer place to be.

Of course, even the warmest radiator can have occasional drain-like moments.  When truly awful things happen it’s hard to be a radiator and nor should anyone try to be. We all need to vent now and then, and not everything online should be fluffy kittens and pink peonies. In fact, it has never been more important to keep things real. We need all of the good, the bad and the ugly on social media so others can radiate all their love, kindness and respect in the right direction.

There will be times when all of us feel weighed down by a cloak of gloom, but these times do not last forever and living through them is part of being in a supportive online community.

The persistent demand for another person’s biscuits is not.

21 Comments

  1. June 18, 2015 / 11:38 PM

    Yes to this a million times over, I call the drainers ‘dementors’ and sadly you need to cut them out online as in life, life is simply too short and full of the awesome radiators to worry about the dingbats, You darling, radiate and shine x

    • Grenglish
      Author
      June 19, 2015 / 11:55 AM

      As do you darling. Dementors is a great word for them!

  2. June 19, 2015 / 11:44 AM

    NAILED IT. This. This always. Best post ever. xxx

    • Grenglish
      Author
      June 19, 2015 / 11:55 AM

      Oh shush… (thanks Molly) xx

  3. June 19, 2015 / 11:46 AM

    Couldn’t agree more… my philosphy is that life’s tough enough already – so blogging and social media should (mostly) be happy and make everyone feel better about the world.
    Great post hun x

    • Grenglish
      Author
      June 19, 2015 / 11:56 AM

      Could not agree more! Thank you x

  4. June 19, 2015 / 8:05 PM

    i do try to be a radiator, but am feeling a bit of a drain currently, thank you for making me realise it’s ok, occasionally. I did reference this post in my most recent ramblings!

    • Grenglish
      Author
      June 21, 2015 / 11:08 AM

      Oh fab, will check it out later today, thank you x

  5. June 21, 2015 / 10:40 AM

    Great post Sarah! I wonder if the drains and massive self promoters don’t even realise they’re doing it half the time … or whether they just don’t care. You are most definitely a radiator! x

    • Grenglish
      Author
      June 21, 2015 / 11:08 AM

      Maybe they are too self-absorbed to know or care!

  6. June 21, 2015 / 11:16 AM

    You absolutley NAILED this. It is an astute, warm, witty and incredibly wise post. Just perfection Sarah!

    I am in awe. *high fives* x

    • Grenglish
      Author
      June 24, 2015 / 6:26 PM

      *high fives back* Thank you lovely and for the encouragement to publish it on the Huff Post. You are definitely one of life’s radiators x

  7. June 22, 2015 / 9:48 PM

    Ohh those biscuits have a lot to answer for and yes the amount of times I have unfollowed the drains. Go dump them off your timeline lovely lady. Mich x

  8. June 24, 2015 / 9:03 AM

    I like to think I am a radiator but who knows….

    • Grenglish
      Author
      June 24, 2015 / 6:24 PM

      Of course you are!

  9. June 26, 2015 / 10:44 AM

    I love this post SO much. We call the drains “energy vampires” in this house, but it’s all the same thing and I’ve been doing my best to avoid them lately, too.

  10. July 6, 2015 / 7:44 PM

    Ugh – I know exactly what you mean! Unfortunately, I find it a lot more difficult to find the ‘unfollow’ button for drains in the offline world. I’ve encountered so many of those that I have NO truck for them online. Great post.

  11. July 12, 2015 / 3:43 PM

    I couldn’t agree more with you. I find I am steering away from the online drains more and more and actually I’m quite enjoying it too.

  12. July 24, 2015 / 8:55 AM

    Great post, I think I find it really easy to just move away from people now who I feel are draining. I didn’t used to, but I think time has meant that I’m very much a ‘life’s too short’ personality. I just don’t have time to waste on them.

    • Grenglish
      Author
      July 28, 2015 / 10:00 AM

      Fab attitude x

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