It Costs Nothing to Be Nice to Someone, Or To…

You’ve heard that expression, right?  It shows up a lot on social media.  Someone let me know if I’m wrong and it has been around a long time, but I feel like it’s maybe more of a 21st century thing.  “It costs nothing to be nice to someone.”

But let’s take that a step further.

You see, next month is Mental Health Awareness Month.  But I always scratch my head and wonder why we have to limit the attention to just May.  Or there are similar occasions, like the National Day of Prayer.  (Really?  Only one day out of 365 that we should be prayerful?)  Heck, as a publicist whose client roster includes some authors, why is there only a National Read a Book Day?  (September 6, 2026, by the way.)

There are people who agonize over not getting Likes on their social media posts.  They are heartbroken when a video gets very few views.  It’s even worse when people decide to be bullies in the comments and write something mean.  (What ever happened to “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all”?)

Please don’t confuse this with breaking my arm patting myself on the back.  But there have actually been times when I’ve looked at a picture on Instagram and decided, “This person made the conscious decision to make an effort to put themselves out there with this photo.  It might help their morale, their self-esteem, to get just one more Like (mine) on their post.”  And boom, I hit the Like button.  It didn’t cost me anything to do that.

I have been surprised as I’ve learned that more and more and more people have Imposter Syndrome.  A lot more people than you think and many who you’d be surprised to learn fight that battle.  Unscientifically, I have decided on my own that the people who post a lot are trying to convince themselves just as much as their followers that, “Look at me, I’m someone important.  What I do deserves attention.”  I say that with no emotion but simply to underscore that they could potentially suffer emotionally even more when there’s little acceptance.  (“See?  I knew I was no good.”)

See a video that someone has posted?  Let it play, turn the volume down, and let it finish.  That kind gesture of that additional view could make a difference, especially if more and more people adopted this approach.

We like to talk about collaborations and say that we’re in community with one another, but when you grimace at someone’s post and move on (“Why are you standing there with your arms folded, judging me?” Vince Vaughn’s character asks in the Christmas movie, “Fred Claus”) it runs counter to a spirit of supporting each other.

I could make a case that this even extends to your behavior with someone’s email newsletter.  When you hit the Unsubscribe option, the sender can see it in their stats on their email marketing platform’s user dashboard.  I can picture that person seeing that and thinking, “Really?  (name) unsubscribed?  Why?!”  And that could cause them to really spiral downward or be the tipping point if they were already in a vulnerable emotional state.

At the very least, let their emails come in, but just don’t open them.  I know, I know, you receive a ton of emails, but unsubscribing to that indie creator’s weekly newsletter isn’t going to make all the difference in what’s in your inbox.  Unsubscribe from something that you get from a massive retail giant who isn’t going to notice or be affected.

If you’re intentionally not clicking Like on someone’s posts because you’re looking at their content competitively and thinking, “I don’t want them to succeed.  I’m not going to give them more likes and engagement on their post,” then maybe you need Mental Health Awareness Month.

Each week on the “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast I give out the guest’s website address and social media platforms (and other plugs).  If you hear someone you really like, go interact with their social media and/or their music.  You probably don’t realize that yes, even just your one additional like/follow honestly helps.

I’ve actually seen indie music artists list out for people the many ways that you can support them, from the “bigger ticket” items such as buying their music or their merchandise or paying to come see them perform live, down to, yes, simply following (and engaging with) them on social media.

So, come on.  Don’t wait for May.  For the good that you might not see that you’re doing, start making regular use of that Like button on social media.

A Member of the Recording Academy, I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more for over twenty years.  What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to?  Connect with me so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.