Jimmy Kimmel’s “Mean Tweets” Segment Is A Great Lesson On How To Handle Criticism

forget the haters

Oct. 5, 2015

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If you haven’t seen a segment of Jimmy Kimmel’s Mean Tweets, then you should probably block some time off on your calendar today to take a look. They’re only 5 minutes each, but will give you endless moments of entertainment.

Kimmel must have known that we were going to need a little boost to get through the week, so we were thrilled when we found out that it was Mean Tweets Week. And finally, the full compilation of celebs was released, featuring George Clooney, Emily Blunt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bette Midler, Andrew Garfield, The Rock, Halle Berry, Kristen Bell, and many more.

I often wonder how these tweeters come up with the insults. Someone called Cumberbatch a cat face, told Clooney he had no sense of humor, and said Berry had lopsided boobs (just wait until you hear her comeback). And despite the fact that the tweets can be a bit crude, I also wonder if Kimmel is giving a positive lesson in accepting criticism.

In an age where social media dominates our daily lives, and we have access to pretty much anyone in the world, there are so many opportunities for hate to be thrown around. When it takes .02 seconds to send a tweet into cyberspace, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there’s someone on the other end. A new study from Vodafone showed that 1 in 5 teens have been cyberbullied, and that 43 percent of the teens surveyed think that cyberbullying is a bigger problem than drug abuse. Since the younger generations have grown up with these technologies, this behavior continues into college, and even the work environment, where people sometimes think that because you’re older, you can take a mean-spirited joke over email.

It might be hard to think about George Clooney being cyberbullied, but that’s what’s happening with the Mean Tweets segment. And what we can learn from it? These celebs are facing the criticism head on and proving that they can read it, laugh about it, and move on—and proving to the tweeters that there really is someone hearing what they’re saying. It’s a lesson on dealing with the haters out there. If you don’t give them the power to upset you, then there’s no truth behind their words, or their 140 characters…

See this week’s Mean Tweets segment below: