In a time when every moment can go public, it seems we’ve grown careless with our words, and crueler in our silence. Actress Matet De Leon’s recent live selling session was meant to be a simple act of honest work. Instead, it became a scene of public heartbreak when faceless commenters hurled insults about her career, her character, and most evidently, her loss. 

It would’ve been easy to scroll past. To hold back whatever judgement had built up at the back of our minds. But the internet rarely resists the urge to leave hurtful content, especially when it can be done anonymously. 

In the comments were insults mocking De Leon’s lack of new projects, with users noting, “Wala na kayong project?” and “Suplada kaya iniwan ni Ate Guy.” These sentiments were not just petty, but profoundly thoughtless. And in the confrontation of such insensitivity, Matet, still mourning the death of her mother Nora Aunor, broke down. 

With much disbelief from those remarks, De Leon confronted those very users, emphasizing that she was simply trying to make a proper living, only to be met with such indifference, questioning the need for it.

This moment highlighted an ugly habit we’ve grown too comfortable with: we’ve normalized throwing words, forgetting where they land, acting blind to the wounds they leave behind. With the security we feel in hiding our identities in today’s digital platforms, we type away and publish hate without a second thought. 

Would we hold the same courage if we were made to say these words in person? Would we still stand by these words if they were etched onto our own skin, instead of thrown carelessly into the digital void?

Social media has made it too easy to treat people, especially public figures, as easy targets for amusement, forgetting that behind the screen is a person carrying burdens we cannot see. The danger lies not only in the immediate hurt it causes, but in how it gradually wears down a person’s spirit, stirring up the worst in those already fragile.

We need to address the culture we’ve built online. Reckless words can trigger such sensitive emotions, and the normalization in this cruelty for casual entertainment is undeniably alarming. The right to speak freely online comes with the responsibility to be decent. It costs nothing to withhold a cruel comment, and it might cost everything if you don’t. 

Matet’s grief was not a spectacle, it was a human moment. One that should remind us all that we have no idea about the private battles people are fighting, and the least we can do is not be the thing that makes it worse.

Featured image: DepositPhotos

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