The internet, and specifically social media, is a brutal and unforgiving place.
If used correctly, it is a potent tool that can make you rich and famous in no time, but many are learning that it can rip that fame away just as quickly, relegating you to infamy.
Or worse – obscurity.
Rapper AKA, Katlego Maboe, Donald Trump and John Legend’s wife Chrissy Teigen are all learning this the hard way at the moment.
And because of the anonymity that the internet affords people, they take liberties to be especially brutal.
For some reason, some perfectly nice people can become very mean from behind the safety of a keyboard.
Right now I want to focus on how internet fame has created a hungry monster that constantly needs to be fed.
In order to remain relevant, celebrities feel they must post something on social media on a regular basis.
They fear if too much time passes and nobody has heard from them, then they will be forgotten.
But this is of course a double-edged sword, because staying relevant means that your every word and action are under constant scrutiny.
One misstep, and the very instrument of your fame can also become your torture device.
This pressure to stay in the limelight means that celebrities often comment on current affairs that they don’t have a complete understanding of.
But it also means that they easily come into the crosshairs of those intent on cutting them down to size.
And that seems to be exactly how poor Chrissy Teigen has come to suffer the wrath of social media.
She tweeted some truly terrible things to a teenager, who married a much older man a few years ago.
And if you know nothing else about living your life online, know this: the internet never forgets.
So of course she is being crucified for her nasty comments.
But what the internet often ignores, is the genuine and inescapable personal growth that inevitably comes with age.
And I’m not talking about people saying they are sorry, once they have been found out.
I’m talking about new patterns of behaviour that are obvious to everyone.
I became a fan of Chrissy Teigen’s only a few years ago and I quite enjoy her online antics, brutal troll burns and socially conscious posts; so I wasn’t aware of what she had said years before.
She attracted my attention because she struck me as an authentic human being, using her celeb status for good.
It’s not just that she has expressed remorse for her ugly words, it is that she appears to be living a life that is very different from the person those comments painted her as being at the time.
And that’s what the internet sadly doesn’t have time for – genuine regret, remorse and atonement.
So let this be a cautionary tale that if you live your life on social media, it could end up becoming a pretty miserable place if the internet ever turns against you.