What to do with Trolls on TikTok

Written 8/3/2025.Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I’ve been playing around with all the social media platforms, TikTok included. I get the most engagement from TikTok vs Substack actually. With engagement come the trolls. Those people who make disparaging comments.I’m okay with them because I use a technique called “follow the energy.” This simply means not disputing, not fighting back, but rolling with whatever is said.Here are some examples.“Your videos look bad.” My response, “follow for more bad videos.”“I think I hate you.” My response, “you do you. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”The follow up response, “now I think I love you.”“21st Century dear.” My response, “oops, you are correct, I screwed up.”The problem with these responses is that they don’t make for good drama on social media. People want to feel offended or righteous, that’s why fighting back against Karens get the most views. Imagine if a Karen comes up and complains and your response is following the energy. Here’s an example.“You can’t park your car here.”“Really, I can’t park my car here? How come? What happens if I park my car here?”“You just can’t.”“It sounds like you’re having a really rough day, my name’s Robert, what’s yours?”A little stunned as she was ready to fight her righteous battle…“Umm, my name is Karen.”“Cool, would you like to talk about your day? It sounds like you can use someone to just be there for you. We could grab a cup of coffee over there [me pointing at Starbucks].”“Umm, no I’m okay.” Karen now wanders off.BTW, I don’t get Karens in my life. Maybe it’s because I’m a perfect, law abiding, community abiding kinda guy. ;-DMaybe it’s because I don’t throw off contrary energy.I don’t know. The next time I am confronted by a Karen (male or female), I’ll let you know how it goes.I hope this helps.Blessings to you and always remember. I love you,RobertRobert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rslayton.substack.com/subscribe