TikTok star Lauren Whelan has revealed how she deals with online hate.
The 20-year-old has a whopping 1.5 million followers on the app, and revealed most of the nasty comments she receives are from the older generation.
In her exclusive Spotlight On interview with Goss.ie, the Carlow native admitted the trolling and hate can be “really disheartening”.
She said: “The judging and the hate, which I primarily get from the older generation now who tell me to go and get a real job and I’m just a waster, can be really disheartening.”
“I don’t get much hate now as I did before, I got it a lot in the beginning but since my page has gotten bigger I don’t get it as much, but I usually just ignore.”
“Sometimes I’ll reply back with something cheeky or if I can come up with a good comeback, but it’s best not to give a reaction because that’s what they want.”
Lauren added: “The way I think about it is, someone is never going to hate on someone doing worse than them, so if you’re getting hate that’s when you know you’re doing something right and becoming successful!”
When asked what her advice would be to young people want to pursue a career in content creating but are worried about the reaction of others, Lauren replied: “I say ignore them, don’t let someone who is sitting at home with nothing better to do than hate on you decide what you do with your life.”
“You’ll always regret not trying to follow your dreams and your passions!”
Read our full Spotlight On feature with Lauren here.
