The Disquieting Anxiety Caused By Being Disliked For No Apparent Reason

In “On Being Hated“, the School of Life, through animation by Luiz Stockler, offers thoughtful insight into the disquieting anxiety caused by being disliked intensely for no apparent reason, particularly in this age of social media and digital communication.

Learning that someone hates us deeply, even though we have done nothing ostensibly to provoke them, can be one of the most alarming situations we face. Because of technology, it is also liable to happen to us more and more. In the past, our enemies were restricted to the vicinity; now they lie scattered around the digital planet. In the past, we might once have unwisely read about ourselves in another’s diary. Now we can fall prey to a repeated temptation to google our own name – and must suffer the full baleful consequences.