When Robyn Harding became an author before the age of social media, she would get the odd email of support from readers. But that has since changed.
“They didn’t feel the sense of entitlement to tell you what they think all the time,” she told CBC’s North by Northwest host Margaret Gallagher.
“Over the years, I felt like [messages from the public] got a little bit darker.”
The past two years, in particular, she said, have gotten bad; people swearing at her, accusing her of being involved in conspiracy theories and calling her names.
“When I’m sitting in my living room with my family and I check my phone and there’s something like that there, it just feels so invasive and so upsetting.”
And while this may sound unusual to some, it’s become the norm for many people whose names and work are available to the public.
People who go out of their way to attack …