Chronically online people give terrible advice.

Advice must be given out sparingly and carefully, people are quick to offer advice on other people's circumstances, because it makes them feel smart and important. However, they don't take into consideration all the facts and obstacles, this is why the recipient of the advice might not follow through, leading to frustration on both sides.

People seek advice on the internet, however, there are two additional unique concerns, the internet consists of trolls and immature people.

I recall a social media post where an overweight university student asked for advice on how to deal with bullying flatmates of hers, and actual advice such as "lose weight" were disliked and criticised while "make fun of them back" and "act sad to make them feel guilty" were well received.

Some of them might be trolling her, some might genuinely believe it, but the hundreds of positive interactions these comments demonstrated that people saw validity in these ridiculous advices.

I'm also reminded of dash cam videos capturing scammers crashing into their car, demanding compensation and being deflated when the driver points out the dash cam. Commentators express annoyance at this, preferring for the driver to wait for the police to arrive, collect the statement of the "victim" and then revealing the dash cam, so that the scammer would get in trouble with the police for lying.

This is immaturity because people in the real world don't have half an hour to spare waiting for the police while aggressive scammers yell at them, assuming they would come in the first place. My theory is that chronically online people adopt a cartoon/TV drama viewpoint, the idea of an "underdog" obliterating everybody with a sassy remark or gimmick. In real life, you don't have the screenwriters on your side to shape the plot to your favour, no matter how dramatic your actions are.

Most TV shows, movies and video games would end within the first few minutes if the characters had chose the sensible decision instead of the most contrived one. With frequent consumption of these media, viewers end up thinking of the most contrived, pretty and unnecessary difficult option, rather than the realistic and efficient one.