After six years on the air, has Love Island learnt from its past mistakes? Here's why this season must do better, and why we as viewers must be kinder

I won’t speculate on the specifics or the circumstances, but these deaths have raised many necessary questions about the nature and ethics of Love Island, reality TV in general,A year on from Caroline Flack's tragic death, #BeKind is trending again... but are we actually any kinder?A year on from Caroline Flack's tragic death, #BeKind is trending again...

We as audiences are encouraged to cast certain islanders as heroes, others as villains, creating victims and aggressors, playing on existing biases and flattening human beings into one dimensional characters with storylines and singular motivations. But people are not singularly good or bad. Each of us is complex, containing multitudes, capable of being both muggy and magnanimous, loyal and less so.

There’s a pervasive attitude of blame when we talk about the misfortune of reality stars – the relationship woes, the difficulty adjusting, the intrusiveness of fans and photographers – as though appearing on the telly in swimwear seals away a person’s ability to feel fear, discomfort, regret or doubt, inoculating them against death threats, abusive messages and cruel remarks in public.

Just as being a bit friendlier is not the antidote to the many social ills that keep us so angry, discontent and disengaged from our fellow man that sending hateful messages to strangers online seems an appealing thing to do, nor does cancelling Love Island cut to the heart of what we need to do to feel better, be better, keep people from arriving at a place they feel cannot be survived. The issue is as complex and multifaceted as any of us are.

I’ve enjoyed Love Island in the past and I expect I’ll tune in this year, though in what capacity I’m not sure. If you can’t wait, that’s okay. If you hate it with the power of a thousand fire pits, that’s also fine. We can disagree. Just keep your opinions out of the islanders' inboxes or timelines. If you catch yourself being unfair, flattening a person into a contextless character, take moment and look within. Pull yourself for a chat. Relax. Rap a bit to lighten the mood.

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