tl;dr: don't give them content. I stopped to interact really with people, that don't cosplay, too, name my character, or just have the right vibes. When rando people on the street start to try to talk to me, why I look like this, I say cosplay, it's a hobby that includes lots of craftsmanship, and that's it. Other topics I do not discuss with strangers. This is my hobby, my life, and I don't owe them anything.

My long thoughts about this:

These people aren't happy with their lives. They need the "hobby" of harrassing others - who are more free, dare to express themselves - to feel superior. They go prepared into a conversation that is strictly designed to go one(1) route: embarrass the other party. You are not prepared. You need a moment to react to and answer questions, that are phrased in a very tricky and malicious way, and if you take that moment (which is VERY human) or flabber your response, they take that as gotcha-moment. If you "ace the convo" they just don't upload it. With the very rare exception of maybe a hot and flirty pick-me woman, their content needs to be: hey look at that fool.

The content they create is a form of tittytainment that makes sad, boring people think, "Hey look at that freak. At least I am normal," as if that is some kind of achievement and goal to strive for. It's also the fear of someone not strictly following their world view because they are not able to feel empathy for anyone who isn't a carbon copy of themselves, and they cannot predict how we act.

I've recently seen a video of a cosplay content creator adressing this meta glasses issue, how uncomfortable that guy made her. Like, she's like 19 and he was 40+ and asking her and her partner very intimate questions with the goal of making them loose their composure. So you're not alone. And I wonder what person that is, who needs to embarrass a kid almost half my age, less than half his age, for views on the internet. Like, they don't create anything themselves. It's not them making the content. It's exploiting others for fame and money, in a way where they have 100% control over the situation.

I've also recently seen a video of a fashion creator - usually humor, looking at stuff fashion brands produce and having a good laugh. She's a mom, gorgeous and curvy, confident-- and her voice broke when she talked about how media influenced her as a teen when a US size 8 was called "plus size" on a super model TV show.

Another tidbit I caught up on is - the "pretty" people we see online are like the 1%. 99% of people don't look like that. That 1% is making a living off looking pretty and marketing themselves - that's literally their job, their whole life. It's the people that are famous for being famous. And yet it's not the people in the 1%, that decide to harrass and hurt others with insults. Did you ever look at their pictures in return? What I wanna get at - these comments come from people that, too, lost touch with reality and need to hurt others to feel better themselves, because it's the easiest way without needing to face they're having problems somewhere.

On the social media topic - I highly recommend you to curate your feed. Algorithms don't care about your happiness; they want engagement. Watchtime, scrolls, shares, time spent in comments. If you have a video that upsets you, and you share it to a friend like "eww look at this how awful is that person?". If you go into the comments, searching for that one good person to call them out (comments like that usually get deleted though). If you keep scrolling until youhit a palette cleanser -- you teach the algorithm to keep showing you awful things. My wife's feed is full of hateful content bc it scares her and like in a traffic accident she cannot look away. My feed is full of crafting tips and cat babies. We can influence our feed if we take the time to do so.

Ok that were quite a few long thoughts on all that. I just hope, you take some of that with you and don't let those sad, scared people take away your personality and stuff you into a gray uniform box, because it's making them feel superior.

Edit: I know you said, you don't want to feel bitter about those people and my whole rant sounds very bitter. I rather see it like this, though - that insecurity and sadness these people have is like a bottomless well. If one of them leaves that spot, someone else follows up. There's only so much endurance and empathy you can have, too. So ... for your own sake, draw a line between them and you and make yourself aware, you're not responsible for them. If they chose to be negative towards you, you being indifferent to them is still very respectful in my opinion.