rss feedThe end of a useless experiment.
I recently spent some time on twitter in an attempt to learn why certain keywords trend; whether they’re paid for as an advertisement or truly blooming as a result of the population.
While searching #disneyland, because I was sure it was a trending topic as a result of advertisement (I was wrong), I chose to stumble down a rabbit hole lined with the coagulated angst of first world teenage conversation.
Why I did it, I don’t know.
Maybe it was the disrespectful thought process spewed through a keyboard, or the lack of understanding on how social media channels work. The tweet is read out of context, and none of us were there, but that’s where I will inevitably draw my point about how children these days do not care about what they proclaim in public spaces. They don’t understand the ramifications.
We were all teens once, but were we all this mean and thoughtless? (Luckily for Generation X, our missteps in youth aren’t on display to this degree. But I certainly remember never telling the entire world that my parents should “stfu” for being excited about something.)
Names withheld because I think this person is a minor.
Child: “Its annoying af when my mom thinks going to the movies is like her going to disneyland, bruh chill tf out, take your seat, & stfu”
af (as fuck), bruh (brother), tf (the fuck), stfu (shut the fuck up).
Here’s where I could have just shaken my head, shown the person next to me how ungrateful and mean this child was being considering it’s most likely a twitter feed outside the realm of their parent’s viewing.
But no, I decided to poke the angst-ridden hornet’s nest and dare suggest with a little sarcasm that their parents were fidgety at a movie because they don’t get out much and have ungrateful children. Because the tweet is out of context I can only read into what is on the screen. It reads to me and others I’ve asked as thus:
– My mother doesn’t get out much and she’s very excited to be at the movies
– I’m so embarrassed by this activity rather than excited to be with her
– My mother probably paid for the movie so I’m not only ungrateful of this, but probably a lot of other things I’m given in my cushy life.
My reply: “Your poor mother probably doesn’t get out much… a side effect of caring for ungrateful children. LOFLOMG I can’t even.”
LOFLOMG (laugh out fucking loud, oh my god)
I guess I wanted them to realize they were in public, not some private little diary where they can cry and maybe just maybe understand the consequences of being a turd online.
But I was hoping for too much.
You don’t poke an angst-ridden hornet’s net without getting those first few barbs of defensive worker drones guarding the gate. The insults grew from generic to personal (towards me), and a bullying atmosphere developed over the next 24 hours.
An unrelated youth joined in to support the child’s ignorance and throw barbs about age, and life expectancy of my gonad tissues.
With every reply (lovingly captured for the future), they continued to spew hateful things, but they NEVER once worked the issue through. Reactionary at best, they never once tried to discuss my conclusion. They only wanted war.
That’s your future, World.
Artist’s rendering of future humans. Just kidding.
The comments kept coming, proving to me that children these days DO NOT CARE what ends up online and this will either confront them negatively later in life or maybe, and I say this with a dystopia laced caution, the world will evolve NOT to care and people will just be this mean and this callous 100% of the time.
If the latter is the case, I’ll probably be voting for suicide booths on every corner because who would want to live in that world?
I know there are more thoughtful, more intelligent children out there who understand humanity early on, and embrace the world for its positives but they are few and far between. They are little treasures that should be nourished so they grow and run the world in a more positive atmosphere.
My favorite reply of all:
Unrelated Youth (not original child): you’re eggs are probably rotten and you mad cause you can’t have me as a child shutup bitch
Honey: It’s ‘your eggs’ not ‘you’re eggs’.
And it’s ‘you’re mad’ not ‘you mad’.
I’ll let ’cause’ slide, because it is Twitter after all.
There is so much more to correct, but this isn’t a grammar lesson today.
Unfortunately, my eggs are still very fresh and it’s annoying having to worry about getting pregnant at this horrible old age, and after reading your tweets…no dear, without male parental guidance in your life, I would never want to be your mother.
Feel free to read the entire thread on my twitter feed. (8/8/2014)
The density and continuous stream of ignorant statements is alarming.
No more Twitter experiments for me.
Leave the ignorant youth alone and let them consume their own darkness.
For as adults, they’ll be easier to spot and weed out.
———————————————————————–
For more information about understanding the consequences of online actions:
http://www.ikeepsafe.org/be-a-pro/ethics/helping-kids-understand-the-consequences-of-online-actions/
http://www.onguardonline.gov/articles/0012-kids-and-socializing-online
http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/845191/the-internet-never-forgets
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0012-kids-and-socializing-online
—————————
Shout out to my friend, Devin, for making this good point: “It’s not so much a useless experiment if you learned something from it.” Well said, sir.
