Perhaps one of the most important parts of social media is finding the “person” we want to put out there. At the end of the day our social media presence is everything at our day and age and it effects the way people perceive us immensely. Let’s be honest, I think we can all agree that most of the times we all turn our heads to social media to learn more about anyone and think about what this or that person would think if we were to post that picture or write that caption. Especially, with the ever-growing cancel-culture, what we post becomes even more important. What is much? What is okay? What is problematic? What is cringe? Those questions just pop out immediately in mind especially if you take social media more seriously, rather than consider it a corner on the internet where you just come once in a month to show people that you are alive. In a way social media feels like a version of survivor where you are either going to be praised or eaten alive for what you say or what you do. I feel like because of this we slowly loose our own identity and sense of reality. The line between reality and the realms of social media gets even thinner and at one point you do not even know where you stand. In a day in social media, it is impossible to be fully yourself while the cancel-culture existsing.
I am not implying that calling out someone for being racist or sexist, is the problem here. While those issues need to be addressed, this culture itself feels like it is getting out of hand. The way that people are actively looking for flaws and making research about celebrities, influencers to expose them for ridiculous issues creates so much hate on those platforms. I believe that cancel-culture creates toxicity itself while trying to decrease that toxic environment on media. Maybe generalizing it is not the correct thing, and I do believe that the motive behind it used to be innocent, but it got so out of hand that it turned out to be a way to bully people, but hide it behind the “cancel-culture” so it does not look that way. Of course, like many things, when something is talked about a lot, it becomes a trend, and cancel-culture just ends up encouraging people to create more hate on these platforms.
I think one of the best examples to this, is a tween tiktoker named Evelyn who shares “get ready with me” videos while she talks about things she hates or things that make her mad. She is literally known as the “things I hate girl” and gets millions of views for hating on things. When did it become so hard to just exist without being attacked for simply doing what you do?
A few years ago it was cool to wear galaxy prints or to show only half of your face in a picture, but know doing either of them in a serious way might easily label you as cringe. There are so many skit videos on the internet right now that directly label you and mock the person you are such as the “manic pixie dream girl”, “pick-me” and so many more. It is a trend to hate people right now. That is it, that is the current trend and I think that a day spent in digital means a day trying not to be cancelled.
I find it very interesting to read about this topic, because I don’t have for example TikTok or Instagram. I do recognise some of the things you’re writing about from real life, though. Guess people really like to mock. To be honest, I find myself also sometimes talking negativlly even when I have promised myself to stay more possitive. I can imagine that on social media people drag each other more easily into a negative mood. Thank you for writing about this topic and sharing your thoughts!