This has been bugging me for so long, I have to let it out. Is there any better outlet than this very blog!? Alright. Remeber my last post, when I said "I might probably not return to this later." ? Well, guess who's back!
So, whenever I go (online) into a group chat where the age group is slightly younger (such as certain gaming/ animation franchises), there's a stark contrast in the way they speak which is nothing close to simply using some different web slang.
Youth has become so socially and emotionally obtuse that a basic ability like inferring tone, intent and context has become actual alien concepts for them... How have we come to a point this lack of skill demands explicit and categorical claims of being joking, sarcastic, etc. with those '/jk' or '/s' or whatever it is!
So many people treat ambiguity as literal, and turn defensive right away. Confirmation bias replaces interpretation as everyone is looking to find anything which further validates their worldviews, whether it's true or not. I blame AI fully catering feeds for this. Everyone gets alienated inside their own interests and speech bubbles...
Social anxiety and poor conflict management have been exacerbated by social media toxicity, with now youth (and others) being horribly worried about being misunderstood or judged, not knowing how to deal with it and thus prefacing everything they say to an exhausting level. No one's comfortable to speak their minds, whatever it may be! What happened to fruitful, thought-provoking debates?!
Honestly, people go ape-shit for nothing. Funny is that a couple days ago I came across this gem of a meme: it was a pigeon on top of a chess game, and the caption said "Don't argue with people on social media. It's like playing chess with a pigeon. They'll knock over all the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like they won." - now would you look at that lol.
Sigh... aside from people who genuinely struggle, self-pity is not it. There's a difference between needing help and romanticizing illness for clout. Criticism over these complaints usually goes "But I have [insert mental illness #999]" - no hun, if you had, you certainly wouldn't be spraying it out like confetti for everyone to pat your back and go "There, there, we're here for you".
Everything is a need for affirmation these days.
And it all circles back to that one feisty thing we already know: social. media. Good thing we're seeing more and more people of all ages letting go of their online addictions, admitting it's a problem and fighting to overcome it. It's commendable, it's inspiring and hopefully... not just another fad.
At least this time I'm seeing people genuinely wanting to bring back the simpler times, whether it is a more rustic web experience or software/hardware related, music related, heck- even fashion comes into play. However, this is something which, if you don't pour your heart into it and work to live that way daily, it's easy to be sucked back into the comforts, or lack thereof, we all have today. Aesthetics apart, balance is key.
Anyway, dropping this one and leaving.