Alexsis Culver
From Hammer pants to Silly Bandz, we’ve all fallen victim to fads. Some trends stick around, and others circle back after a decade or so. With the help of social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, it’s easy to see what others are doing to stand out. It starts as a fad, and if we’re unlucky this could lead to a trending topic on Twitter.
Fads can have a lot of influence on how people portray themselves, and also help them look foolish in the process. I’ve compiled five fads to forget.
The first contender is the “duck face.” We’ve all seen it. The selfies, the girls that strike a pose in the bathroom mirror, cell phone in hand capturing what they envision as the perfect portrait. Typically, the person is bright eyed with their lips protruded out like a duck. Sound familiar?
When did this become the new cute? The first time I saw this, I thought the person had Bells Palsy in their lips, which causes temporary paralysis. I’m not sure where the inception of this came from, or why many want to be compared to Daffy Duck, but it needs to stop. It has such a cult following, that even the website Reddit has a whole section dedicated to it.
Not to mention the spin offs that have come from the “duck face.” We now have something called “sex dolling.” This is the second fad to forget. Haven’t heard of it? It’s basically a female posing like a sex doll, with her mouth wide open, as if she is waiting to put something in it…if you get my drift. If you want to enjoy a laugh, I encourage you to Google it, and enjoy the pictures. Then question yourself why this is the new form of entertainment.
Remember the days when Facebook was just Facebook? In the beginning, it was designed for college students to interact and socialize.
Now it’s open to anyone, including businesses, and has become an advertising platform full of ads and game invites. These additions to the site have caused your life to become saturated with the idea of “liking” something.
Why are we obsessed with “liking” things that are posted on Facebook? The most annoying posts are the sad pictures promising some unfortunate person, in some tragic circumstance, an empty promise of hope, by “liking” the picture.
Does it give you that warm and fuzzy feeling inside that makes you feel that you’ve accomplished something by “liking” the picture? There are better ways to show support other than “liking” their tragic circumstance. I recently came across a heading that said “If I get 10,000 likes I will propose to my girlfriend.”
And let’s not forget those requests from Farmville, or any of the other game invites you get on Facebook. Not that there’s anything wrong with playing video games, but when it gets to the point where you hear, “Sorry honey, I don’t want to go on a date. I’d rather feed my imaginary farm animals,” there’s
a problem.
If you’re in this market of imaginary game play on Facebook, please seek help, so others can enjoy Facebook the way it used to be. Help yourself by “liking” the idea of discontinuing these issues on Facebook.
Did anyone else visit those AOL chat rooms back in their heyday? Remember getting asked “A/S/L” by people, along with creepy people asking you to “cyber.” You almost needed a reference to keep up with the language associated with chat rooms.
In 2013, we haven’t gotten too far past that. It’s impressive how acronyms have replaced words entirely. The OMG’s SALTS, TBT, and SMDH are all contenders for how we’ve dumbed ourselves down. These acronyms are actually spoken in conversation, versus saying the actual word that each letter represents.
We’ve begun to encourage youths to add these acronyms to their everyday vocabulary. Let’s get it together people, and eliminate this fourth fad.
Instagram: One of my favorite places to check out food I will never be able to make. However, it appears everyone has a subtle thought on every picture that is posted online. Recently I’ve come across some pretty strange pictures captioned as #foodporn and #likeaboss.
Let’s cross-examine #foodporn. It appears whenever this hashtag is used, it’s describing food in a provocative way. The food appears as a sexual object. It’s so provocative, so sexy, it’s labeled as porn! It’s true: Sex sells, or on the internet, it gets you followers. Porn is considered taboo outright, so why not present other items as porn such as food? But truly, what does “#foodporn” mean? That is all open for interpretation.
This is not the only ”# —— Porn” hashtag out there, but c’mon folks, let’s stop labeling things in this manner and ruining the experience for others on these sites. Who really wants to see something as innocent as steak and potatoes addressed as #foodporn? I often wonder why we’ve come to the point of stringing completely opposite
words together to form a new concept.
Who knew taking a picture of your homework and hashtagging it #likeaboss made you the equivalent of rap super star Rick Ross? He started the whole “like a boss” trend with a hit single “Ima Boss.” Suddenly, anything could be considered being a “boss.” This is supposed to be synonymous with “doing something
with finesse.”
Any picture, no matter how classy, flashy or trashy, can be portrayed as being a “boss.” Not to mention, most of the people that feel they’re being a boss are also partying like a rock star, getting #whitegirlwasted or #chocolatewasted. Do us all a favor and stop ruining the experience for others on media sites by depicting yourself as a “boss.” Your life is not a public display or a frat house party.
The whole #likeaboss attitude online is almost as annoying as “Swag” and “Swagger.” I’m happy “Swag” and “Swagger” have rescinded away from the limelight; I hope the #likeaboss mentality will soon follow suit. #endthisfifthfad #stopfoodpornandlikeabossmentality.
Some may feel that I’m bashing the things that make them happy, which is completely their opinion. I am just recognizing five fads that need to be forgotten. Years down the road, people will look back and think “WOW, why did I waste my life on such nonsense, or make myself appear stupid?” I’m just trying to expedite the “WOW” factor.
