Society is an ever-shifting landscape of trends, traditions, rituals, and norms. Change is the name of the game, but for some people, change doesn’t happen fast enough. Redditor Jimjoe1 asked people what modern social trends anger them the most, and they couldn’t wait to share their real thoughts and feelings about what they feel is wrong with the world.
We’ve collected the best responses below, so have a read through them and tell us what you think, dear Pandas. Remember to upvote the ones you agree with and be sure to drop us a comment with how you’d personally answer Jimjoe1’s question.
Pssst, spoiler warning, plenty of these people think that social media and attention-seeking are some of the fundamental ills of the times that we live in. Read on for Bored Panda’s interview about our desire to be seen and adored on social media with an expert in history. If you think our fascination with wanting attention is something new, you’re in for a rough awakening.
#1
Recording strangers to see their reactions.
Image credits: VoluptuousPorsche
#2
Justifying being an a-hole with “it’s just a prank”
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#3
Making young children into social media stars. It’s fine to share pictures of your kids with friends, but aggressively documenting and marketing your family life for the public at large is... creepy.
Image credits: Hermit_Krab
Jimjoe1’s thread was incredibly popular on r/AskReddit, getting over 64.4k upvotes at the time of writing and being the top-awarded post on the site. Other redditors gifted the user more than 340 awards and we can definitely see that number getting higher as the thread continues to get more and more attention online.
Bored Panda spoke about social media, people’s desire to look beautiful and ‘perfect,’ and how this is commodified with historian Dr. Jane Nicholas from St. Jerome’s University at the University of Waterloo.
According to Dr. Nicholas, seeking perfection isn’t a new idea: it’s long been sold as an attainable ideal. Something that’s within our grasp and could be ours if we just tried harder (or… spent more).
#4
That people think their lives need to be viewed to be lived- it’s like privacy and being private are considered repressive. People are always online, posting about their lives, and everyone wants validation about every aspect of their lives. Just f*****g live ‘em!
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#5
Gender reveal.Especially when people react badly. Imagine being a kid and coming across a video of one of your parents having a tantrum because you aren’t they gender they wanted you to be.
Image credits: ScienceFactsNumbers
#6
Worshipping billionaires.
Image credits: shartedmyjorts
“Many cosmetics, for example, promise the ability to achieve a certain look with their use. Social media is driven by different, more individual forces than traditional media, but it is caught up in many of the same patterns, specifically selling goods,” she explained that there’s a (hidden) economic aspect to social media that drives it forward. So what we’re seeing with influencers and their fixation on making a profit shouldn’t surprise anybody.
The history expert noted that even if we’re smart enough to know that an image posted on social media is “highly manipulated,” this doesn’t mean that we can easily identify it with our own two eyes. “It’s difficult now to distinguish real people from the highly curated image presented on social media,” she said.
#7
How quickly misinformation spreads through social media. It’s seriously a dangerous thing in society and it’s pretty terrifying
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#8
How people try to destroy you or simply frown upon when you don’t join whatever bandwagon they’re on.
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#9
Treating opinion as fact and fact as opinion
Image credits: Psychological_Bat865
Dr. Nicholas believes that our inability to distinguish between real and highly curated images on social media “reflects something of our true selves now,” implying that things are here to stay. At least for the time being.
But for those of you lamenting that modern society is a nightmare, wishing to go back to the good old days, ask yourselves this: which days exactly are the so-called good old days? Dr. Nicholas told Bored Panda that we’ve all lived with various images of beauty since at least the 1920s, and “these have become parts of ourselves.”
Our modern focus on social media is merely an extension of a long historic fascination with beauty. Similarly, other trends could be seen as continuations or reactions to previous trends once you dig a little deeper. That’s why having a solid foundation in history is vital if you want to make more accurate guesses about the future.
#10
Letting little kids have social media (unsupervised). They are not equipped to handle any of it. So many conflicts spawn out of it.
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#11
Treating depression like a quirky personality type.
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#12
Glorifying celebrities and treating them like gods. Like, I understand being a fan of someone, but you don't have to create an entire livelihood around them or try to emulate them. This is also how people get into positions of power when they shouldn't be.
Image credits: A_Wild_Striker
Are the internet and social media to blame for what’s wrong with society? I like to think that they’re merely tools and aren’t inherently good or evil, but we make them so with how we use them. Or, to put it a tad more poetically, they’re funhouse mirrors that reflect and amplify our inner selves.
Social media can be a way to get in touch with long-lost friends and to give a platform for your art. Or it can be an excuse to post endless vapid selfies and to advertise products for monetary gain.
#13
Recording people in need for clout.
Image credits: overthinkingdreamerx
#14
Social media influencers asking for free items unsolicited, then when of course they decline they threaten to (and in some cases do) leave bad reviews forcing the company to have to respond to false allegations for no reason.
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#15
Family vloggers horrify me. The concept of exploiting your children's lives for views is particularly awful. And because it's a relatively new concept there are no real laws around child labor or exploitation concerning it. There are youtubers out there right now who live in mansions worth millions of dollars that they got from shoving a camera in their toddler's face and demanding them to perform for strangers. I can't even imagine the psychological repercussions this will have on these kids in the future.
Image credits: AggieChristie
Similarly, the internet itself is both a vast repository of painstakingly verified knowledge and funny animal videos, as well as a seemingly endless archive of half-truths, rumors, fake news, and gossip. You can’t have the good without the bad. Though it’s always healthy to sit down and think about what you’d change about the world if you could. And then, perhaps, even go out and make those changes into reality.
#16
The whole instagram influencer thing. Why are we following these people??
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#17
The idea that every one of your hobbies needs to be turned into a side hustle. No one is allowed to simply have hobbies that they love, you have to strive to be good enough to monetize it
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#18
Words like "victim" and "survivor" being thrown around so much to the point where they are losing their meaning.
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#19
I'm exhausted with how vapid and fake social media is.
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#20
Playing music or watching videos in public without headphones. If I go to a park or the beach I want to be able to hear the wind and waves and birds singing, not whatever obnoxious s**t you feel you have the right to subject everyone to.#21
The instagram Kardashian body image crap. Those bodies are unachievable without surgery, money, trainers, chefs, etc. Cellulite and love handles exist. Eat healthy, exercise and love who you are with confidence.#22
Public shaming. Terrifying how the blind rage of an anonymous crowd can ruin your life in hours.#23
Influencers. I can't stand the term, it gives whatever dickhead thinks they are famous a feeling of superiority. Plus everyone seems to be an 'Influencer' and not actually engaging in proper life. Grrr
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#24
When people see someone in distress, instead of helping they whip their phones out and film. Social media and smart phones have absolutely messed this world up.#25
Couples recording pranks on each other that are so painfully staged. It’s the same super popular trends that are reproduced. Like do you really need to act so shocked the tenth time your girlfriend pretends to strip in front of the camera but actually has clothes underneath her towel? Are you really THAT shocked? At this point I just block but I just can’t imagine people have that much time
Image credits: overthinkingdreamerx
#26
Narcissism. Everyone has to livestream their trip to the grocery store, or sits in front of a beautiful natural site and never turn around and look at it, because they’re obsessed with themselves and creating this false narrative about their life. Everything is all about “living their best life”(usually at the expense of others) or “living their truth”(complete BS not remotely based on reality). It’s all about them, and only them. F*** I hate these people...#27
Doing a stupid "challenge" that will end with one or more people injured, imprisoned, or worse.#28
People thinking sass is a personality.#29
anti-vaccination. When vaccines were first discovered or developed or however you want to say it, they were mostly seen as a scientific break through. A great success. The wonders of man kinds great power and ingenuity. Polio? What polio? But now, it is trendy for many to be now smarter than several years of research and hard work. To know more in 10 minutes on YouTube then someone who has dedicated years of their life to study what other people before then also studied for years of their life and so on and so on. Years of human evolution, growth, study, break-throughs, accomplishments, ground to a halt by some jack wagon with a social media account.
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#30
Mommy wine culture. The normalization of needing to drink to tolerate your kids. As a mom who doesn't drink it seems like there is so much normalization of alcoholic behavior that it makes me sad.
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#31
Modern people (including most the people I've dated) getting pissed that I don't reply to them immediately. "Why were you ignoring me bro?!" I wasn't. I'm just not addicted to my phone. People will b***h and moan about how I don't reply to them immediately, but if you put them all in a room, they can't look up from their phones to have a real conversation. Why did they ever invent active statuses?!?! It's so goddamn annoying to have people get mad at me because I used the calculator on my phone at work, and then people look to see that you were on your phone, and immediately think you're ignoring them. I'm at work. I didn't even notice your STUPID. BUBBLE.#32
"Don't forget to like and subscribe" or "1 like = 1 prayer" just please f**k right off with that.#33
Public grieving. And berating those who don’t grieve publicly. When Chadwick Boseman passed away, people were hounding his co-stars regarding their responses. When Malik B of The Roots passed away, Questlove actually found out by being spammed on Twitter by a bunch of strangers. Imagine finding out one of your closest friends died, because random strangers wanted an immediate response from you.
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#34
How everything needs to be on social media. I have to explicitly say to family members, please don’t put this on social media at family events etc... as an example trying to post that I had gotten engaged on Facebook before I’d even got to tell close family and friends who weren’t actually there. Then getting defensive when you say can you not post that please
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#35
People recording themselves doing “charitable acts” like buying a meal or giving money to a homeless person. I can assure you that person does NOT want their face all over social media so you can get clout for being a “good charitable person”. Sure do a good thing like helping the less fortunate but you don’t need to record it and have their face all over social media.
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#36
Basing your entire identity around political parties that don't even represent your interests.
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#37
You can't just buy something now. Everything is a subscription. First it was just Netflix, then it was dollar shave club. Now every TV channel is a separate subscription, every household item wants to send it to you over and over again. Nothing is released physically, so the only way to watch a movie or check out a new album is to pay someone monthly. Services that were offered for free or one-time purchase are rescinded and now offered as subscriptions. It's so obvious that everyone and everything just wants to milk you as long and for as much as possible. And people just buy into it willingly. I know people who spend like $200 a month on stuff that was free like, 10 years ago. People are even offering themselves on a subscription base now. I can't believe how cool everyone is with watching all their money disappear all the time.
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#38
Toxic positivity“Just be positive!”
Yeah thanks Carol I didn’t realize just staying positive would cure my chemical imbalance
#39
when people romanticize mental illness and disorders. i’ll see people say “oh I wish I had tourette’s, it seems fun,” or “i wish i had depression so i could have an excuse to be sad.” tics aren’t fun. depression sucks. you don’t want these things.also when people self-diagnose without really, really intense research. people will just say “oh I have ocd” just cause they like to line up their pencils. that’s not what ocd is
#40
The fact that if you don't have Instagram and don't document your whole entire existence you're a nobody and don't have a life and live under a rock??? Excuse me but since I deleted social media accounts my life seems way more fulfilling and enjoyable than having to worry about how many people views my story and liked my photo of what dirt i ate for breakfast.#41
You can't do a good deed unless you're recording it for social media.#42
Social media posting = life. This drives me bonkers! Why do people feel compelled to share every single detail about there life, or every thought that comes into their brain with the rest of their "friends/followers"? It comes off a desperate and sad IMO#43
Non-stop consumption. Everything is designed to be consumed and then discarded. Nothing is well made and people act like you're insane for having a phone that is over three years old. On top of that, the modern attention span has been decimated and information goes into one ear and out the other, with nothing actually learned.#44
Going on vacation for the evidence, not the experience.Social media has exposed every cool place of interest and hidden gem out there... which is cool in theory, but it just means that everything is now more crowded than it used to be, and instead of actually enjoying the experience, people are just interested in snapping their shots and moving on to the next target.
I saw the Mona Lisa pre-covid and expected it to be a crowded mess—shuffling through a line for an hour to have 30 seconds to look at the painting—no surprise there. But it was depressing to see most people get to the painting, turn around and take a selfie, and move on without another glance. They only saw the painting through their phone screen.
#45
Most modern makeup/beauty trends. My main problem with them is that they all seem to age people. The big lips, the contouring and heavy makeup, the huge eyebrows and fake butts.Big lips, eyebrows and butts look great when they're natural and fit your face. But the problem with making facial features "trends" is people with bone structures never made to have these things get them surgically pasted on, and it looks awful.
Same with makeup, there's one style of doing makeup that is trendy, but it doesn't fit every face. So many people end up looking awful when they try them. And the IG makeup look is just cakey looking and unnatural.
I prefer the makeup looks of 10+ years ago. We sometimes laugh at the questionable eyeshadow choices and all the bronzer but at least people still looked like humans, albeit with way too much lower lid eyeliner.
#46
Being shamed for everything you ever do, no matter who you are or what the thing is.Shamed for diet choices, shamed for being wealthy/poor/middle class, shamed for wanting a nice thing, shamed for believing something radical, shamed for not believing something radical, shamed for doing this or that as a parent, shamed for doing this or that as a pet owner, shamed for not caring about or knowing enough about a certain social issue to have an opinion, shamed for having a strong opinion, shamed for not having a strong enough opinion, shamed for enjoying something you have that others might not have, shamed for not having a thing everyone has, you get the idea.
Just let people be people. We're all different. Yeah, there are some real lowlifes among us, but most people are just trying their best.
#47
Everyone acting like experts on crazily complex topics because they either read a headline or one article that agrees with what they already believed.#48
Plain articles of clothing like a t-shirt where the only thing on them is a large graphic of the logo of the brand that made it. See it a lot with “Gucci”. People are literally paying hundreds of their own money to be a walking advertisement for a company.#49
Everyone has a right to have a voice on the internet but not everyone deserves a following / authority / influence. Just because you paid off your car doesn’t mean you’re qualified to become a financial coach.
Image credits: overthinkingdreamerx
#50
In general, just the fact that people aren't allowed to be private anymore.All your devices hook up to the Internet. Your smartphone tracks you in God only knows how many different ways. Every business wants you to sign up for a rewards account, so they can harvest your contact details. Hell, even my PC and game consoles will rearrange my desktop just to show me advertisements.
And if that wasn't enough, people give you strange looks when you tell them you have almost no social media presence: no Twitter, no Instagram, no Snapchat, no Facebook. Not to mention how people just get this confused look on their face whenever I get mad at them because they took a photo/video of me without my knowledge or consent and put it on their social media.
Honestly, it shocks me to see how little people care that privacy is disappearing.
Image credits: SlumlordThanatos
#51
The lack of basic etiquette around invitations or even just making plans. People feel absolutely free to not respond until the last minute while waiting for something better to come along, and they don't think it's rude to cancel last minute or just not show up without letting you know.
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#52
Spontaneous facetime calls. I’m in my goddamn undies stop shoving cameras in my face.#53
Driving while on a cell phone.Driving has always been a little frustrating but now it’s gotten insane. My girlfriend and I can call out with at least 90% accuracy who is on their phone.
Abrupt Lane changes, 20mph under the speed limit, swerving, looking at phone and missing a green light for 5+ seconds, and - my personal pet peeve - stopping 50’ short of a light in a busy intersection during rush hour.
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#54
Using your real names/images/locations on social media.Gen-Xers were told over and over again to never do this under any circumstances, and it made a lot of sense.
Todays kids just post "here is a video of me: what i look like, where i live, and all of my stuff" and thats just asking for trouble.
#55
Nobody is allowed to have hobbies anymore. If it's not a "hustle" you should be doing something else according to society.It's infinitely frustrating. When I get off work I'm going to play some damn videogames and relax. I'm not going to worry about my "side hustle"
#56
Entertainment has eaten everything. Politics, personal relationships, sexual intimacy... the yardstick has become not “How good are you at something?” but “How good of a show are you putting on?”
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#57
Advertising slowly taking over every single aspect of our lives. I'm not really exaggerating when I say over 90% of the mail and phone calls I get are junk or scams. Data we generate simply by being online being sold to the highest bidder without any real way of stopping it, which in turn fuels more ads. Went shopping more than once at a larger grocery store? Congrats, you now get suspiciously tailored coupons mailed and emailed to you even though you don't remember ever giving them your addresses, meaning it's probably linked to your credit card and banking info.The internet is great for knowledge if you look in the right places and allows discovery of fascinating things, but it does sometimes feel like we sold our souls to somebody for it.
Image credits: RussianTardigrade
#58
This might not be modern but I hate the normalization of s***ty mental health. Especially in men. So many times people are just told to suck it up and deal with it when that's the worst advice you could possibly give. S**cide rates are way higher than they should be and access to mental health treatment is so poor at least where I live.And I really feel like a lot of this is due to a lack of understanding of how depression affects people.
#59
I see a lot of doctors on tiktok/Instagram doing do’s/don’ts of patient standards and I don’t feel comfortable with that. It almost makes me uncomfortable and vary of seeing a physician bc I’m afraid they will judge me.Educating the public is one thing. Ridiculing patient experience because of something they are unaware of is another and should not be allowed by employers.
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#60
heavy social media presence by ordinary people. I can’t for the life of me understand why I’d follow some random person I’ve never met. I have actual people in my life, and I’m interested in them. A couple of days ago, I first heard the term “momfluencers.” F*****g really? Why would I base my children’s upbringing on the opinions of some twit whose main attribute is the fact that she has time to do this s**t?
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#61
I can't get onboard with those fail compilation things where someone is clearly crippled for life.Did anyone see that video where the guy skateboards down the banister along a flight of cement stairs, makes it to the bottom, hits the grass and you figure--well, at least it's just grass--and then he crushes his head and neck along a cement pole?
Man, I hope that guy isn't paralysed.
#62
Requiring that everything be positive and not allowing anything negative. It is like a child sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending they can't hear something the don't like.#63
I'm just so glad the "licking things at the store" trend is over. It is over, right? Please tell me that's finally done.
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#64
Blowing things up without doing any research. So many people have been cancelled off of completely false 'evidence' and struggled because of it. And their reputations are just permanently affected because people refuse to listen to both sides of the argument the second an accusation is made#65
The overgrowth of identity. There’s nothing wrong with being any race, gender or sexuality (or any other thing), but it doesn’t make you any more ‘legitimate’ or more of an authority on anything. I guess I’m just tired of all the deepening divisions. If you get too engrossed in your ‘tribe’ you’ll lose sight of all the other people out there.#66
I’d really rather not hear about how much money everyone either has or pretends to have. It’s just depressing even though I know I should ignore it and focus on myself.#67
How much we glorify being a workaholic.It seems like everyone is expected to be insanely passionate about their job, as if that's what they've always wanted to be and they're so driven they always want to talk about how busy it makes them/how much they hustle, etc.
It's to the point where it spawned that terrible "life hack" trend that just seems to be about freeing up time to... work more. Like, must everything be so goddamn efficient?? Sometimes I just enjoy staring out the window on my commute, or waking up slowly on a weekend morning or whatever. And it's perfectly okay to work a job you're just fine with in order to put food on the table and have access to health insurance, etc.
#68
The implication that you have to be in a relationship to have worth or to be happy. I've spent my happiest days single.#69
I hate the way social media has dominated everyday conversations. I have distanced myself from certain people because they'll actually reference their social media like it's a news posting.Me: "Hey, how have things been?"
Them: "I got a new job, but it's been rough! I have been talking about it constantly on Facebook; you should look."
Me: Yeah, I'm done here.
#70
TikTok/Youtube beauty challenges, whether it's about normalizing something or "accepting yourself", I feel like the majority of creators make those videos to show off how attractive they are.#71
This is more work related, but it pisses me off how there is now a work culture of always being reachable by email or text for whatever happens.A lot of places expect you to be pretty much on call even when you're not at the office anymore. I worked at an ad agency where days off sometimes didn't even feel like that, because I would still be getting emails about things and was expected to be checking them.
There should be some level of balance between work and personal life and I feel like that is fading because it's becoming more and more socially acceptable to adopt this type of culture.
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#72
People who "hang out" but just spend the whole time together on their phone browsing social media, checking their messages, whatever. I didn't plan a get together with you to watch you stare at your phone. Save it for the toilet.#73
The celebration of bad attitudes, habits and toxic traits.People would rather be praised for being a villain than to be obscure.
People would rather give praise to a villain than to spend a moment not entertained.
#74
The ‘always available’ mentality. If I don’t text back or if I ignore your call whether it’s personal or professional. It’s probably because I’m doing something or do not have the mental energy to make decisions at that EXACT point in time.I will always get back to you but it may not be immediate.
I’m really really worn out of the speed of decisions causing whirlwind effects downstream.
Unless it’s a straight up emergency / crisis. It can wait.
#75
How almost every article is a video rather than an article. I can get to the main point faster reading than it takes for the video to get there.#76
How being jealous and controlling is so normalized in relationships. It should not be a problem to have friends of the same gender or like someone's selfie on instagram, but I see so many people acting like their partner committed a crime for doing so.#77
People making up false information they just decided on, doing no research, posting it somewhere, and it getting so heavily circulated, no one checks if its true, and just assume it to be reality and base their whole personality and decisions off of it.#78
Corporations thinking their entitled to your time. Everything you buy, service you use, place you go, it's "Rate your experience!", "Please leave feedback!", "How was your visit?", etc.If you're not paying me, then I'm not devoting any time or energy helping you improve your business. Seems pretty obvious, but somehow this is no longer the norm.
#79
Taking insta pictures and snapchat stories of EVERYTHING. Sure your online persona will look like the cool kid, but people at a party who just lift up their phone to record everytime something happens look hella dumb in my opinion, just live in the moment#80
Entitled social media influencers who contact businesses and practically demand free goods or services in exchange for exposure.#81
Woke culture. It doesn't allow for people getting better. If you have to dig 7 years to find something bad someone said on twitter they maybe a improved person now. I care about how people are now not 7-10 years ago or that they say something stupid in high school.#82
Over-the-top pranks that involve staged violence or scaring passersby. Seems like a surefire way to traumatize someone. I have PTSD and it's not fun.#83
I'm honestly tired of the short videos that have the Siri voice with text on the screen. It sounds so off and so weird. Just use your own voice, what the hell? It's like The uncanny valley but for voice. Such cringe.#84
not having a physical community. i think we would all benefit from doing community activities but because a large part of us live in apartments and in cities, it’s not common.#85
Working 5 days a week and only having 2 days off (if you're lucky).#86
Without a doubt, I can't stand cancel culture, gaslighting and the insane oversensitivity shown in social media. I'm going to write it clearly........"If you don't like something, don't watch it, interact with it or have anything to do with it." Just because you don't appreciate what someone has created, it doesn't mean it's your right to remove them and their art entirely. John Cleese said it perfectly "From the point of creativity, if you have to keep thinking which words you can use and which you can't, then that will stifle creativity"#87
Having to pick a team and agree with 100 percent of their opinions. I think in 10 years there are only going to be 2 personalities.#88
The "I'm going to disrespect my way to the top of the world" thing that Jake Paul is doing.#89
Weddings have turned into expensive choreographed social media productions worthy of Busby Berkeley. These s**t shows empty pocketbooks and ruin friendships. It’s gotten to the point where bridesmaids and groomsmen are expected to shell out thousands of dollars and use up their vacation time for multiple trips, while regular guests are told what color to wear.
Image credits: AMerrickanGirl
#90
Making depression and anxiety as an aesthetic one needs to have.
Image credits: Blurry_face9
#91
The politicalization of EVERYTHING and people doing certain things solely to display which political ideology they subscribe to#92
The reaction that provokes on me is more cringe than pissing me off but I am SICK of the "XXXX reacts to YYYY" videos.It´s just so embarrassing to see these people acting out a reaction just to satisfy the actual consumers of the product that is being reacted upon.
Image credits: Calm-Country
#93
Posting infographics regarding certain topics to try and prove you’re “educated” on the topic#94
Food blogs for a simple recipe. I don’t give a f*** about reading a story before reading a recipe#95
Jokingly saying you’re “OCD” or “ADD” just because you like tidying up or get distracted. If you actually have those ailments, they control most of how you live your life.from Bored Panda https://bit.ly/2Rb0qbm
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