Cringe culture has evolved past the point of no return and turned our generation into internet zombies that are incapable of feeling anything, especially empathy.
The fear of being perceived is something that many people feel today. A big part of that comes from the likelihood that random strangers will film you for doing something considered odd or weird. In some cases, even the most normal things get recorded and posted on the internet.
Many people online try to emulate being “nonchalant” and not caring. This isn’t new. Caring has gone in and out of style for decades, just like fashion. A recent example would be in the 1990s, caring was not cool. Indifference to everything and everyone was all the rage.
Time has brought this feeling back to the mainstream. But this time it’s brought a sense of fear with it. Before the internet as we know it today, people weren’t afraid to act like humans.
There is a possibility that you could be judged by the entire world just because you cared a bit too much about something or had a little too much fun for someone else’s liking and then bam! You’re a meme.
Filming strangers has become so normal that some people don’t even realize how weird it is to do it. Someone could be having a full on mental breakdown, and everyone will post and share it. The fact that more people don’t see something wrong with that is insane. The thought of not being able to have a bad moment without everyone seeing it is scary, so I can understand why people are afraid of showing others they care.
The recent trend of nonchalance is hard to watch. Where previous generations found beauty in the melancholy of life, we see the oversaturation and AI-generated aspects of the modern day.
Many people can’t even form their own thoughts; they need ChatGPT to do it for them. For example, there has been a push from universities and everyday people to use AI to generate creative ideas for topics to write about or art to make. How can they be expected to care about anyone but themselves when they’re literally using something that has been killing people to do the most basic tasks?
The internet has desensitized many to atrocities. Social media created a mindset that revolves around caring so much about how others perceive them instead of caring about others.
Even when people choose to be empathetic it’s for the wrong reasons. When someone who bases their entire career around white supremacist and misogynistic rhetoric dies, the internet decides everyone needs to mourn. Yet there’s silence every time there’s a school shooting or an innocent college student is murdered.
Things will only get worse for us if we continue this line of thinking. There needs to be a level of understanding and empathy for people who are literally just existing. Without those things, our generation will never do anything meaningful. Or worse, there will be severe damage done to communities and the environment. We can’t stay in this state of indifference.
