With the rise of technology and social media, there has been an emergence of what is called “cancel culture”. Cancel culture is a phenomenon where people call out others for their previous inappropriate and offensive actions, while also withdrawing their support of the person being “canceled”. Don’t get me wrong, it is imperative that we call others out and educate them on their wrongdoings. Although there is a difference between calling people out effectively and feeding into straight up cyberbullying and spreading toxicity. Cancel culture has impacted social media in a sense that it has become an extremely toxic space for all users. It is almost like a snowball effect, everyone hops on the cancel culture train and comments nasty things underneath peoples’ posts. If we all work together as a generation, we can find a healthier alternative to holding people accountable and educate them in a more effective, long lasting way.
It is imperative to call people out and make sure they educate themselves on what they did and why it was wrong. Instead of coming up with snarky comments and trying to come up with a comment that gets the most likes, we should be educating one another and explain the implications behind their action(s). If the person genuinely apologizes and realizes the depth of their past actions and remarks, that’s great! Hopefully they will learn their lesson and apply it to their life from here on out, also educating others along the way. Now whether or not you continue to support them is entirely up to you! I have stopped supporting a decent chunk of people in the past year or so due to past actions resurfacing. I have been guilty of leaving snarky comments, but I have now come to realize what a waste of energy that is, and how it simply feeds into the negativity and toxicity of social media. As an alternative, it is much more effective to explain why you are upset and offended and why what they did or said is inappropriate. You can either choose to continue supporting them or not without contributing to this cesspool of arguing with people in the comments, hurling insults at one another.
The rise of cancel culture has contributed to social media becoming more toxic in a sense that people are not giving others room for growth. Let people learn from their mistakes and grow as individuals. We are all imperfect and all mess up, let us all learn from it together. I recognize that there are certain instances where people are blatantly, obviously horrible people. When I say let there be growth, I am talking about the people who genuinely want to grow. Not the people who are simply stuck in their own ways, fail to recognize what they did as wrong, and show little to no remorse. There is a stark contrast between those who actually want to learn from their mistakes and those who either apologize so they can be “in the clear” or people who ignore it all. What I am trying to say here is let’s not let cancel culture become so severe that it ruins us as a generation. I believe we can come back from this toxic environment that we are all in at the moment, and I see creators trying to mend this issue as I scroll through my socials. Be cognisant of what you comment on someone’s post or comment and try to make your energy and impact worthwhile, rather than wasting it away to negativity.