By Gabby Sahm

Staff Writer

@gabbysahm

It is no shock that we have become a technology driven society. You cannot go anywhere without seeing multiple people on a device, whether it be a smart phone, tablet or laptop.

This technology has brought people closer together, but it has also become a new way of bringing people down and consequently further apart.

Open up any form of social media and you will see a majority of the posts are from people writing rude and offensive sayings or comments about a fellow classmate, friend or family member.

However, these rude tweets are not always meant to be mean, rather, they are meant to be a “joke” and not meant to be taken personally. They expect people not to get mad because they are just “kidding around.”

I truly believe people really do not intend for it to mean, as they just want to gain more followers. People do it in order to gain status. They do it for the favorites, likes and retweets. They do it so people think they are funny and seem popular.

Posting something funny, but offensive, is more likely to get favorites and likes then someone posting something nice and meaningful. If it is seen as funny, then people are more likely to share it among friends. Often times the person who posts the tweet will seem cool and brave among classmates because they had the nerve to post what they did.

The meaningful tweets do not seem cool or brave among classmates.

I can think of many times I have scrolled through my Twitter feed and have seen people post a favorite quote or a picture with a best friend on their birthday. Those tweets have about five or six favorites compared to the tweets I see that are about students posting a photo of someone, without said persons knowledge and adding a funny caption to it. Those get between 20-50 favorites.

People have become popular from these tweets. They gain followers who want to see more funny posts from them, so in turn they become popular from these mean tweets.

Congrats, you have become popular for putting people down. Remember to put that on your resume.

This stigma that it is “cool to be say these thing as long as I’m joking” is becoming more apparent every day. The tweets seem to be more and more hurtful with less of a joking tone. It has become a way to bully students, but not have your classmates look down on you for it.

People need to realize that there is more to life than the number of favorites and likes you get on a post. Twenty years from now the only thing you will be remembered for is the fact you took time out of your day to put someone else down.

Now I rather be remembered as the person who brightened up peoples day by sending them meaningful, nice posts. You never know when someone could need that extra boost of self esteem to make through the day.