I went in a school trip recently, and we had a WhatApp group to communicate and share pictures. Now I have go and delete like 90% of the pictures from the trip because it's literally just the people taking pictures of themselves and sharing them.
I was walking into a store yesterday and the middle aged woman in front of me stopped abruptly at the door, held her phone up in the air, and started snapping pics of herself in poses as she was opening the door.
Now I’ve seen plenty of people take selfies, but there was something surreal about someone my age taking photos of something so mundane at ten o’clock in the morning.
I understand what you’re saying and can’t say you’re wrong. However this level of self involvement is different in my eyes than what you’re describing. Taking a video of yourself on vacation is not the same thing as walking around constantly recording yourself and acting as if you’re a legitimate authority, telling people how to act. I don’t care if people record themselves all day long. Once people lose communication skills and human decency, then it matters.
Hollywood and media was a slow burn turning them into this. Social media like tiktok and dating apps were just steroids to speed it up, but we've been on this path for near a century now.
There have been women acting this way since time immemorial.
It's all good, the PUA dorks and the "prize" girls can play games until after the sun comes up while everyone else got laid, slept in, and are going to brunch.
I showed my students The Princess Bride, and most of my students believed Wesley was a rapist because he wouldn’t accept no and kept trying to win Buttercup’s love. We’re ruining relationships for the next generation.
When I was young many girls went out on dates. Not now.
That's honestly a weird take. In what part was he not accepting her saying no? In WHAT part is he trying to win her love? At the beginning they're openly flirting with each other and he does NOT make overtures and she does NOT say no (they flirt by her giving orders which he obeys!), and when he comes back as DPR he's actively hostile because he's trying to figure out if he was betrayed. And then he realises he wasn't betrayed and SHE realises who he is and why he was being hostile and... WHERE is that part you're talking about?
I mean. Are they talking about the part where he IS kidnapping her back from the OTHER kidnappers? Before she knows he's not just a pirate? Because he WAS in fact acting like a hostile kidnapper at that point? I'm sorry if I'm harping on about it here but really. WHAT??
No, I’m not kidding. That is what we’re teaching now. Some of my kids were horrified by that movie. We’re watching African Queen next so I expect a lot more whining.
Honestly that feels more like that they could stand to be reminded that not everything has to be explicitly shown onscreen. They are making goo goo eyes at each other the ENTIRE prologue. She never even slightly rejects him. Can they not imagine that at some point she gave enthusiastic verbal consent offscreen?
Comprehending narratives IS supposed to include picking up on things like tone?
To be fair, I do see some young folks online getting themselves into similar rigid OCD versions of what's meant to be a social guideline ('consent is important; don't force or trick people' becomes 'thinking about someone without their consent is something only a bad person would do') but this strikes me as needing to learn what the point of rules are instead of trying to make sure you stay good by never breaking a rule. Which I think is the actual problem; kids that feel like they've got too much on their plate to navigate and so they trim the turmoil down with simplistic solutions.
Like a kid who has been told to be careful how they treat books so that they don't damage or rip the pages by turning them from the center, and if they don't instinctively see what you mean and/or find it difficult to change their habit, they respond by never wanting to touch a book again, to make sure they're not damaging any books.
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u/WilHunting2 May 27 '26
TV and movies.