#WhutHawpened?

Damian Gordon
South Bureau Chief

    Social media and online gaming has changed the way people interact with each other, for better or worse. Today’s world can really put into question if humans are more sophisticated than cavemen.

    Online gaming has possibly ruined a whole generation of kids, or at least made them really unlikeable. Joining a match on Xbox Live (XBL) or PlayStation Network (PSN) can be the most nerve-racking part of the experience, as you wait hoping that the other players joining already passed puberty. While playing Call of Duty, the fact that a nine year-old joins the game speaks volumes to how online gaming is these days. After saying countless racial slurs and curse words the kid doesn’t know how to use, the mute button becomes very familiar with many players.

    In my youth, I thought insulting people you just met was the way people socialized, and with the currentonline community, that is most likely what this generation of adolescents believe. A kid sees people making friendly banter or trash talk and misinterprets that for the way everyone communicates all the time.

    The most euphoric moment in online gaming can be hearing that annoying kid scream, “But, moooom!” right before seeing their game tag, Bewbs69, leaving the match for bed time. There are some kids that know how to handle themselves, but they are too few and far between.

    Social Media has become important in the culture of today, with Twitter showing everyone what a fun time Jane had tonight as you try to decipher the drunk tweet she wrote before throwing up.

    Facebook has made it seem like you remembered your “friend’s” birthday, when in actuality, you forgot they existed till a notification popped up reminding you to be a decent person. And liking a page apparently supports starving children in other countries; it’s not like sending actual money could help more, right? Meanwhile, creeping has been taken to a whole new level with those suspicious likes from thirsty guys on Samantha’s pics at 2 a.m.

    When Myspace was still a thing, it used to have a feature where you displayed your top 10 friends. This started many arguments as you dropped from number five to six on Johnny’s top 10.

    Log on to any of these sites to see the hundredth copy and pasted “deep post” or the vague passive aggressive post about someone’s ex (we all know who you’re taking about).

    I first joined YouTube when it was still relatively unknown back in 2006, and I loved to read the comments and have discussions with other users. Now, I don’t even bother to read one comment, for that section has become filled with trolls, religious arguments and other unrelated matters on a video about cats that shoot lasers. Granted, more people are accessing the internet than back in 2006, but that just makes it even scarier to think that YouTube comments might represent the world as we know it. Let’s not even mention how many facepalm-worthy videos of people who “did it for the vine” exist.

    Online gaming and social media has definitely affected the world and the way we communicate—often times negatively. Yet, the amount of good the digital age has brought could outweigh the bad if we took more responsibility for actions online and didn’t hide behind a username.