Kids these days are constantly trying to relate themselves to something so they can voice how they feel. Or, at least so they can get other people to notice them. Many people relate themselves to a negative object in hopes that somebody they know will say, “Oh, that’s not true.”

Take Shane Dawson for example; in lots of his videos, he’s always coincidentally seeing a trash can, dumpster, or something rather nasty, then Shane says, “MEEEE” or “SAAAMMEE”. Don’t get me wrong, I like watching his videos- they’re funny and they do make people laugh, but I have noticed the repetition of the joke. What’s more bothersome is when somebody says that he isn’t trash or garbage, he gets emotional and acts like he genuinely thought that he amounted to actual rubbish.

There are people who sincerely think that they do amount to trash, and those individuals usually keep quiet about this opinion of themselves. These kids don’t want to draw any attention because they feel bad about who they are. Many high schoolers feel like this but still watch videos that are promoting self-discrimination, and start to feel worse. Teenagers who don’t actually feel like that start to say that they truly do feel like trash and don’t actually, are spreading a very mean and troubling new social norm. The new acceptable social construct of negative self-bigotry is hard for those who are actually emotionally drained or have low self-esteem. 

Seeking attention by relating oneself to something negative is a new social key to fit in with peers who are always flexing everything they have so others feel like less.

Take, for example, the tide pod challenge: Hundreds of kids choked down laundry detergent just so they could get a “like” on their video, or maybe even a follow or two.

For the thousands of people trying to capitalize on a current fad in any form of internet entertainment, the goal is to only get more followers and likes. This is why most YouTubers put they trending challenges to the test, and thus why there are very few YouTubers that are original. A lot of these so-called stars are only followers themselves because they’re following the crowd and perpetuating the negative self-view that is all too prevalent in today’s society.