There is a popular trend on the Internet called "outrage culture." It's not an official trend, but rather a pattern that occurs whenever there's something controversial in the news. It goes like this: something controversial happens, a lot of people get mad and call for a boycott or say it's "canceled," arguments ensue and insults are thrown around, then after a week no one really talks about it anymore. These topics can range in importance from an ignorant tweet to the president's stance on a political issue.

This isn't to say that there is anything inherently wrong with being passionate about current issues, but a lot of the time this outrage gets taken to the extreme. Take Nike's recent campaign involving Colin Kaepernick, an NFL player who made waves after he kneeled during the National Anthem to protest police brutality. Since this advertisement campaign was released, thousands (if not millions) of people have been calling for a Nike boycott. Hundreds of these people have even posted photos and videos of themselves burning or destroying their Nike apparel. One man even burned a pair of Nike tennis shoes while they were still on his feet (though it was later said to be satire).



Obviously, Twitter has forgotten what a boycott is or how they work. Here's a newsflash: Nike doesn't care about you destroying products that you already bought. That money is still theirs and you're just left with one less pair of shoes. This is often how these "boycotts" go online. People destroy their merchandise or say that they'll never support the company again and go about their business, still sporting their gear.

It's also extremely common for people to drag up old posts on accounts that are popular or go viral to make the person look bad. It is important to own up to things they have said in the past and speak out on it, but it's to the point that no one even cares what's being said anymore, they just want the attention for calling someone out. A lot of these posts come from a less sensitive time when saying these things may have been controversial or "edgy" at the time, but maybe didn't offend many people. Again, this isn't to say that being a product of the time makes these things okay to say, but you have to understand the context in which those posts are made.

The Internet outrage culture has just gotten to the point where it's almost exhausting to be online anymore. You can't go on any social media platform without seeing a hundred posts about the same thing.

I don't know if there's a solution to this problem, or if there's even a problem at all. Maybe we could all stand to spend a little less time on social media or limit the number of posts we make. Regardless, I think I'll be saving my 280 characters for the more important issues.