Cancel Culture is a very new, and problematic social norm that a lot of the younger generation partake in, but why do the younger generation do this in the first place? How does it affect them? And lastly, what do we need to do to prevent its more toxic side?

Let’s start off with knowing what Gen Z is like. Gen Z learned to be more inclusive, and sympathetic of other people’s identities and feelings more than the older generations are. This is because of the many, rapid changes in our societal norm, which the younger generation is already used to, as they grew up with the internet. This constant access to the internet, which can give them both information, and misinformation, creates a large gap between the knowledge of the older generation vs the newer generations. Because of these factors, cancel culture happens much more between those from Gen Z, compared to the older generation. Gen Z are in general much more sympathetic, inclusive, and can catch up faster with societal norms compared to the older generation, and garner voices through social media to give a voice to the voiceless, and let everyone have a say. or at least, that’s what it would be like in an ideal world.

The Fact is, there are a lot of problems with how the younger generation uses cancel culture. One such problem is the tendency to get much more easily offended when it is not needed. This can be seen throughout cancel culture. One such example is of internet celebrity, Mr. Beast, which in one of his videos, titled “1,000 Blind People See For The First Time“, was able to fund 1000 eye surgeries for the blind. This was received with negative reactions from a large amount of people, as it was described as “ableist” and that he shouldn’t have profited from it. This also dosen’t shy from the fact that a large percent of the people complaining about these problems do not seem to do anything on their part to be able to mitigate these problems. This is what leads to a large amount of older people to perceive the younger generation as easily offendable, overly emotional, or unable to deal with opposing opinions. What makes this worse, is how easy it is for mob mentality to take hold of the situation, as there’s bound to be a lot of information, AND misinformation around the topic, and it’s easier to think something is true, especially when many people are saying it. This usually leads to so many people which think that the canceled has done something much more grave, even when they haven't actually done anything.

Now what can we do to mitigate these negatives? First of all, It’s important to form an opinion through extensive research, as it’s very common for people to immediately form an opinion based on the surface level info given to them. It’s best to look at a situation with several different lenses, as context, is a major part of seeing the bigger picture. To add onto this, one key element is understanding the intent of the person or message. Was this supposed to be a legitimate statement? Are they stating a fact, or an opinion? Was this supposed to attack others for a malicious cause? Or are they simply making a joke? This context is very important to understanding the situation and understanding how you should react to this. Lastly, watch out for the signs of mob mentality. These signs can range from believing that everyone sees the situation the same as them, and should apply to everyone else, and self-censorship to maintain the status quo.