In November of 2021, Lauren Zarras gave a surprise visit to her boyfriend, Robbie McCoy, while recording his reaction. In the video, McCoy’s confusing body language threw off viewers, leading them to believe he was cheating on Zarras. Thus, “Couch Guy” was born.
The video brought on a tidal wave of comments and videos, analyzing every aspect of the video and jumping to conclusions with little to no evidence. Suddenly, everybody was giving their input on something they considered to be “cringe.”
The early days of YouTube and Vine were overflowing with what are now outdated or “cringe” jokes. Social media continues to change the world as we know it. Parasocial relationships are stronger than ever. We have access to each other’s personal lives that we never had before. Unfortunately, these factors are continuing to amplify the popularity of “cringe.”
There are two types of cringe. There’s compassionate cringe, in which you genuinely feel bad that another person is experiencing humiliation. This is why so many people may have a hard time watching something that is cringe-worthy to them. Then, there’s contemptuous cringe, which is when the viewer laughs and further taunts the target, such as what happened with “Couch Guy.”
This is a worry that everybody has. We are all afraid of being ourselves because we don’t want to be somebody’s next target. According to recent reports, over 60% of Generation Z experiences significant social anxiety. But being cringe to a number of people is unfortunately unavoidable, as much as we may try.
Take a minute, and put things into perspective. 60 years from now when you’re looking back on your life, what will you regret most? Will you regret speaking up to fight injustices? Will you regret what people thought?
There’s a good chance that if you ask any elderly person right now what they regret the most, they’ll tell you about all the things they wish they had done. The moments you say something you regret will always pass, but you cannot turn back time to fix the important moments that you should have said something.
Our limited time on this earth is too precious to spend biting your tongue. You were not put on this earth to be a convenience for someone else. There’s always going to be somebody who thinks you are “cringe.” So, why not just be who you are?
What do you consider to be cringe and why? Let us know on Instagram @VALLEYmag!
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