Zero Waste Enthusiastic
Internet became a very important thing to most individuals nowadays. It became our medium for online learning, communicating, and also for entertainment. Sounds good, right? That is why most teens are into using the internet, using YouTube or browsing Facebook, etc.
However, some influencers of social media accounts do not think about the impact of their video on the viewers. This frightens now the adults because many children or teens do not follow anymore the advice of their parents as they think that what they saw in the videos are all good and they think that it could be also done by them.
Many trends became popular to the teens and most of these trends on the internet suppress ideas about the waste and these were not given attention. We should be aware on what are those wasteful trends to help prevent others from doing, the safety of our community’s health and for keeping the environment clean and healthy.
To help you be informed of the dangerous internet trends prominent nowadays, I asked lifestyle bloggers, industry insiders, and environmental experts about the most wasteful trends to steer clear of. Get inspired to avoid and fight back against waste found on the web by their insights.
Environmental Impact of the Internet
Using the internet uses power. Carla Diaz, Cofounder of Broadband Search says that every time you transfer data to the cloud, download something, or any other internet-related action, it uses electricity. If you think about how many people use the internet, that’s a lot of electricity usage, and it amounts to quite a large environmental impact.
While you personally may not be able to control the servers and what source of energy they’re using (i.e. renewable or fossil fuels), you can cut down your internet usage and change the way you behave to reduce your footprint. Cutting down your cloud storage, deleting unused apps, and unsubscribing from unnecessary email lists can all help to reduce your footprint.
Brandon Lee of Reptile Maniac says the Internet is a weird place where all kinds of things become trendy and viral. They don’t have to be innovative or unique, they can be ridiculous and dumb and can still become an internet trend. Some of the most wasteful trends in internet history are highlighted below.
Some Wasteful Internet Trends That Should Stop
Cinnamon Challenge
A few years back, around 2010-12, viral food challenges were going on and among them, Cinnamon Challenge was the most ridiculous one. You had to swallow a spoonful of cinnamons, without coughing or drinking anything within 60 seconds. This was not only wasteful but also very dangerous as it had many health-related consequences.
Coca-Cola + Mentos Experiments
Another wasteful trend that repeatedly goes viral is the Coca-Cola and Mentos Eruption. It causes the drink to spray out of the bottle and has also resulted in many hilarious experiments.
Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge
This is another trend among the long list of stupid trends that went viral. In this, one had to cover their lips with shot-like glasses to create a lack of vacuum so that their lips get temporarily puffy. Trends and viral videos are primarily targeted to and by the younger group of people. The only way to not get caught up in these trends is by proper supervision and being alert about the harmful effects that it can cause.
Chopping Food Just For Show
Kasey Monohan, Fashion Blogger of ThreadCurve, pointed out that one wasteful internet trend is the TikTok food trend of chopping up large amounts of food just for show and only eating a small bite, then throwing the rest away. These types of trends get millions of views but unfortunately also encourage people to waste food without eating it.
Mukbang
The founder of Tamborasi, Sarah Stromsdorfer, said that there are many trends these days that contribute to waste to our environment. One that really stands out is called “mukbang.” This entails videos made by usually 1 or 2 people where they eat an enormous amount of food and record all the details and often live stream it while talking to their audience. This might seem innocent at first, but it is a huge waste of food. There are many starving people that could use that food. And more importantly, it wastes a lot of packaging and a lot of the food goes uneaten.
Crushing Things for Satisfaction Videos
On your Facebook, there is this little button on the top that symbolizes videos. Now, if you are going to watch some videos and browse them, you may encounter a video crushing things for satisfaction. It gets thousands of views and some people think that there’s nothing wrong with it.
But, if we are going to open our minds and look at what they are up to, we could see that what they are doing is adding waste to the environment as they crush the things that were bought to the stores and most of those are made out of plastics. This kind of trend is really bad.
Aside from adding waste to the environment, they are also influencing others to do the same thing which is very expensive. If the person wants to be satisfied, there are a lot of things that they can do without wasting a lot of money and also without using a lot of plastics that would only be crushed and would only be thrown away. The vloggers or video makers should think of another idea for the content of their video, this trend has to stop.
How do you avoid getting caught up in these wasteful trends?
According to Sarah Stromsdorfer, mukbang is a viral activity that has gotten really big in the last 5 years. Since this is not really illegal, the only thing we can do is not tune in to mukbang videos. If we turn away from it, hopefully, it will no longer be as popular, and not as much food will go to waste over the long term.
To Brandon of Reptile Maniac, trends and viral videos are primarily targeted to and by the younger group of people. The only way to not get caught up in these trends is by proper supervision and being alert about the harmful effects that it can cause.
Conclusion
Humans as we are, we easily get attracted to the things that are new to us especially the young ones. Teenagers are the ones that are prone to following what they saw on social media. Sometimes, the trend that they follow were not thought of wisely, and sometimes they are not aware that the trend that they follow adds waste to our environment which is unhealthy.
As we all know, waste causes pollution. And we don’t want to live in such kind of places like that especially if we have infants, kids and also grandparents who are sensitive concerning their health.
Teenagers should assess the content of the video that they have watched. They should think about the pros and cons of following those kinds of trends. Ask themselves if it adds waste to the environment if it is unhealthy for the surrounding before trying to follow the trend. Don’t let the temporary moment of pleasure tempt you to into such a plan that will cause you pain or regret for a lifetime. Think the effect of every action you make
