Social Media– a devilish little online world– a world where the spawns of evil come to feed on the feeble.
Okay not that dramatic.
We’ve all had our fair share of being the subject to a “subtweet” – a post directed towards a specific individual but not actually mentioning him or her. Simply, it is as an insecure individual trying to personally offend someone by breaking them down emotionally. As cliché as it is, a “subtweeter” is truly just an awkward, anti-confrontational person hiding behind the keyboard presented to their fingertips.
Likewise, we’ve all subtweeted. Hopefully, we grew out of it after sophomore year of high school. Sadly, some haven’t.
Lately I haven’t been able to understand subtweeting. I consider myself a rather private gal. All of my social media accounts are private and I am fairly strict on who I allow to follow me and get a glimpse into my “online” life – this goes for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. In consequence, I don’t feel the need to let my “followers” know my private business. If I’m pissed at so-and-so for not taking out the trash this week, I’m going to let so-and-so know. This doesn’t mean I’m going to run to Twitter and tweet, “I guess some people are too lazy to do their share of house work” to get my point across. So-and-so would most likely sit there and think, “Seriously? If you have a problem with me, say it to me and not your 500 followers”. Am I right?
With that being said, here are 10 reasons why you should stop the obnoxiously tacky habit of subtweeting.
Your voice is powerful; use it for good.
The way you are perceived online is very powerful. The more followers you have, the bigger your voice gets. It is important what messages you send, especially if the majority of your followers are younger than you. We all online stalk, do you really want someone to aspire you and want to take on your negative undertones? You have a voice that reaches hundreds of people. Instead, try spreading awareness to things that matter.
You look incredibly foolish.
Subtweeting is lame! If you are throwing yourself into drama which doesn’t have a single thing to do about you, you look puerile. If you bring attention to that drama over your social media, you’re looking almost more foolish than people who start online fights. Not just that, you look really drama hungry. Despite only getting a handful of “favorites” on your subtweet, hundreds of people are still reading that. We see what you’re saying and we are laughing at your idiocy. Take that shit offline. We mature and sophisticated folks don’t give a hoot if you don’t like what happened at that party last fricken week.
You’re not going to “@” the person, so why are you doing it?
If you are the current subject to a nasty subtweet, just know they won’t “@” you. They won’t because they’re not as tough as they’re trying (oh-so-desperately) to be. If you’re a current subtweeter, I don’t understand your logic. It’s directed towards someone (they know it, you know it) so what’s up with the secrecy of who the person is? Staaaahp doing that! Face the problem head on and between the two of you.
There’s no “right” way to subtweet; it’s all equally stupid.
Subtweeting can’t be trashy or glamorous. Sorry, but perfect grammar, punctuation, word choice, or sentence structure can’t make a subtweet look better than another. Whether you tailored it with curse words or not, you still look unwise.
Your words could really affect someone.
Be careful what you subtweet because sure, the delete button is available, but it doesn’t mean the person you directed it towards didn’t see it or someone else. Subtweeters are typically thick-skinned, why else would they be able to say hurtful things over the internet and not feel bad? However, the person it is about may be really sensitive. Who knows? Maybe they’re dealing with other problems too and your subtweet could be the one thing that pushes them over the edge. We don’t know what happens behind closed doors. So knock that sh*t off.
Check yo age.
I’m not saying there’s an age cutoff for when subtweeting begins to get immature, because it is juvenile all together. However, if you’re graduated from high school, you’re officially an adult. Being an adult means being the bigger person (unfortunately), talking one-on-one with who you have conflict with, and getting over it. Deliberately trying to get a rise out of someone over social media just doesn’t scream adult-hood.
Your subtweet isn’t doing anything for yourself.
We get it, you’re upset. So go do something about it! What is your subtweet truly doing? It’s honestly just letting a bunch of your acquaintances into your personal business and raises a lot of questions, especially about your character. It’s a great place to vent and I understand social media is used to express opinions, but maybe try a personal blog.
You’re a jerk.
No not a bad b*tch, just a jerk. It’s so easy to broadcast your feelings, especially the hateful ones. You talk a good one and surely big, but the ones who clap are just as small-minded as you. There is a place and time to be a jerk and it isn’t through a subliminal cryptic tweet.
Tweets live on.
Screenshots my friend, screenshots. You really think we forgot what you tweeted? Think again!
Subtweets are a real method of bullying.
I’m all for the argument “everyone is sensitive nowadays,” but whether you’re being vague or incredibly direct, you’re being a bully. Haven’t your parents and teachers all through school told you harassment is totally lame? It’s so dangerous to subtweet, not just to who you’re referring to, but yourself too. You could get into a lot of trouble – watch what you tweet.
If you’re being subtweeted about, please don’t respond back in any shape or form. Let them look foolish. You already win with silence. Rise above!