The Bystander Effect, Hodan Mohamud………………………………………………………55 Cancel, Ysabela Reyes Cheesed, Miranda Hermis………………………………………………………………………60

Women's resources of Monroe County. Women's Resources of Monroe County. (2019, July 26). Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.wrmonroe.org/2019/07/26/what-is-theby-stander-effect/

Cancel

Ysabela Reyes

The keyword that I have chosen is “cancel.” Cancel is a word in pop culture that refers to the act of canceling someone usually through the means of social media to call out a person or group of people’s mistakes that are not seen as socially acceptable and to stop giving them support. In this case, to cancel someone is to condemn people for their actions or mistakes and ensure that those people will receive the proper consequences as a result of their wrongdoings. In terms of the word “cancel” and its historical significance, Mishan (2020) notes how the act of canceling someone has been around for many centuries as a form of public shaming and act of social justice against people’s behaviours deemed as immoral in the eyes of their society. Mishan (2020) also describes that despite the act of canceling someone has been common, the use of the term “cancel” itself has not been made notable until 2014 when the Twitter account of a comedy show “The Colbert Report” posted a joke that was seen as degrading towards Asians, and thus an Asian activist Suey Park spread the hashtag “#CancelColbert” throughout Twitter. I think “cancel” can help us understand the experience of young people due to its connections with issues surrounding social media, social justice, bullying as well as impacting an individual’s identity and self-confidence. Bromwich and Yar (2019) and their interviews surrounding teenagers’ experience with canceling shows how it impacted their social lives, whether it was to spread awareness to challenge those in power who misuse their authority, bullying and calling out acts of racism, sexism, homophobia. An adolescent from example one shows how canceling a celebrity such as R. Kelly who is known for being a pedophile has helped spread awareness to others why it is important to stop supporting his music (2019, pp. 1-2). In this case, to cancel someone can be used to help others become aware of social issues

surrounding certain individuals, challenge authorities and call people into question who they support. On the other hand, example three notes that being canceled has ruined an individual’s friendships, her sense of self-worth and abilities to trust because social media can bring up mistakes you have done years ago to define who you are in the present day (2019, pp. 2-3). In this case, to cancel someone can be detrimental to an adolescent’s ability to shape their own identity and sense of self-worth which can lead to social isolation, bullying and issues related to their mental health and overall well-being. The act of canceling someone also limits an individual’s identity through the use of social media because people can find previous posts that someone has uploaded a long time ago and use them as evidence that the individual is an immoral person. Therefore, to cancel someone can restrict an individual’s abilities to show their growth and learning from their mistakes since then as well as defining someone’s identity solely by the mistakes they have made.

Reference List

Bromwich, J. E., & Yar. S. (2019, October 31). Tales From the Teenage Cancel Culture. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://oglethorpe.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2020/01/teenage-cancel-culture.pdf

Mishan, L. (2020, December 3). The long and tortured history of cancel culture. The New York Times. Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/tmagazine/cancel-culture-history.html

Cheesed

Miranda Hermis

Going through adolescences can be a challenging time for most youth as they are attempting to discover who they are and where they belong during this stage of life. Often during adolescences individuals can find it difficult to express their emotions to one another as it can be seen as a form of weakness to their peers. Not only do youth not want to be seen as vulnerable during this time they also lack the emotional intelligence to have meaningful conversation regarding how they are feeling. Instead, adolescence will gravitate towards the use of slang

words to help them convey their emotions in a less vulnerable way. An example of this would be using the phrase “I’m cheesed” rather than “I am upset”. More often, it is found that adolescence will gravitate toward the term cheesed to shield them from expressing their raw emotions of being hurt. Although, the average person may think that cheese is a dairy product, it has a deeper meaning behind it which is commonly used by the average teenager. The term cheesed is often used by adolescences to express feelings of being upset or angry. Urban dictionary goes on to define these words as “the act of getting screwed over and/or hurt or mad in some way.” (Urban Dictionary, 2016). Rather than simply acknowledging their own emotions and stating that one is upset. Adolescent individuals will hide behind different the term cheesed to convey these emotions. At times, individuals may even go on to say “No, I’m not upset. I am just cheesed.”. As it is hard for them to accept the feeling of being hurt during that time. Essentially, the word cheesed can be used in many different contexts for expressing emotions including the feelings of angry, hurt, upset, and sad. Furthermore, a 15-year-old boy was asked what the word cheesed meant to him he goes on to say, “When I’m cheesed something went wrong in my day it could have been something someone said or did to me that made me cheesed.”

If we as educators are able to identify the emotions behind the word cheesed, we will be more equipped to helping our student communicate when they are feeling a particular way and identify the root of where these feelings are coming from. Research conducted by the Mission

Harbor Behavioral Health has shown that teen which are more willing to talk about their emotion are less likely to go undergo depression as they can communicate and identify those negative feelings (Dekin, 2020). As years go on norms change in age groups, educators must try their best to adapt to the changes and understand what is being communicate from students as the students are attempting to communicate in the way most comfortable to them.

Work Cited

Definition: Cheesed. Urban Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cheesed Dekin, S. (2021, May 26). Why teenages need to start discussing their emotions. Mission Harbor Behavioral Health. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://sbtreatment.com/blog/teenagers-discussing-emotions/