Subtweet Culture
How subtweets reinforce stereotypes of modern, human interaction.
For years, the belief has been that all of the technology in our lives now will corrupt younger generations and end traditional human interaction. A world that has been taken over by social media, is perhaps, the most unsocial, it has ever been. I am one that will always try to debunk, stereotypes and generalizations, of this sort, but this is one that may have some truth. When I think of this belief, though I don’t think its entirely true, I remember that subtweets exist, and that humanity does show signs of going down this dark path.
For anyone who may be unfamiliar with subtweets, they are tweets made about someone, but they are not tagged. Typically they are done to complain, insult, or to send passive aggressive signals. The “tweeter” typically has the expectation that the person, that said tweet is about, will see it, and that will lead to either, further conflict or resolution.
Subtweets are immature and cowardly, yet they’ve become commonplace to Twitter users. I could not think of a worse way to settle conflict, in a friendship or relationship. A veiled complaint in an indirect tweet, could only make the situation more toxic. They define the idea of being disconnected from human interaction. They are a way to escape face to face confrontation, but still letting one’s feelings be known. People naturally feel safer behind a screen, and people feel to safe when it comes to subtweets.
Over the past few years, it seems as though a sort of subtweet culture has been created. For a while now, there has been the idea of “keyboard warriors,” who will fight with other people through the Internet, because they face no physical harm. This culture has contributed to not only this idea, but using the Internet for therapy. People are more willing to call out someone indirectly, start arguments, or use social media for emotional comfort. I don’t know the belief behind it, but it is very popular to tell everyone in the world, about your problems, rather than working to fix them. Perhaps it wasn’t subtweets specifically that started these trends, but they will forever serve as the figurehead to them, in my opinion.
LeBron James is one of the most influential athletes of the last 15 years. He is constantly in the public eye, and children all over the world are looking up to him. So what is he doing? HE’S SUBTWEETING HIS TEAMMATES! Even one of the best basketball players of all time, has resorted to subtweets.
“#The DC #SFG”
Good job LeBron! Even though I don’t have any idea what those hashtags may be, I’m sure this solved all the problems and no one(probably Kevin Love) was mad, after seeing this! LeBron controls the Cleveland Cavaliers to the point that he is practically the coach. If he wants better team chemistry, working towards it in practice is how to do it, not subtweets. I would also like to add, that this is not the only cryptic subtweet he has made (maybe or maybe not) about his teammates.
The point I’m trying to get at is, everyone needs to truly articulate their feelings in a conflict, if they want to reach a resolution. Facing a problem head on is the best way to approach it. Subtweets are embarrassing, for both the person tweeting it, and the person it is about. The person tweeting will look petty or pathetic, and it is incredibly awkward for the person it is about. I encourage everyone to follow this advice, because subtweeting is never going to work out well for you.
