Why I Abstained from the Internet on April 1st This Year
I am not a huge fan of practical jokes these days so I might’ve been trying to protect myself
I wasn’t always this way. When I was younger and more naive, I participated in the events of April 1st. Hell, I’ve even pulled off some epic April Fool’s jokes when I was younger. My classmates and friends did not enjoy me on that day.
There was one time I went dark with one of my jokes and told one of my friends that a mutual friend of ours had died the day before. In truth, I had called him before school and found out that he didn’t feel well that day. Since it was April 1st, I figured it presented itself the opportunity. It was mean-spirited and made my friend cry. When they found out that it was an April Fool’s joke much later that day, it took a while for us to get over that.
As I got older, my interest in getting fooled or fooling others halted to a standstill. I could no longer find joy or satisfaction in tricking others, even if I meant to take it right back after they fell for the joke. Slowly, my jokes moved away from being dark after that pivotal incident. I’ve always had a dark sense of humor but I tried to hide it or at least find a more appropriate venue for it after that.
I realized that on April 1st, people assumed any joke or prank was fair game, and that started to scare me. Things that would start to scare or make me sad would come back to haunt me. I’m not going to lie. I was afraid that at some point, I’d get to the point where my friend did and fall for something on that day that would make me bawl my eyes out too. Or even worse, physically harm me.
I started to realize that even the smallest joke and prank would set me off with anxiety as I got older. I realized how sensitive I actually was to external stimuli. I’d always been sensitive in general as I cried a lot through school but tried to use humor as a defense mechanism to protect myself from actually getting hurt.
I still carry that with me to this day. The difference is, now, I started to find different ways to bring out humor. Doing humor that makes people sad or intimidates them isn’t my style. I like to punch up and not down. I feel like April Fool’s Day tries to punch down or at least laterally too often.
If I were to participate in another April Fool’s Day, I’d want to hit the powerful with things that would make them second-guess themselves or humiliate them. For now, without wielding that kind of power, I sit here and stay off of the internet on this day.
I can’t stand seeing large companies and even local politicians tricking people in increasingly frustrating and stupid ways. The joking can have real-life implications and the jokes may backfire on them in the future. It is hard to say what could happen when someone is so loose with the truth.
There is even a YouTube channel I watch called Geography Now where the fake country videos on April 1st have become stale for me. I know it’s light-hearted fun but some people may take that content literally and really believe that there are places like these if they don’t watch the whole video. I don’t know. It sounds dumb but it just feels like the humor falls flat now that we know what to expect as loyal fans.
I have read stories from normally reputable sources who join in on the fun just to get a laugh or two out of people and it reminds me and takes me back to the days when I made people feel stupid or hurt by my actions. I think at the end of the day, I avoid April Fool’s Day and the internet on that day because I’ve just grown weary of bullshit no matter how fun or slight it is.
For the not-so-fun, I’ve read about April Fool’s Day pranks that have gone so wrong that the police have had to get involved and people have been arrested or misunderstood based on that. In short, avoiding the nonsense altogether really is the best approach.
However, I did do one little thing to my partner on the day declaring how March 32nd was going to be the best day of the month for us and looking forward to celebrating the rare day. He paused for a moment and I got zero laughs. Yeah, that pretty much sums up how this all feels now.
Before you decide to come at me in the comments, I don’t care if you personally still partake in the pranking yourself. As long as you stay away from me online on the day and keep your pranks lighthearted and fun, I have no problem with it. Some people just want to get in on the action. I just will try to do everything I can to avoid you if you’re anywhere near me.
