Faster than a speeding bullet, able to reach to tall buildings, and able to show a sneezing panda. It is not a bird, it is not a plane, it is the Internet. The fastest way to share information is also the fastest way to spread the idiocy of any person to the world. Viral videos can be funny, repetitive, and wide spread, but when a viral video is seen by the uneducated, they tend to stick to the monkey-see-monkey-do schtick. They mimic the video even if it is the most crude, idiotic, and just plain dumb thing out there. After one person mimics it, then another will mimic it, and another, all done for views and likes. That alone seems to be a big enough reason for Internet fads to spread every where.

  One such fad is Gallon Smashing where someone will take one or two gallons of milk in a grocery store and then pretend to trip as the gallons are thrown towards the earth. When the gallons hit the floor, they explode and the milk goes just about everywhere. To some people, this is funny, or some may go so far to say it is hilarious, but to the workers it is the opposite of hilarious. The store’s worker will have to spend time cleaning up the mess made by the so called filmmakers and pranksters. The store then has to incur the loss from the pranksters who wasted the product or spend company money for the lost gallons that they now have to replace.

 This is one of the many ideas that these viral videos inspire. Another recent fad that swept the nation was the Harlem Shake. In these videos one person will be dancing in some weird way while others stand idly by. When the bass drops,  everyone starts dancing  in weird outfits. This makes people look like a room full of idiots. Their music can be described as classless and it is certainly not appealing to everyone. The song is not actually used for listening. On Youtube, there are hundreds of videos of this dance alone. The sole purpose of the song is to do a stupid dance and make a video of it.

 The Harlem Shake has just recently stepped out of the spotlight for another Internet fad. Before the Harlem Shake it was Gangnam Style. People in this day and age do not seem to have a sense of what is “classy” or “cool.” To the new generation,  what is cool is what everyone likes on Facebook even if they do not understand the words in the songs, such as in Gangnam Style. To  some of the new generation, music without understandable words (or foreign languages) is the cool thing to integrate into daily life.

  Other fads such as YOLO (You Only Live Once) or “swag” are phrases used by lots of people because it is catchy. The acronym YOLO was popularized by an untalented, yet for some reason, popular singer Drake according to quoteinvestigator.com. It means live life to the fullest, but kids say it when they do stupid activities or when they break the rules. They use YOLO as an excuse for their stupid shenanigans and decisions. When  looked at these people who tend to say these things, they are most likely the ones who also tend to really enjoy videos such as Harlem Shake or Gallon Smashing. To prove this point, all viewers need to do is look  underneath the video on Youtube where there are comments such as “YOLO” or “You guys have swag.” The viewers are just like those who make the videos.

  The Internet was meant as a way to spread ideas and information to the world, to get knowledge to people halfway across the world, to stay in touch, and to keep connected when miles away from home. Somehow this advance in technology has lead to an increase of idiots and jerks and a widespread of fads and stupidity on a global scale. Fads inspired by the Internet are some of the dumbest, disrespectful, and idiotic ways to waste one’s time. They are unoriginal and prove this generation are just like chimps. This really is a monkey see monkey do society.