When the word was originally developed in the 13th century, “cringe” meant “to recoil in distate.” Centuries later, people connected the word to the idea of yielding or flinching away in fear.
Now, it means something entirely different. People use the word “cringe” to describe the secondhand embarrassment they experience when witnessing another person online do something “stupid.” They also use it to describe online behaviors that the majority doesn’t consider “normal” enough. The term seeks to isolate the cringey one and cause them harm with isolation– something humanity can’t handle well due to our need for social acceptance and interaction.
The idea of something being “cringe” has plagued the internet since it first began, and it continues to run rampant.
People started using the word against others, to the point where said people probably shouldn’t have unrestrained access to the internet. For example, children looking for fun videos commonly stumble across “Cringe Compilations,” or a video compilation of users engaging in so-called cringe-worthy activities.
These videos plagued YouTube in the mid to late 2010s. No matter how hard you tried to avoid them, two or three would pop up in the recommendations that followed any videos. I typically came across them in relation to the YouTube art community asa preteen and teenager; usually, it involved the works of other children and beginner artists being stolen and grouped together for others to point and laugh at. That made me hesitant to post my artwork or attempts at animation for anyone to see.
I didn’t want negative attention to come from me being found and placed into one of these videos. In essence, I feared being “cringe.”
As a youngster, most of my friends at the time – both online and in person – loved these cringe videos. They would ask me if I had seen the new post with one of the people we liked in it. I was expected to stop liking whoever was added into these. Clearly, those people were cringe, and I shouldn’t have associated with them anymore.
I privated all of my videos at one point and chose to spend my days essentially in hiding online. At that point, I wouldn’t even comment on videos out of fear of someone stalking me and deeming me cringey. I assumed I could just use a figurative broom and “sweep away” my digital footprint as a whole.
However, this led to me missing out on popular things at the time, all so I wouldn’t lump myself into these alleged “cringe-worthy” fandoms. I avoided anime, games, cosplay, musicals, and other things to avoid putting myself into imaginary cringe comps. I hated myself and everything I liked, and it wasn’t due to any sort of teenage angst. I was completely lost.
Now, in my early 20s, I watched the rise of positivity towards cringe culture and finally allowed myself to be free.
A lot of this happened after I studied at university. There, I found people who were just as “cringey” as me. If someone told teenage me that I’d post videos with my friends doing TikTok dances as X-Men members I would have balked. Back then, I also couldn’t imagine running around a Wawa parking lot as the cast of Death Note and posting it for the world to see. Nor could I see myself watching the Game Grumps’ playthrough of Daganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Why, I would’ve laughed in their face!
The views of others shouldn’t dictate what you, dear reader, do. Go to movie premieres in cosplay, attend conventions, and Junko Pose when you want to. Do outlandish makeup, post videos of yourself being hilarious. Most of all, have people that actually appreciate who you are – every little eccentricity and “odd” interest.
I think everyone should experience what it’s like to be “cringe and free.” I’ve never been happier.
Featured image via tabitha turner on Unsplash
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