By Michael Wang ‘20 and Teddy McGraw ‘20, Humor Editors

It’s time for the madness to stop. And let’s face it, we’ve all seen it. We’ve seen it on countless Instagram and Snapchat stories. “Happy Birthday to my BFF!” “My BFF is going to (Insert College Name Here)! I love you so much!” Well, guess what. You can only have one best friend. ONE! Not two, not three, not four, and CERTAINLY NOT NINETEEN! It seems that the definition of best friend has been watered down due to society’s addiction to social media. People throw around the term so much that it is completely devoid of all meaning. A simple phone call on someone’s birthday will mean much more than an Instagram story showcasing all the concerts and foreign countries you have visited with your friend. The fact of the matter about instagram stories is…NOBODY CARES.

Let’s move on to discuss the word “love.” It seems that “love,” along with “best friend,” has been stripped of all meaning. People throw around this once passionate and respected word like hot cakes. Furthermore, the constant use of abbreviations like “luv” and symbols like the heart emoji have destroyed any sort of emotional connection the word used to represent. How can we, as high schoolers at Newark Academy, know the definition of love in its truest sense? Have we even lived long enough to really experience love? I think not. Instead, people throw around the word “love” endlessly on Snapchat and Instagram stories in a flailing attempt to show everybody else that they are part of something grander. “Love” is simply a catalyst that people use to try to climb the meaningless social ladder. Often, people post selfies on Instagram in an attempt to receive shallow compliments such as “luv u,” and “so so pretty,” from people they don’t actually like. Are we so dependent as a society on the approval of others these days that we will do anything to receive these meaningless compliments?

Now, let’s tackle the aforementioned college post. These college posts seem to follow the same sort of structure that birthday posts tend to follow: one picture congratulating the student on committing to a certain college such as, “My BFF got into (Insert College Name), then another picture with a caption like, “They are so lucky to have you.” Unfortunately, a college or university is not a “they;” it is in fact an “it.” This lack of respect to proper grammatical usage must be addressed. Eventually, the posters post a number of photos of themselves with their friends, ultimately trying to highlight themselves rather than selflessly congratulating friends who have committed to college (they definitely aren’t jealous of their friends). These posts tend to have the same content as birthday posts, but are a rarity only to spawn in large amounts during the spring season. Once again, the number of these posts that we have seen recently begs the question first asked at the beginning of the article: How can someone have more than one best friend? These posts must stop. They are not genuine. They are simply looking for the approval of others, and the posters of these stories are trying to show everybody else that they are a part of something. One’s self-fulfillment cannot come from a stranger’s approval, but it must come from within. Let’s all take a deep breath and work on ourselves as individuals. Only then will the true definition of “love” be returned to its former glory.

Luv u to all our BFFs!

The Humor Editors