sporadically writes

God, I'm hilarious

Context: This Person Literally Set Up a Phone to Film This

All online video content needs to be viewed with important context: the creator wanted you to see it.

CARTOONS HATE HER

I remember seeing a video a while ago on Facebook Reels, where a mother effectively consoled her screaming toddler by helping him “emotionally regulate” with deep breathing exercises (it turns out he just wanted water, so I’m less impressed with her conflict resolution techniques. Come back to me when the request is for an antique porcelain egg that they will definitely break- that was an actual tantrum I diffused last night.)

Anyway, it occurred to me halfway through the video that I was missing some context—this woman wasn’t just a good mom who successfully gave her toddler water to end a tantrum. She was a mom who filmed her toddler’s meltdown, while he was wearing nothing but a pull-up, and posted it online to show everyone how good of a mom she was. Nothing in the video itself was reprehensible—if I were a secret bystander in that room, I’d have thought she was a good mom, showing commendable patience with a screaming kid. But I wasn’t seeing this scene by accident. She literally filmed it and posted it to show everyone how great of a mother she was, while she humiliated her toddler and filmed him in a vulnerable state. The inclusion of the iPhone camera—once recognized—changes the entire context of the video.

A viral video where a parent records their "creative" punishment for their teenager skipping class? Parent is even worse then you think, because they filmed it. A viral video where a woman confronts her friend about refusing to wear the bridesmaid dress because it wasn't the style she requested? She's a pain in the ass, and weird enough to put something like that online. A viral video where a woman in the throes of postpartum depression screams that she hates her baby? She needs help and whoever filmed it is a terrible person. We are not invisible witnesses to other people's lives— we are intended audiences to content creators. Their careers (or even just hobbies) as content creators have to be taken into account.

GoodMorning Folks