Am I complaining that people complain too much?

We, as a society, have become a whole bunch of complainers, especially teenagers. Every day in the halls of RHS I hear complaints about how tired someone is, how annoying somebody else is, how boring this one teacher is, it’s never ending. Now, I am not saying I don’t complain, those who know me, know that I complain with the best of them (or worst, whichever way you view it). There is some kind of satisfaction that comes with complaining, even more satisfaction when another person agrees with your complaint. Sometimes it just feels good to spill all your complaints out to one person, but then you realize you sound annoying, it’s a never ending cycle.

We have become very quick to complain as soon as something doesn’t go our way, but it’s normal. With the internet becoming so immersed in our lives, we tend to want everything faster and better. Our generation is constantly improving on things, so we always want it to be the best. This means we get angry when something isn’t up to our standards. We then proceed to complain. For example, I ordered mayo on my sandwich but they “purposefully forgot it to mess with my whole day.”

Social media has become a huge platform for millions upon millions of complaints. It often feels like the only thing social media was made for was complaints. Social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, have made it so much easier to complain and do it in a negative way without any backlash. But that is just an illusion. Teens do not often realize that their complaints are now public for the whole world to see and can hurt another’s feelings. Students especially need to be aware of what they are posting, about other students, as well as staff.

Sometimes a complaint can be helpful though. We need to air our grievances, it’s healthy. It can even act as an icebreaker when meeting new people when you can both agree on something. Your pencil breaks in class, so you complain that you do not have a pencil and the person next to you offers you one to borrow.

The problem may not be the complaining, (okay maybe it is if you are complaining 24/7, you know who you are), but the problem is how we complain. Complaining has become so negative lately and sometimes we need to be more upbeat and positive about it. If you have a complaint about the way your sandwich is made, tell the worker nicely that you ordered it with mayo, not without. If you have a complaint about your friend, tell them they annoy you when they leave you on read and to please just answer.

It may not be the easiest thing to do, but we need to change the way we react to situations. We need to refrain from going directly to a negative complaint and think first. If you need to confront someone head on, rehearse what you are going to say first and make sure it is positive, so you do not create more negativity. Try to rephrase your complaints so it doesn’t sound like one.

Well there, I am done complaining about the complaining that others do.