This story was produced as part of ThreeSixty Journalism’s 2025 Opinion and Commentary Workshop for youth, in partnership with Sahan Journal and MinnPost. ThreeSixty is a multimedia storytelling program for Minnesota youth, focused on contributing to more accurate narratives and representative newsrooms.
“F, B, I – space.
C, I, A – space.
K, G, B – space.
C, N, N – space.”
These letters set to an off-beat rhythm filled my TikTok feed this past summer. This song was everywhere, and it was unlike anything I’d ever heard. It wasn’t really a song, but something else entirely: a protest.
What may seem like a mixture of unrelated letters at first, “Typewriter Lesson” is a vessel for interpreting and addressing social conditioning and repetition — a process where we become numb to our environment, something that has almost detached us from our world. The point of the song is to call out government agencies and how they desensitize the public from things like racism and war. This is happening right under our noses
Japanese musician Cornelius’ 1997 song “Typewriter Lesson” is unconventional but has so much more to the eye (and ear) than what TikTok normally showcases.
But people are missing the point of the song.
Past generations fought hard for change, and now that change is actively being reversed, what are we doing about it?
We need to sit in our discomfort and stop diluting and satirizing issues, because it has gotten us nowhere.
Related: Minnesota teens, through their art, spark conversations about youth mental health
Social media fatigue and the impact it has on our mental health is partially at fault, but we still need to consider this:
Generation Z is getting older, and with age we have become increasingly comfortable with the worsening state of the world, and we are becoming part of the problem.
The “Typewriter Lesson” trend is a symptom of a larger issue. If you look around on social media, the internet has been mocking death, politics and tragedy since its inception. From the shock and gore websites of the 2000s to the satirization of right-wing debater Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September, nothing on the internet has ever been sacred. That sacred nature is what keeps us empathetic and gives us hope, but when confronted with more negative news than we can process, we are forced to deal with mental and emotional challenges.
In 2023, a study by researchers at Guangxi University found that overconsumption of social media can have negative effects on the user’s mental health. “Social media use can be a continuous drain on one’s cognitive energy, and the current significant increase in the length and frequency of social media use in people’s daily lives has led to the phenomenon of social media fatigue becoming increasingly common,” the study wrote.
Additionally, a 2022 report by the American Psychological Association found that repeated exposure to distressing online content can “reduce sensitivity to human suffering” and increase feelings of helplessness. The report warned that constant digital engagement blurs the line between awareness and emotional burnout, especially among younger users who spend the most time online.
The burnout associated with the overuse of social media can be quelled with coping mechanisms, but those coping mechanisms aren’t always positive; oftentimes that method is mindless consumption.
Some could argue that satire online isn’t a sign of desensitization, but a survival mechanism.
It’s easy to make jokes, or say that “it isn’t that serious” but with the climate our world is in, some things need to be serious.
The memeification of tragedy and fear is problematic, but it hasn’t come out of nowhere.
Related: Paying a price for getting high on social media likes
The internet has real-world repercussions on our lives and beliefs. Earlier this month, hateful and bigoted chats referencing red pill memes from Young Republicans were leaked. I’ve seen it firsthand when last year in my American Sign Language class, I heard someone say the following:
“Yeah, I think Hitler had some pretty good ideas.”
Since when did the suffering of millions constitute “good ideas?”
Making jokes about dark topics can be a way to cope with fear, grief or exhaustion in a chaotic world. People joke about things that make them uncomfortable, but at what point do we need to start processing the reality of what actually happens in the world? When apathy replaces empathy and satirization replaces compassion, that’s when we begin to lose our sense of humanity.
Most Generation Z are going into college or into the workforce. We’re old enough to educate ourselves by having conversations with each other. At what point does youth stop being a justification and start becoming an excuse? We can’t keep recycling content and regurgitating it without knowing its meaning. We need to take lessons from “Typewriter Lesson.”
The post Humor is replacing empathy: What ‘Typewritter Lesson’ says about youth numbness appeared first on MinnPost.
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