What has the world come to? In an era where internet rants, cyber bullying, and reaction videos are common ground for small talk, a portion of the world seems worried about where this generation is placing us.

In the past few years the world has evolved into a technological state that even Nostradamus couldn’t predict. With the startups such as YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and more, cultural connectedness had made bounds that were thought to be unimaginable.

Now that all of this technology is at the tips of our fingers, we have to figure out what to do with it. Sadly, one of the most popular and important things on these platforms is creating videos pranking and scaring people for no reason.

As a result of the constant need for attention, young people seem to be willing to go to extraordinary extremes for views. In many instances, the pranksters end up being punched, attacked, and beat up by the end of the video.

Of course violence is bad and all, but the worst part about these videos is the overwhelming condescending layer of prejudice and systematic racism. The kids in these videos create pranks with titles like, “selling guns in the hood” or walking around in a majority African American neighborhood calling everyone a nickel, thinking that it’s funny.

When you are a kid growing up in a time where all of your media consists of racism and prejudice, you only get to take in what you see. The problem with racism today is the fact that it is looked at as a point of hilarity and that it’s okay to be racist and demeaning to others if you don’t truly feel that way. But if one truly didn’t feel that way, they wouldn’t make the jokes.

In the end, we all realize life isn’t all that serious and we shouldn’t take everything to heart, especially if it comes from someone who knows no better. But with the internet and instant knowledge at our fingertips, we have all the resources to realize how much hurt and suffering people in this country have gone through.

We all want change, but we aren’t willing to change ourselves. The first step in anything is to admit to yourself why you are doing it. No one’s end goal in life is to hate as many people as possible. Stop the overt and covert racism by changing our media needs. Stop racism, and start the race towards laughter.