Lilibeth the Ranter

My friends all know how much I despise the hashtag, despite actually being forced to use them frequently on social media to get my blog seen on the internetz. Let me first quickly explain the purpose of hashtags: They are designed to find a whole laundry list of whatever word or phrase it is you are interested in searching for. If you quickly want to scan for info on skincare, you can just type "skincare" into Twitter and voila, you have a plethora of useful (or useless) entries on skincare at your fingertips, courtesy of the hashtag.

When the use of hashtags made it into mainstream consciousness, people started to ridicule them and use them in a silly, very self-aware and tongue in cheek fashion. (e.g. #omgsodrunklol) Lots of people still don't get it, but that's not what my rant is about. 

I finally figured out why I find using "#blessed" and "#fortunate" so distasteful. It's because it comes across as bragging. Now, I realize that this may not be the hashtag user's intention, they may think they are truly expressing gratitude, but really though? You feel the need to tell the whole of the internet how grateful you are for the big pile of presents from your many adoring fans, complete with a filtered picture? You don't come across as a humble, grateful person, you come across as someone who is trying to pass off a post or picture of yourself being a braggart, as something more benign. It's funny, because if you had just left out the damned nonsensical hashtags, it would actually appear to be a genuine display of gratitude and sincerity.

My advice to these hashtag culprits is to practice humility (and prudence) and keep your pie holes shut. This was my Random Angry Tuesday Rant, cause sometimes you just need to. #yourewelcome #ktxbye