Teenagers are stereotypically obsessed with social media, but in this generation things are getting way out of hand.  We choose to idolize people on social media sites who aren’t influencing our youth in a positive light. Students should find better role-models to look up to.

In today’s culture, Danielle Bregoli became notorious for her terrible behavior on Dr. Phil’s talk show. One of her remarks—”Cash me outside howbow dah”—became an internet sensation for no reason (link to the interview here). Although she dropped out of school in seventh grade and disrespects authority figures, the youth chooses to make her the center of social media.

Students such as junior Sharra Wells criticize the way Bregoli is praised for her behavior.  

“[Bregoli] is really quite irritating. If black girls said that, it would be deemed ‘ghetto’ but when a white girl does it she is glorified. She’s made into a commodity and it’s [turned into] modern day slang. Now she’s making profit off of it which is ridiculous,” Wells said.

Some students like sophomore Ana Bane believe that Bregoli started a trend of more violence.

“It became this huge media trend that is now a song and a meme. I hate how her violence perpetuated this movement of empty threats being funny,” Bane said.

Others like senior Luis Perez  believe that the way Bregoli has exploded on the internet is ridiculous.

“She shouldn’t be famous because she’s not funny or clever. It’s just stupid and immature,” Perez said.

People on social media have voiced their opinions about Bregoli as well. Twitter user @kennedicoakleyy, or “ken”, tweeted that “[she’s] actually really sick of seeing this cash me outside girl all over Twitter… like we are making her famous for absolutely nothing.”

Another user @raddberryy says that “the cash me outside thing is already old we can stop giving a 7th grade dropout fame and fortune now.” At first, the iconic meme was enjoyable, but now Bregoli just proves to be littering Twitter feeds.

Bregoli isn’t the role model that most parents would want for their children.

FUHS chemistry teacher Ashley Hill is a mother of a three and six-year-old and disapproves of Bregoli’s widespread notoriety.

“It’s pathetic, it’s absolutely pathetic. There’s no reason a person like that should be a celebrity,” Hill said.

Sophomore Kylie Thompson dislikes how the phrase has caught on with her younger sister.

“The way Bregoli’s impact will stick around is agitating, I’ll probably have to hear about the ‘cash me outside’ girl for the rest of high school,” Thompson said.

Although Bregoli may stick around in the media for a little longer, we hope that people will go back to focusing on people who actually make differences in the world.

The youth should instead idolize people such as Danielle Bowman, a 24 year old who didn’t speak until age 4 due to having special needs. She started her own animation business at age 11 and now speaks at animation camps for special-needs kids. She is working to eventually develop a studio as big as Disney’s, with a staff composed mostly of special-needs workers.

Whatever opinion you have on Bregoli and her future career, one thing is certain, we must change who we idolize or a generation of great minds will be put to waste. So instead of re-tweeting the shallow news about the “cash me outside” girl, try finding something more worthy of those 140 characters that may have a more positive impact.