Does “Canceling” Someone Help or Hurt?

Isaiah says: I’m so sick of Jason making cruel comments and saying he’s just joking! Lily wants us to “cancel” him—cut him out of our lives and stop talking to him. Is that too extreme? What should we do?

Isaiah says: I’m so sick of Jason making cruel comments and saying he’s just joking! Lily wants us to “cancel” him—cut him out of our lives and stop talking to him. Is that too extreme? What should we do?

Isaiah says: I’m so sick of Jason making cruel comments and saying he’s just joking! Lily wants us to “cancel” him—cut him out of our lives and stop talking to him. Is that too extreme? What should we do?

Samir says: Let’s cancel him!

    Listen, I know we’ve all been friends with Jason since kindergarten. But his jokes always make us feel bad about ourselves, don’t they? There’s no reason to hang out with someone like that! I think that by canceling Jason, we are taking care of ourselves. Other people might think that’s selfish, but I don’t. Sometimes you have to put your feelings first.

    It doesn’t matter that Jason is “just joking” when he says these things. The fact is, his words hurt people. He needs to learn a lesson: How his words affect other people is more important than what he meant when he said them. 

    I think it’s a good thing to hold people responsible for their actions, and canceling Jason would send a message. If he wants to have friends, he needs to treat them with respect and kindness.

Samir says: Let’s cancel him!

    I know we’ve all been friends with Jason since kindergarten. But his jokes make us feel bad about ourselves. Why should we hang out with someone like that? By canceling Jason, we would be taking care of ourselves. That might sound selfish, but I think sometimes you have to put your feelings first.

    So what if Jason is “just joking” when he says mean things? His words hurt people. He needs to learn a lesson: How his words affect people is more important than what he meant when he said them. 

    I think it’s good to hold people responsible for their actions. Canceling Jason would send a message. If he wants to have friends, he needs to treat them with respect and kindness.

Samir says: Let’s cancel him!

    I know we’ve all been friends with Jason since kindergarten, but his jokes always make us feel bad about ourselves. There’s no reason to hang out with someone like that! I think that by canceling Jason, we are taking care of ourselves. Other people might think that’s selfish, but I think sometimes you have to put your feelings first.

    Regardless of whether Jason is “just joking” when he makes offensive remarks, his words hurt people. He needs to learn that how his words affect others is more important than what he meant when he said them.

    I think it’s important to hold people responsible for their actions, and canceling Jason would send a message: If he wants to have friends, he needs to treat them respectfully and kindly.

Shannon says: Let’s talk it out.

    Honestly, I think we are too quick to cancel people at this school. How does it help to cut people out of the group when they mess up? It just makes them feel alone, angry, and sad. That can lead to even worse behavior. If Jason doesn’t have friends to keep him in check, why would he try to be nicer? I bet he’d just become a lonely bully. 

    Canceling people can make us lonely too. If we shut out everybody who bothers us, we’ll lose a lot of friends. If we ignore everyone we disagree with, we’ll only be friends with people just like us. When that happens, we don’t get the chance to learn from others. 

    Instead of canceling Jason, let’s try talking to him. We’ll explain how he’s made us feel. I think it’s worth it to give him a second chance, because everybody makes mistakes. Those mistakes shouldn’t cause a person to lose everything.

Shannon says: Let’s talk it out.

    I think we are too quick to cancel people at this school. How does it help to cut people out of the group when they mess up? It just makes them feel alone, angry, and sad. That can lead to even worse behavior. With no friends to keep him in check, Jason won’t try to be nicer. He might just become a lonely bully. 

    And canceling people can make us lonely too. If we shut out everyone who bothers us, we’ll lose a lot of friends. If we shut out everyone we disagree with, we’ll only be friends with people just like us. When that happens, we lose the chance to learn from others. 

    Instead of canceling Jason, let’s talk to him. We can explain how he’s made us feel. I think he should get a second chance. We all make mistakes. Those mistakes shouldn’t cause us to lose everything.

Shannon says: Let’s talk it out.

    Honestly, I think we’re too quick to cancel people at this school. It doesn’t help to cut people out of the group when they mess up—it only makes them feel isolated, angry, and sad. That can lead to even worse behavior. If Jason doesn’t have friends to keep him in check, he’ll have no motivation to be nicer. He’ll probably just become a lonely bully.

    And canceling people can make us lonely too. If we shut out everybody who bothers us, we’ll lose a lot of friends. If we ignore everyone we disagree with, we’ll only be friends with people just like us—and we’ll miss out on the chance to learn from others.

    Instead of canceling Jason, let’s talk to him and explain how he’s made us feel. I think we should give him a second chance—everybody makes mistakes, and those mistakes shouldn’t cause a person to lose everything.