Hot or Not is the opposite of hot

Bored? Feel like judging people based only on a few selfies? There’s an app for that.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you read that correctly.

The recently popular app “Hot or Not” is the latest tool in ruining self-esteem and inflating egos.

It asks you to upload a few pictures of yourself.

Other people can view your pictures and say whether they think you are hot or not.

This app is basically just an excuse for people to sit around with their friends and talk about how big some girls’ love handles are, or how some guy really needs to go to the gym.

And it’s pretty pathetic.

Our generation is already one that puts way too much emphasis on looks.

The “Hot or Not” app only adds to that culture of self-centeredness, and I can’t see anything good coming out of it.

One of two things will happen to the people who decide to put their pictures up on this app.

Either they will be ranked “hot” and their egos will get even bigger than they already are, something no one around them wants.

Or they will be ranked “not” and they will feel even worse about themselves — a feeling that no one needs to deal with just because of some app.

People have enough excuses each day to judge eachother — and themselves.

Adding convenience to the experience only hones our tendency to criticize.

As for the people doing the rating, they aren’t going to end up much better off than the people whom they are judging.

By using this app, they perpetuate the idea that it’s acceptable to judge people based only on their looks.

When it comes to personality, that isn’t a great thing to believe.

The people rating the pictures will inevitably compare themselves to the people they are judging.

This could lead to the same self-esteem issues in themselves.

I’m not saying that everyone should walk around talking about how beautiful everyone else is.

Obviously, we all have different ideas of who is attractive and who isn’t.

I am saying that people shouldn’t be sitting behind their pearly white iPhones looking at someone’s pictures and deciding if that person is worthy to be called “hot.”

So please, people, do something better with your smart phones — like beat all 515 levels of Candy Crush.

— syrafter@indiana.eduw
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Sydney Raftery on
Twitter @sydraft.