Why Men Hate Being Called a “Boy”

The following post is from Concepts: 101 Short Stories, Essays, and Insights to Improve your Communication Skills

Facebook is an insightful platform to learn about psychology.

It’s a chance to see someone’s weird side.

I had this one family friend whose house I used to go to for functions.

This guy was older than me by a few years and very charismatic.

As he got older, one thing I noticed about him was his bizarre Facebook behavior.

Whenever he would get pulled over by a cop, he would take a picture of the incident and post it online.

He’d angle his camera into selfie mode to take a picture of his face and the flashing police lights behind him.

Then he’d caption the picture:

‘Getting pulled over.’

A couple of weeks goes by, and he posts a similar picture.

At first, I thought he posted the same picture as before.

But no.

After looking closer, he was wearing a different shirt.

Caption:

‘Getting pulled over again.’

I was wondering why he was posting photos like that on Facebook?

Wait, it gets more bizarre…

Eventually, this guy gets a motorcycle.

His posts soon became even more questionable.

I would like to reiterate how cool this guy is in person.

He used to make family functions flow by.

I’ve chilled with him outside of family functions.

A hospitable social guy who is hilarious.

But on Facebook, he’s different.

One day, I’m going through my Facebook feed and I see a gruesome photo of this guy.

He’s wearing a ripped black shirt, dirty jeans, with nasty scrapes on his arms.

Dried blood all over his skin.

I almost vomited.

The caption reads:

‘Got in a motorcycle accident.’

An outpouring of condolences filled up his comment section:

• Oh no, poor baby.
• Feel better soon.
• Thank God you’re safe!

Roughly a year passes by.

I’m scrolling through my Facebook feed.

Once again, I see a gruesome photo of this guy.

It’s an almost identical photo of the motorcycle accident from a year prior.

I’m wondering if he accidentally posted the same pic.

When I read the caption, I realized it was a new pic.

Caption:

‘Got in a motorcycle accident again.’

He got an outpouring of love in the comments.

A couple of months pass by.

Once again, this guy posts a picture of himself on Facebook looking beat up.

Another motorcycle accident.

I’m sure you know what the caption read.

This time, the comments were not as sympathetic.

Sure, some people gave their condolences.

But others made jokes:

‘It’s that time of the month again for this guy lol.’

Other comments were friendly advice:

‘Maybe you should get rid of the motorcycle?’

The photo was stacking up a lot of comments.

But one comment stuck out.

It was from a guy named Fahim.

Fahim and the guy who kept getting into accidents were good friends.

But from Fahim’s Facebook comment, it’d be difficult to tell they were good friends.

Fahim wrote:

‘You’re a fucking idiot. You really need to grow up.’

The guy who kept getting into accidents often answers direct questions.

But for the most part, he only likes the comments he receives.

I’m sure Fahim’s comment got under his skin because it prompted motorcycle man to respond back:

‘I am grown. I just made a mistake.’

But Fahim wasn’t letting him off the hook.

He responded back with a paragraph full of vitriol:

‘What you’re doing is not a mistake. It’s a choice. How many accidents are you going to get into before you fucking learn? You’re worrying your parents, your sister, and your friends. You should think for once…. *the post continued*’

With Facebook, whenever the person who created the post comments on their own post, it shows up again on the feed.

Since motorcycle man was responding back to Fahim, his photo kept coming back on everyone’s feeds.

All his Facebook friends were seeing the scuffle with Fahim play out in real time.

Motorcycle man responds back to Fahim’s barbs.

Fahim responds backs.

These posts are paragraphs long!

At this point, people are choosing sides by liking individual comments.

• Many are liking Motorcycle man’s comments.
• Many are liking Fahim’s comments.

The scuffle went on for a few more posts until Fahim went for a haymaker.

The haymaker was only 1 line:

‘You’re not a man yet. You’re simply a boy.’

After that, Fahim didn’t respond again.

Motorcycle man responded back though, but it was to no avail.

The haymaker line collected a surreal amount of likes.

The people had spoken.

Motorcycle man was no longer seen as a character who deserved sympathy.

He was a now seen as a boy who needed to grow up.

That moment changed him.

It stung him to be called a boy like that.

It stung him to have so many people like Fahim’s comment.

It stung him to go from getting sympathy to getting pity.

After that moment, I never saw him post an accident picture again.

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