While social media allows anyone to talk about serious topics, it also allows them to make grim mistakes. 

It’s time to stop censoring yourself using euphemisms, rhymes or making new words. Doing so only takes away from the seriousness of the word you’re censoring. 

The trend began on TikTok, where use of certain words can lead to a video being taken down outright. To avoid this some will say “unalived” instead of killed. “Sewer-slide” is used as a euphemism for suicide. “Grape” is a common way to say rape. “PDF File” is a replacement for pedophiles. Saying “pew pew” instead of gun is commonplace.

Think for a second. Let’s imagine you are looking up different ways to eat grapes when all of the sudden you are accosted with horror stories and tragedies about violent sexual assault.

You’re unsure of how to convert a JPG image to a PDF file and you are faced with mugshots of known child abusers.

A jarring experience, sure, but maybe it’s not harmful by itself. 

What is harmful is when the platform’s search filters allow for people to look up content containing topics such as self-harm or eating disorders without receiving proper intervention. Not to mention, it also makes people view their problems as too taboo to speak about.

There are tried and true ways of censorship that keep the original message of the phrase. Asterisks (****), grawlixes (!%@#), redaction or bleeping spoken words have been used by TV and radio for decades, and it’s not the time to change.

But why censor yourself in the first place?

Many platforms, like YouTube, have a list of words you aren’t allowed to say at the risk of demonetization. However, on TikTok, where content like this thrives, there aren’t any concrete rules. This means users are unsure what language will get them penalized, so they avoid any and all mature language. 

When discussing mature topics, most users just report lower view counts or ineligibility for the Creator Fund, TikTok’s monetization feature. The Creator Fund pays approximately $0.03 per 1,000 views. 

If a video manages to reach 100,000 views, that creator earns $3. Is $3 worth demeaning serious topics with describing graphic scenes by infantilizing rhymes or simile? 

If it’s not about the money, and instead is about raising awareness, why are you not delivering the information in a clear and concise way so that it is accessible to as many people as possible?

Many videos have gone viral despite the language they used. It’s really a matter of chance.

It’s ironic that these platforms have most likely learned these new words and are now suppressing them, creating a cycle of having to be up-to-date with new lingo to understand any sort of news. After all, how is the average person supposed to know that “PDF file” means child predator?

Besides, it doesn’t matter how quiet and respectful your tone is when you say that someone was “graped and unalived by a pewpew.” What it really means is that someone was raped and murdered with a gun. It sounds serious because it is, and using lighthearted language diminishes the seriousness of that story. 

Language like this makes sensitive topics much less scary, more humorous and marketable. Because apparently, that’s what’s important. Hearing a bleep tone is much more preferable and respectful than saying made-up words that the viewer needs to decode. If you cannot bear to say the word “murder,” and prefer to say “schmurder,” perhaps you shouldn’t be speaking about it.

Replacing words just assigns the definition to a different one. Now, “grape” is no longer a fruit. It’s something sinister because of superficial excuses.

Don’t skirt around using certain words just because everyone online is doing it, because they’re doing it in all the wrong ways for all the wrong reasons. Shocker: There’s no way you can make suicide, rape and murder child-friendly, and trying to only hurts the victims.