Strange Fads of the Digital Age

The world’s people have always been infatuated with humor.  Humor is one of the things that keeps our heads up when things seem to be pulling us down.  Practical jokes and the like seem to always be there.  But one thing that does change about them, is the way they are played out.  Since we are in the digital age, then of course these things are not only going to be done through digital means, but they are more readily available to the public eye.

There are many different ways to publicize our pranks and quirky behaviors.  Such as Tweets, Likes, +1’s, Email, using photos, video, sms and tons of other readily available social sharing networks and digital formats.  So I’ve been doing some digging and checking out some of these odd trends and wanted to share a couple of the things I’ve come up with that stand out the most.

Planking Gone Wild

Planking is a craze that has consumed the world and is a very strange phenomenon.  It involves individuals laying face down either on the ground or on objects with their hands to their sides.  The object, is to appear like a plank of wood…lol  I know, strange right?  To many this may not be quite so strange.  These events are always documented by digital media, either by a photo or video etc.  They are then posted  to the social media networks and spread like wild fire.

There’s actually several individuals that claim the prize of inventing planking.  There’s Andy Welch from New Zealand that claims to of invented planking while on vacation in 2006.  He said he and his girlfriend became bored with the usual “vacation poses” for their photos, and came up with this to kill the monotony.

Dwight Howard, a famous Orlando Magic basketball star, posed with 100’s of fans on the ball court in Beijing, China.  They formed the initials D.H.

Also the Prime Minister of New Zealand’s son, Max Key, did a planking act on a sofa while his father posed standing behind him, this was in 2011.

I don’t think there’s really any actual documented proof of who actually started planking, but where ever it started, it kept going.  I don’t really understand the concept behind it, but sometimes there really doesn’t need to be an explanation.  In due time something else strange and bizarre will take it’s place on the social map.

5 Bizarre Facts about Facebook

1. There is a medical condition called Facebook Addiction Disorder.
2. A facebook employee’s hoodie once sold for $4,000 on eBay.
3. One in every 8.3 people on Earth is on Facebook.
4. Over 60% of people use facebook to keep up with ex-partners.
5. Al Pacino’s face was on the original Facebook homepage.

Horsemaning on Facebook

There is another fad similar to planking that is plaguing Facebook.  This one is called “Horsemaning”.  This is where two people get together and create strange photos that appear to be someone dismembered from their head.  They will pose in various scenes depicting someone in awkward positions with their head somewhere else in the photo.  For instance, one person will sit in a bench on the boardwalk with their head down so you can’t see it.  Then the other person will conceal all of their body but lay their chin on top of a table so all you can see is their head.  Then the person sitting on the bench will be reaching over, hanging on to the head by the hair.  So when the photo is complete, it appears their head got away from them and they are holding on to it.  As you can see from the photo, this can turn out to be quite creepy looking!

10 Strange Apps

Here’s a few very bizarre apps that are available if you’re looking for something odd to kill some time with.

1. One app allows you to throw a virtual pie at someone you have a photo of.
2. An app that allows you to make a butter sculpture of yourself.
3. Are you addicted to bubble wrap?  Then there’s an app you can use to pop virtual bubble wrap.
4. Receive text messages from an imaginary girlfriend.
5. One you can use to test the ripeness of a watermelon.
6. Turn your cell phone into a virtual whoopie cushion.
7. One that will whistle for you when trying to get your dogs attention.
8. You can play a trombone.
9. Turn your phone into a metal detector.
10. And even one where you can blow air out of your phone’s speaker in order to blow out the candles on your birthday cake.

10 Super Strange Web Sites

Of course this wouldn’t be complete without discussing some of the super bizarre websites out there.

1. There’s a site that let’s you watch a loaf of bread slowly going stale.
2. One that let’s you unroll toilet paper till your hearts content.
3. One site has nothing but cows dancing, ballet, disco etc.
4. There is even a site that allows you to dissect a virtual frog.
5. A site loaded with pictures of cats that resemble Hitler.
6. One interesting site let’s you watch paint peel.
7. There is even a site dedicated to a belief that tomatoes are evil and can’t be trusted.
8. You can open doors over and over and over again on one site out there.
9. A site for trying wigs on your cat to see how they look.
10. Here’s a doozie.  University of Virginia has a site where you can fill out a form to turn yourself into the cops.

So I’m not sure if all these bizarre antics, apps and websites have been formed out of boredom, or if society is really becoming that mentally distressed.  But I’ll tell you one thing for sure, these days nothing is to strange to be ignored.  There’s definitely something out there for everyone. Anyone with some more “family friendly” oddities they’ve discovered?  Please leave a comment and enlighten us….. 🙂