Recently, Facebook has decided to intervene in painful break ups by introducing its new feature called “WATCH THEM BURN.” With this satirical, not real feature published by the Huffington Post, Facebook promised to create fake news stories, statuses and pictures of an ex's “downgrade."
The posts focus on making an ex look especially bad, and the user look good. It’s the ultimate way of showing who is the loser in the break up. In the spirit of good humor, staff writer Maggie Mouat asked UNC students what they thought about the "new feature."
Bailey Ondrof
History
First-year“That’s ridiculous. If you really don’t want to see what your ex is doing, then block them. I think it is a bad idea, especially if you are making it look like it came from The New York Times. It seems like a liability, and they would be upset. I don’t see what positive effects it could possibly have.”
Morgan Huffman
Exercise and Sport Science
Junior
"I don’t really have a problem with any of my exs, so I guess that’s why I wouldn’t use it, but I think it could definitely cause problems for other people who do have problems with their exs. I think there are a lot of people who would use it — my friends would probably use it, but myself, I wouldn’t.”
Stefano Belloni
Sociology
Junior
"I think that is so funny. I think that’s such a creative response. I would have never thought to do something like that if I was from Facebook. I don’t think it would positive or negative. I think it would just have a confused response because I don’t think that is an expected feature for Facebook to push out. So I think people will just be very confused by it. I would have a positive response to it. I just think it’s really funny.”
Emily Owens
Undecided
First-Year
“I mean, I don’t actually think that’s a very good thing to do. It might make you feel better, like temporarily, but what is that going to do for you in the long run? And then, if you know it’s not true, what is the point?”
Sarah Hilburn
Biology
First -year
“I don’t think they really need to do anything. I mean, there is already the block feature, so if you want to block someone, you can. If you want to un-friend, them you can — but it’s kind of funny but also bad for the person because what if you send that around and then it gets to the wrong person? So I think they should just keep their hands out of it and leave it be. I mean, for the person who is seeing it, it’s funny and making them feel better, I guess, but other than that, it’s kind of destructive, and it’s not really good for anyone because you’re still seeing them over and over again. And even if it’s “watching them burn,” it’s still keeping your mind on them, so it’s not really helping you move on at all.”
@maggsmouat
arts@dailytarheel.com
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