OK I’ll gladly admit it – I’m totally out of touch with pop culture. Which is why I’ve never heard of Zayn Malik and his band One Direction (They’re an English-Irish group – so it could be they’re not as popular on this side of the Atlantic?).
 

 
Millions of girls are apparently obsessed over the fab five. So much so that when one of them, Zayn Malik, recently announced that he was leaving the group, many fans were utterly devastated ~

Their heartbreak is evident in the hashtags flooding social media: #AlwaysInOurHeartsZaynMalik, #ZaynMalik, #ZaynPain, #ZaynWillAlwaysBeAPartOf1D and #OneDirectionNeedZayn.

 
Having actually been a young teenage girl – once upon a long time ago – I can sympathize with the infatuation thing. But this unfortunate generation has to contend with social media, which takes infatuation to a whole new level of unhealthy obsession.
 
Back in the day, should you happen to be “utterly devasted” over the break-up of your favorite pop band, you could retreat to the comfort of your your room – maybe commiserate with a friend or two. Nowadays the internet allows to instantly connect with tens of thousands who “feel your pain.”
 
And sadly, they have a whole new – sick – way to share that pain. As the UK Telegraph relates ~

… there’s one other hashtag trending on Twitter that is truly shocking: #Cut4Zayn.
 
The idea behind this hashtag seems to be that if enough One Directioners self-harm, they’ll persuade Malik to backtrack on his decision to leave the band to be “a normal 22-year-old.”
 
It has already been used 90,000 times on Twitter and though many of those comments don’t appear to be from people acting on the trend, it’s still worrying that some young people are being encouraged to self-harm.

 
 
Most teenage girls are all about drama – but this is way beyond the usual emotional angst ~

But what anyone using the hashtag needs to know is that it might not be exactly what it seems – #Cut4Zayn may have a darker motive that One Direction fans are oblivious to.

 
“There’s a high likelihood it’s a hoax,” says Rachel Welch, founder of charity selfharmUK. “We’ve seen something similar in the past with #CuttingForBieber.”
 
But whether it is a hoax or not, Welch says: “It’s manipulative.” One Twitter user posted an image of what appears to be self-harm, and was told by users that they hadn’t gone far enough.

 
What a sad reflection of the nihilistic times we’re living in. So many lost souls lacking close personal friendships and/or family ties that they seek out connections with total strangers, and bond in new, totally destructive ways.