When is it okay to curse? Is there a time and place to say these things? Should we even be saying them at all? All questions we would ask… if this were a different time. Nowadays curse words are constantly being used.

Back in the day, curse words were made out to be such a big deal. It was always bleeped out of movies, shows, music, and kept away from younger viewers. Kids were always being taught not to say these things or use profanity, but somewhere along the way that stopped being important.

Social media, films, and music has influenced today’s adolescents to think it’s okay to use these words all the time. They are so common they don’t have much meaning anymore. Once kids were introduced to social media, they started learning to use these foul words more often than they should.

Social media is one of the biggest influences today. Everything spreads like wildfire, including all the swearing and profanity. Most social media influencers cater their content towards kids and teenagers, but don’t pay any mind to how that might affect them.

Music is another huge influence in today’s youth. Everyone has their own taste in music, but a lot of inappropriate music is pushed towards the public whether it’s through the radio, a movie, or a commercial.

This sort of entertainment is always pushed towards kids and teenagers. They want to pick up what’s new and “cool” to either fit in or get with the times. Others follow the examples of their role models or want to show maturity as they get older. Even if they don’t agree with saying it, it starts to become a habit.

The same could be said for the N-word. It is said so much in music and movies that people think it’s ok to say and forget about how this racial slur came to be and the history behind it. They think that they can change the meaning of the word and forget it’s background, but that’s definitely not the case.

Unlike the N-word, cursing isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but there is a right time and place to use it. If used in the wrong place and wrong time it may offend someone or affect the environment or atmosphere around you. Most would argue that cursing is just a form of expression, but you don’t have to use it every two words you speak- they lose their meaning if you use them so often.

According to a survey on Gallup, 46% percent of teens say they curse or use profanity on a daily basis.  This just goes to show how much swearing is used why it’s losing its shock value.

“I don’t cuss personally. In a fit of anger or frustration I might utter something, but I try not to. I find that in high school we hear kids dropping F-bombs like it’s a part of everyday language and it’s not.” says Pitman High School teacher David Walls.

That was a teacher’s perspective on cursing, but what about the students? They’re both from different times and things just aren’t the same as they were back in the day.

“Cursing is fine. It doesn’t bother me as long as it’s done in the right place and the right time. If I hear something like that or they’re around kids I’ll probably say something. I don’t want to hear children saying that,” says Pitman High School student Mayra Soria.

Cursing is definitely something we should be careful with. Just because cursing and profanity is common nowadays doesn’t mean that it won’t affect you. You could suffer the consequences if you aren’t careful enough with the language.