What does “gaf” mean?
The term “gaf” is an increasingly popular slang term/abbreviation used in both online and offline conversation. Personally, I use it almost exclusively as an interjection in my everyday, real-life conversations.
The three-letter abbreviated term stands for “give a fuck,” meaning essentially “I don’t care.” For instance, one might say “gaf” in the stead of “I don’t care” or as a shortened version of “idgaf” (“I don’t give a fuck”).
Why is it ruining society?
All of this seems pretty harmless. It’s just a saying used by teens and Gen Z like lol or idk or smh. This might be what you’re thinking, but to me, it goes much deeper than that. I don’t believe the term “gaf” is necessarily the issue, but I do think it represents a bigger issue.
When I say “gaf culture,” what I am referring to is the recent culture of people just not caring about anything. Sometimes it genuinely feels like if someone has the slightest disinterest in something, they completely write it off.
I’ll use classes as an example. As college students, I feel like it is our job to care about what we are learning. Whether that is because of the simple fact that we are paying a large sum of money for this knowledge, or that we are the future of society and need to learn about and understand these subjects to better that society, etc. However, there is a large group of people that I have met at college that genuinely could not gaf about being here. They are just here for the degree so they can get a job and be done with it. During every class they online shop, play games, watch You Tube, anything but actually learn the thing they are paying to learn.
The same thing goes in my student organizations. Every student organization preaches community and building a family and making connections, especially in the college of business (where networking is king). When asked, “Why do you want to join this organization?” many say, “because I want to make friends” or “I want to get to know more people.” When it comes down to it, especially in business orgs, people don’t really care about any of that stuff, they’re just saying what you want to hear. They most likely already have friends or a social circle of some sort, what they really want is the resume booster.
This is the point I am trying to make: People don’t actually care about others or what is best for the organization or anything like that; what they are really interested in is what they can get out of it to benefit them.
I understand that people are innately selfish. Everyone wants what is best for themselves and their families; everyone wants things to be convenient, and they want to take the shortest route to everything. In today’s age, people can get pretty much anything they want at the drop of a hat. Technology and new innovations make it easier than ever to have anything you want to know or have hand-delivered to you on a silver platter.
Because of this instant gratification, people have become more prone to getting what they want, they don’t gaf where it comes from or how.
Even when it comes to social issues, there is a clear line between people who really care and people who would never interrupt their comfortable, convenient lives to make a change. For example, think about the recent Starbucks boycott due to their allegiance with Israel in the Israel-Palestine conflict. We discussed this phenomenon in one of my classes, where Starbucks saw a definite decrease in sales due to the boycott. When the professor even mentioned this event, many people in my class immediately broke into whispers. “I never stopped going to Starbucks…. Why would I?” “I still go to Starbucks every morning, I need my latte and croissant.” “Who’s even doing that….? No one I know.”
You can’t go one day without Starbucks? Really? Even when there are at least 5 LOCAL coffee shops within walking distance that have better tasting, more ethical drinks and even rewards programs and deals (some much better than anything Starbucks’ rewards system has to offer).
I’m not saying everyone has to agree with the politics behind the boycott (but if you don’t, you can honestly leave now). Acting like going without Starbucks for a few months would be the end of the world for you, WHEN INNOCENT PEOPLE AND CHILDREN ARE BEING MURDERED. Insane work. But that is what I am saying about gaf culture. People would rather not gaf about a real cause and go about living their lives as normal because it is easier for them. Even though there are so many other options, they aren’t going to change their lives just to benefit the life of a person they’ll never meet because they live halfway around the world. I think that is embarrassing, frankly, especially because we live in the age of information being so accessible.
I understand that it can be exhausting to care about things. BELIEVE ME, I know. Sometimes it genuinely feels like I am the only person that cares about anything, and it is terribly exhausting. As much as I would like to flip that gaf switch (and believe me I have tried), not caring feels even worse.
How can you not care about anything? About other people? How? It boggles my mind.
I have so many more examples, but for the sake of article shortness, I’ll just say this:
When I see people not caring about anything; the environment, social issues, war, class work, group projects, politics, etc. I honestly feel like society is becoming hopeless. It makes me afraid that things are going to keep getting worse and change will never come back because no one cares enough. It’s too hard. We’re so used to having everything handed to us that we don’t want to work for anything. I think in the end, it all comes down to empathy in a way, and it seems like there are fewer and fewer people who possess it. It’s sad, honestly. People need to wake tf up and start gaffing fast or things are going to get so much worse.
For the official UD definition of “gaf”:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gaf
To read my other articles: