People lie. It’s no secret. But when you realize the extent to which they do this online, you might just lose a large chunk of your faith in humanity.
That’s where the ‘Yeah That Definitely Happened’ Instagram page comes in. The page names and shames the folks who make stuff up on the internet, all for the sake of getting attention. And the lies they come up with are so ridiculous, they’re as funny as they are sad.
Scroll down for the best of the worst, and some blatant internet lies that would even make Pinocchio blush with shame.
Bored Panda got in touch with the current owner of the Instagram page, Jordanna, who took over from the previous owner, Erin. "She came up with the idea for the account because she was really sick of seeing all the fake stories around, and thought making an account to call them out would be a good idea. It took off and this is where we are now. I became an admin, and after Erin left, I became the owner. Lexi and Ethan are our two other admins!" Jordanna shared with us.
Bored Panda also reached out to entertainment, pop culture, and lifestyle expert Mike Sington to get his opinion on why some people make stuff up on social media. He agreed that it's done for attention. "Getting clicks and amassing followers on social media is how success is defined. For many, it becomes addictive, and the more attention your social media gets, it actually creates an adrenaline rush." He added: "The monster feeds itself."
This post may include affiliate links.
The best part is that she negates her daughter’s intelligence to prove her point about being anti-vax. “Nope; she’s just not vaccinated”. Ok, so not vaccinated OR advanced for her age. Good work, Mum!
The founder of the 'Yeah That Definitely Happened' page told Bored Panda that it is difficult to decide what to post and what to ignore. "People's ideas of what is believable and what isn't are all very different. I like to stay on the safe side and post the stories that I'm sure aren't possible at all and are also just entertaining and funny," Jordanna told Bored Panda. She explained what her process is when deciding whether or not to feature a post on the account.
"You'll notice a lot of our posts involve clapping, or people getting congratulated on something that's really cringey or mundane. Usually, we look for those things, or we look for things that seem really improbable. Sometimes, I won't post a story cause I'll think, 'Nah, that definitely could have happened.' But usually, I will post stories that seem to get called out as fake consistently," she said.
Jordanna definitely believes that people make up fake posts online for attention and validation. "A lot of stories, I feel, are exaggerated, and are based on things that almost happened," she said that many people embellish the truth based on what they hope would have happened.
They got polio from the vaccine. That’s so far off how vaccines work - I can’t handle this level of idiocy.
"Like perhaps OP got insulted and then came up with a great comeback later, and decided to write the story up and post it. I feel like the attention they get from it validates them and makes them feel important, and just writing the scenario out often gives them more power in that situation, too. They have control over the narrative now and can change it to suit them," she shared her thoughts with Bored Panda.
According to Jordanna, everyone has an angle and an agenda. "A lot of stories are also written with the intention of making certain groups of people look bad. Sexist men, for example, may write a story that makes a feminist look incredibly bad (fake encounters with a rad fem.) Or a radical feminist might exaggerate their encounters with men to push the idea that 'all men are bad.' Transphobes and racists often do the same. A lot of extremists post stories, especially on sites such as Reddit, I've found, in order to push their extreme personal views and back them up with an encounter that never happened."
Both comments are very rude. Second one was also hurtful on purpose, if it's true
Hollywood's Ultimate Insider, Mike, told Bored Panda that one way to realize that someone's unable to balance the role of social media in their lives is that they begin to lie or bend the truth online.
"A good sign of people going overboard in seeking attention and recognition on social media is when they start exaggerating or making things up. If you find yourself doing that, stop and check yourself, and maybe realign your priorities in life," he suggested.
Mike also shared with Bored Panda some ways to tell if a certain tweet or post might be made up. It's a good thing to trust your gut, as well as your mind. "If a post seems particularly outrageous, or too good to be true, it may be made up. Even if someone else is posting the same thing, that doesn’t make it true, because it could simply be a re-post from the original poster," the expert said.
"Your instincts can usually tell you when something is made up, and old-fashioned online sleuthing can usually confirm it," Mike told us.
The ‘Yeah That Definitely Happened’ Instagram page has just over 78k followers and invites them to send in their own submissions. So if you happen to stumble across something that fits the mood of the project, consider sending the screenshot over to the creator of the page.
However, one thing that they ask of their fans is that they check the posts to see if the particular screenshot has been posted before. If it has, it’s best to find something else to share. After all, fresh content is king, while reposting the same things over and over frequently would get stale quickly.
There’s no shortage of misinformation, fake news, and simply downright lies on the internet. While some people clearly make stuff up to get attention, others do it with different goals in mind, whether they’re political, social, or other.
Joseph M. Pierre, a professor of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, previously spoke to Bored Panda about conspiracy theories and the type of people who believe in misinformation.
Professor Pierre told us that conspiracy theorists tend to focus on certain historical events when choosing to twist the truth for whatever goals they have in mind.
He also noted that the only spike of conspiracy theories in recent modern history was during the communist ‘red scare’ in the 1950s.
“It is true that certain historical events do tend to attract conspiracy theories and there is evidence that times of societal upheaval or crisis when people are feeling unsafe and desperate for clarity offer a kind of fertile soil for conspiracy theory beliefs,” he told Bored Panda.
Ah...remember the days when you'd let strangers inject your child in the park?
Then eat something that you're allergic to, offered by a stranger.
Load More Replies...
I don't know about y'all, but I'm at a full standing ovation right now, and so is my dog who showed me this post.
Did they really think, at any point, that anyone would believe this shite?
This has to be satire right? I've read this plenty and the way its written just makes it seem like a parody. The only people who can't mind their business and who will confront others for eating nuts or whatever seems like the antivaxxers.
Yeah, something about the writing style (clear grammar and proper spelling, lots of adverbs, the way actions and dialogue are so neatly remembered) really reads like someone sat for a long time and edited this for a specific affect.
Load More Replies...
Let me fix this story they was at the park shooting heroin when a person walked up to them and said you can't do that here then there eyes rolled in there head they vomit and passed out woke up in the hospital and that's the best lie they thought of when the cops came
Injecting strangers and their children in a park, also you would kill people injecting essential oil into them.
Injecting random people? You gonna get arrested and your ass thrown in jail.
Ok. Injecting someone with essential oils wouldn't help you more than the handy-dandy bleach vaccine by Donald Trump. Essential oils are like... flower tears, OK
Last time I noted correctly, I don't think just randomly injecting a kid with a needle, when your not even a doctor, is right.
A new level of mental illness. Let's make up fake stories that involve injecting strangers and think that's totally fine.
Yeah I understand this is a " then everyone clapped "scenario but I'm 'm telling you that I'm usually a non violent person but if someone came at one of my kids with a mystery injection I would be in jail!
...and then he/she woke up from the weird dream.... none of it happened
I'm undecided whether to end it with a "...and then I realized it was all just a dream" or a "and that's why you don't ever talk to strangers. They might pop a syringe out of nowhere and stab you with it. Just stay the F away".
And exactly how do you manage to inject an oil into a person? Seems rather thick for most needles. And did you inject it IM, subQ or IV? And how did you not get the sh*t slapped out of you when you just popped a needle into someone?
Serious question. I've read this before incidentally. Is it a spoof? Nobody in their right mind could surely believe this.
This is probably the most r******d thing anyone has ever written
It's 2022, Jacob, we don't use the "R" word anymore.
Load More Replies...
How sterile would that needle be? Also, I bet this person is an antivaxxer.
So fake, first of all, if somebody comes up to me and tell me that I shouldn't eat almond because they have an allergy to them, I would say, right and what is it has to do with me, it is not like I am offering one. Then I won't even some stranger to injecting me with a needle, who know what is inside.
Aw yes, eating stuff ur alergic to. im not allergic to anything i know of, but seriously.
There are many problems with this. Not thinking of others allergies (like you should). Injecting a child with essential oil’s is not ok. They probably trusted you because they thought you were a doctor(they asked after). They did this multiple times ‘it happens more often than you think’. And then you think she’s fine after she eats an almond. Allergic reactions do not happen in an instant!
Why the f was she upset about the almonds in the first place. Who can ever believe this?
Who are these people that think this is believable? Do they really think it will change peoples minds? They need help!
These stories are getting out of hand. People are just manufacturing them for some personal gain, just as those "Fail videos" of which most of are staged these days.
Oooh, the lovely feeling of wanting to punch these f*cks in the face.
If someone stabbed me with a syringe full of essential oils and told me to eat an almond, which I was allergic to, I would call the cops.
I really hope this was satire because injecting essential oils is a very bad idea. You have to be very careful with essential oils and only use them topically or very very minimally if ingested. Undiluted or not very diluted essential oils can be very dangerous even if just used topically. If this person is actually trying to sell a product I wouldn't trust her at all, she is dangerous.
"It happens more often than you think" That is a VERY frightening phrase in this context!
WITHOUT saying ANYTHING?! no consent!? I would literally SCREAM!!!! I would call the police! Not tryna sound like a Karen but I would do that
Do they know how dangerous it can be to inject certain essential oils?
“Over the past 60 years, the assassination of JFK, the death of Princess Diana, and 9/11 are the most obvious examples of national traumas surrounded by conspiracy theory beliefs,” the expert went into detail.
“We should acknowledge that many conspiracy theories, like the idea that the Earth is flat, aren’t really based on any kind of obvious traumatic event,” he added that not all misinformation, fake news, and made-up ‘facts’ are associated with traumatic events.
The professor told Bored Panda that the people who tend to believe in conspiracy theories are usually those who see the world in a very black-or-white way: they see history as a struggle between good and evil, and don’t tend to notice nuances or subtleties.
Why are these guys always annoying the crap out of baristas? Just shut up and take your damn sugar filled weird flavoured coffee and leave
“People who believe in conspiracy theories are also often attracted to the Manichean narratives that conspiracy theories offer, involving battles of good and evil pitting against each other in an almost apocalyptic fashion. So, it should come as no surprise that conspiracy theories might sprout up from World War II—a real-life apocalyptic battle between good and evil,” the expert noted.
Note: this post originally had 100 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Cannot, will not and shall not read this. The first 10 were enough?????
Load More Replies...
I shook my head so much while reading these, that I gave myself whiplash. And then my chiropractor clapped.
Got less than a quarter of the way through. Reads like young kids competing to out lie each other.
Yeah, in the ultrasound my daughter signed to me, in American sign language, that I should buy Bitcoin. But it has been 27 months and she has not come out of the womb....what is she hiding from?
Normally I like to continue going past the posted list and get everything. I could barely get through the 30 posts. I'm tired now.
Do these people spend all their time thinking up porkies to tell? If they did, they are crap at it.
So sick of these sick people, let me add to these. "It's 2030 and all the doctors in the country are now seeing people come in with huge foreheads. They insert a needle and draw out the fluid. Out come thousands of microchips. They ask everyone, did you have the covid shot? No was the answer from each patient. Then the government said "if you voted for donny, when you submitted your ballot, a laser immediately beamed in a duplicating microchip directly to your forehead...zap...you are dead." That was your "Trump conspiracy fairy tale" of the day. Just wait til 2030!!
Reminded me of some of the stories I used to hear from kindergarteners and first graders. But they had the excuse of being very, very young.
These people literally just type the fiction they imagine in their minds as if it's the truth a wear it like a badge of honour. I'm sure most of them were aspiring writers but we're rejected one time too many and something snapped.
it isnt "anti-anti-vax" to post lies that anti-vaxxers tell in a post about lies, especially considering everything anti-vaxxers believe is a lie. is protecting anti-vaxxers, who willingly endanger their children & the general public, from mockery really the hill you want to die on?
Load More Replies...
Cannot, will not and shall not read this. The first 10 were enough?????
Load More Replies... I shook my head so much while reading these, that I gave myself whiplash. And then my chiropractor clapped.
Got less than a quarter of the way through. Reads like young kids competing to out lie each other.
Yeah, in the ultrasound my daughter signed to me, in American sign language, that I should buy Bitcoin. But it has been 27 months and she has not come out of the womb....what is she hiding from?
Normally I like to continue going past the posted list and get everything. I could barely get through the 30 posts. I'm tired now.
Do these people spend all their time thinking up porkies to tell? If they did, they are crap at it.
So sick of these sick people, let me add to these. "It's 2030 and all the doctors in the country are now seeing people come in with huge foreheads. They insert a needle and draw out the fluid. Out come thousands of microchips. They ask everyone, did you have the covid shot? No was the answer from each patient. Then the government said "if you voted for donny, when you submitted your ballot, a laser immediately beamed in a duplicating microchip directly to your forehead...zap...you are dead." That was your "Trump conspiracy fairy tale" of the day. Just wait til 2030!!
Reminded me of some of the stories I used to hear from kindergarteners and first graders. But they had the excuse of being very, very young.
These people literally just type the fiction they imagine in their minds as if it's the truth a wear it like a badge of honour. I'm sure most of them were aspiring writers but we're rejected one time too many and something snapped.
it isnt "anti-anti-vax" to post lies that anti-vaxxers tell in a post about lies, especially considering everything anti-vaxxers believe is a lie. is protecting anti-vaxxers, who willingly endanger their children & the general public, from mockery really the hill you want to die on?
Load More Replies... 