New #firstworldproblems trend on Twitter every day, casting the problems of todays now generation in what we would consider the first world.
But a quick perusal of these pains proves that 2014 tweeters apply a loose interpretation of the term "problem." Take for instance these tweets, taken directly from my own tweetfeed this week (username omitted):
•"I was so busy playing 2048 I missed my bus stop. And then I lost 2048 #firstworldproblems"
•"Why don't cats take good selfies? #firstworldproblems"
•"my chicken nugget wont fit in the ketchup container #firstworldproblems"
•"Food coma is the best coma. #firstworldproblems"
•"Not enough salt on my rim #firstworldproblems #Margaritas"
These "first worlders" exclusively have the capacity to empathize with the trials and tribulations of a life crippled by the overwhelming availability of options. Third world inhabitants, on the other hand, would react quite differently to the irony of #firstworldproblems, all of which are born out of solutions that the developing world has not yet seen.
Imagine, for a moment, that third world nations could voice their trials and tribulations on Twitter. #Thirdworldproblems could transform the way the first world tweets about life's curve balls.
•Approximately 18,000 children under the age of five die each day. One in twelve children born in least developed countries will die before a fifth birthday. #thirdworldproblems
•768 million people rely on questionable sources of drinking water. #thirdworldproblems
•1 billion people worldwide practice open defectation. #thirdworldproblems
•Over one in ten teenage girls in developing countries will have a child before turning 20. #thirdworldproblems
•29.8 million people are enslaved globally. Five of the ten nations with the highest number of modern day slaves are in sub-Saharan Africa. #thirdworldproblems
•The life expectancy at birth for a child born in South Africa is just shy of 50 years. #thirdworldproblems
•Hunger takes more lives each year than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. #thirdworldproblems
So the next time you feel the urge to vent to your million and one followers on how life has just gone to complete shambles, consider what others are experiencing first and maybe try sharing them with all your first world followers instead. Who knows, maybe they will even learn a thing or two about the state of developing nations.
Sources: CIA World Factbook, Global Slavery Index, Trading Economics, Twitter, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, WHO, WHO
Photo: YouTube, thechive.com, weknowmemes.com
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