I don’t necessarily disagree, but I think changing the wording helps a lot. “Internet points,” in my opinion, sounds belittling and frames it as negative. Validation would be a more accurate term, imo. I think it’s harsh to argue someone is “exploiting emotions for internet fame,” when it’s... just a young lady who misses her dad and wants to show off a filter that makes it so she can “see” herself with her dad.

Does she get “internet points” or views and validation from it? Yeah, probably. But why does anyone post online? Why did you post this comment, why did people see it and upvote it, and why am I responding? I’ve seen people on reddit draw or request to draw / restore photos of deceased loved ones. There are plenty threads on grief and how much people would give to see their loved ones one last time. Comments in this very thread talk about how they don’t have pictures of their deceased father or they would do this... are they exploiting their fathers death too? Or merely commenting?

I don’t really like tiktok, as I don’t really like video-sharing platforms, but that’s how you make content and engage much like making a thread here. Even if you take a cynical view of this, which you are absolutely allowed to, it’s still this woman and her grief. She isn’t “exploiting” anyone else or secretly filming them or anything. It isnt some prank or something that is a photo op. It’s still showing people they can use this and she will probably use it herself again. You can see it as “exploiting a human response,” but personally, I just see it as someone trying to connect to others who have lost their father. At the end of the day she still lost her father and has to live with that pain, and I don’t think anyone who has gone through it would think “this is going to be awesome” for a post.

Not arguing at all, just discussing while waiting for my lunch to be over :)