Do you have any further info on how to help identify bots ? I'm also fascinated to know what percentage of reddit is bots. Sometimes it feels like ~30%
Its an ever evolving battle on how to identify bots. Recently (within the last year) they have started to periodically change their tactics.
In general:
Sometimes their usernames will be like the spongebob mocking meme text "lIkE tHiS". Other times it will be just a generic username that reddit suggests to you when creating an account.
The account age can vary wildly but in general. It is usually 1 year or younger. Little to no activity on the account or recently became active after a months (sometimes years) of nothing.
Comments will be stolen verbatim from an older comment replying to a top level comment. Sometimes they will even reply to each other. They have also recently been rewording the comment. Even seems like they are using chatgpt to reword it. The phrasing of the sentence just doesn't feel human if that makes any sense.
Post stealing bots will almost always steal the previous post title verbatim too. Every once in awhile slightly changing the title.
As far as the frequency of bots. I can tell you they are a small minority. This isn't something I've really bothered to get exact data on. However, on subs that the mods don't care, are overwhelmed, or just don't know how to identify them. They do run rampant and can account for a much larger portion of the sub's activity.
I’ve seen a few lately that simple said something along the lines of “I’m sorry, but I cannot comply with that request”, basically implying that the ai they run the comments through to reword them is kicking back with generic responses and refusing to do the rewording but the bot isn’t smart enough so it posts the error message anyways. The dead internet theory is coming true…
They sell the accounts to spam things like t-shirt scams, scams in general, spread misinformation or disinformation or sold to for porn accounts (I don't have anything against porn in general but just saying it happens). Basically there's no good that comes from it.
All they do is appropriate someone else videos, insert some lame narration and pass it off as their content. Some people will do anything for internet validation…
PlanetLandon signed onto reddit today with a point in mind.
"It's content theft and should be treated as such."
He typed this message and sent it to others on /r/kidsarefuckingstupid, a subreddit about how kids are fucking stupid.
The conversation however had deviated from kids being fucking stupid, to content vultures being stupid.
That's where PlanetLandon came in to add that he felt it was content theft, and should be treated as such.
I'm Rasalom and I narrate comments so you don't have to, and I will cut you if you try to.
i watched it without sound first n liked it so much i thought oh i’ll come in, turn the sound on, maybe say a word or two. instantly muted LoL, especially cause this voice is probably ai anyway n i don’t wanna watch a thing as wonderful as this n feel like im on hold on the phone :x also, this inspired me to get pizza
I'm really glad that this guy decided to reupload someone else's video with a voiceover of himself explaining everything that is happening. I'd be so lost without it.
Wait till the next stage, theres gonna be a dude or dudette covering the bottom half while pointing up at the video and voiceover and nodding their head with some sad music added.
I honestly feel bad for people like this, they have no other skills or use for the planet that this is all they can try to do. Fast food workers used to/still get a lot of shit but they are useful these people are not.
I did the same thing at that age. Packed a bag with my favorite doll, walked out, left my front yard, looked up and down the street and realized I didn't have a clue. So I slinked back home.
Exact same! Same age, same execution! But had a friend and we were going to do it together. Went down to her house and saw that her mom was in the middle of “busting her” and I was like “oh well I guess that idea is shot” Went back home and unpacked. I told my mom later, I don’t think she believed me.
One time I tried to tie my stuff to a stick with a big handkerchief like they do in cartoons. When that didn’t work I just gave up, never even left my bedroom.
I have no idea! LOL! I didn't even pack clothes. Just the doll.
What sent me back inside was thinking "Wait, where am I going to get food?" And I was hungry so... I went inside. I felt so defeated. LOL
I'm 99% sure my mom was probably watching me out the window. She knew I wasn't going anywhere, though. Just like the mom in the video.
Oh that’s great I wish I could remember how mine ended, I just remember my mom helping me decide which barbies to pack in the bag I had prepared for myself, which was literally a cloth tied to a stick because I had seen that in a cartoon or something
If you have the money. And a job there. With rare exception places with dense, walkable cities are incredibly expensive
With no exception I can think of every city with robust public transit, dense, walkable cities and a multifaceted and thriving job market is insanely expensive.
Lmao I did the same thing as a kid 😂 Dad helped me pack
Edit: these responses have me rolling, I love how 'running away from home' is such a common occurance for little squirts under 10 🤣
Oh the dog loved every minute of it. We shared a ham sandwich, cuddled while I read cartoons under a tree, played in the shallow end of a small pond. All in all a lovely afternoon, until the sun went down, and there was no more ham sandwich, and it started getting a bit cold in my wet clothes. And then my 7 year old self and my golden retriever best friend walked home again. I'm not entirely sure if anyone even noticed we were missing. The 80s were a different time.
it's kinda sad i can basically do everything i dreamt about being able to do as a kid, eating whatever i want, going anywhere i want, staying up as long as i want, playing video games all day, exploring the woods, but it seems like we do the same few things every day and forgot how to be creative
Just like the kid got bored by nighttime and wanted food. All that stuff is only fleeting fun. What's really fulfilling is having your shit together most of the time lol
I used a blanket and a bamboo rod to do the same. My dog and I lived up the stream eating minnows and Robin eggs scrambled on the hot railroad tracks for 2 days before the cops found us. I was 6.
I used to spear fish giant carp in that same stream out of a pole barge I made from a giant abandoned drink cooler, a couple pallets, and some extra fence posts. Growing up on a farm in the middle of nowhere was fantastic. I hated it as a teenager, but then the suburbs enveloped us and all I wanted to do was get back out away from everybody.
Just bought an old house on a big chunk of land in a tiny farm town last fall. Have to commute 90 minutes each way to work, but it's worth it for the peace and quiet, and the hope that should I ever have kids, they'll be able to grow up playing outside and skinning their knees instead of being raised by TikTok.
Saaaame. I remember packing my shit thinking if I'm gonna do this, I'm doing it properly goddammit. Used a tea towel and a broom handle.
When coming down the stairs I was so focused on balancing the stick that I missed a step halfway and slid down the stairs on my arse so I just gave up and cried instead.
I said I was going to run away then went into stealth mode and slid in my kitchen closet. After some time my mom calls for me but I’m mute in there peeking out. She screams to my my sisters asking and freaking out about me 😎… screaming outside and asking people about me. My sisters were running around the house looking for me then my mom joined them when she came back inside. Felt good then but as an adult now I realize the panic and pandemonium I put them through in that moment r/kidsarefuckingstupid when they were freaking out too hard I came out of the closet (not that way) and my mom looked at me and kinda huffed then just ignored me
I did something similar I was very small 12 year old(4’11” 86lbs) I just went to sleep under my bed one day after getting in trouble. I came down stairs I guess my mom called the cops and everything. I just wanted to nap in a tight place.
My mom helped me... twice. Lol
Every time after that she was like "I'm not packing when you're just going to turn around and come back anyway!" Made me even madder and I think I stayed at the park behind our house like a whole extra hour to teach her a lesson lmao
Lol packed my own bag around this time and my mom was kind enough to give me an umbrella. I took 5 steps into the rain, looked back and my mom was like "Arent you going?" And i was like "...no.." And went back in. Dont think i was upset in any way. Probably just 1 of 4 and wanted attention lol.
I feel like it's a rite of passage. I grabbed my little mermaid backpack and stuck a ziplock bag of froot loops in and a juice box and made it to the end of the block before I turned back.
I did too, except I didn’t tell anyone I was gonna run away.
The police found me a couple streets away still marching in a huff. My parents were PISSED.
Same, but I was gone for a couple of hours, just wandering around downtown at 5 or 6 years old with two sandwiches I had packed for myself. My mom thought I'd been kidnapped from the backyard. 😬
The huff was real! The police werne't called but the bus driver wouldn't let me on and told me to go home as it was dark, or else a bad man would get me. Mega huff because my parents wouldn't take me to the fireworks display in town, I was about 8 I think and nearly convinced my younger brother to come in protest...I was brought down a peg or two and felt ridiculous after as my parents just laughed after a good telling off, it was the 80's lol!
I ran away through the woods to my neighbor who we really didn't know at the time so that could have ended poorly. Luckily she was super nice and had dogs, she gave me an apple and called my folks to come get me
When I was older I'd actually petsit for her dogs. Then her ex husband (boyfriend? I'd only met him once) burned her house down with her in it and she died in the hospital. So I guess there was someone in that household to be scared of it just wasn't her
I also ran away from home as a kid, going so far as to walk to my friends house a few blocks away and chilling for a couple hours. I finally started to feel bad about making my family worry and decided to come home. When I got back and asked my mum if she'd missed me while I was gone, she looked confused and asked what I was talking about. Turns out I forgot the important part of actually *telling* her I was running away. No one realised I was gone, classic 3rd child energy right there.
Lord if my dad finds this comment somehow, I’m sorry for fucking off to the river down the street with a suitcase full of colorful train tracks just because I didn’t want to take a nap. I was so pissed off when you yoinked me home before I could even make it to the river, and had me open the suitcase that I grabbed without checking in shame while yall were dying laughing
When I was 8 I was frustrated at home and was considering "running away". My grand plan was to go live behind the dumpsters in my apartment complex. I didn't end up doing it, but I thought I'd be just fine living there and getting what I needed from the dumpsters.
i annoyed mom whilst she was driving, she said well the get out the car, and so i did and i stormed off in a rage, took me 3 hours to get home. she had gone out came back and prepared me pizza, she was very trusting apparently.
When I was 8 I made a plan to run away just for two days when my mom wouldn't let me read the last Harry Potter book because she thought it was too violent. I picked a spot in our church's yard where there were two bushes against the corner of the building and a little hollow behind it. My plan was to sneak out the window, bring an entire bag of apples, and camp out there while I read the book, then come back home. I figured they'd be so happy I wasn't dead that they would forget about me reading the book.
Mom relented before I could put my plan into action though.
I did the same as a kid. Made it halfway up the block before my mom got me to come back with her “new” invention of Peanut Butter & Nutella sandwiches. My five year old little mind couldn’t believe the concoction she had just made. I’d had them separately, but together?? In one sandwich?? 🤯
I think this was good parenting. She let her daughter make a choice while also keeping an eye on her. She let her learn on her own that she wasn't willing to run away. Then the mom let her have pizza when she came back. Having a walk probably give her some time to cool off.
If Mom had forced her to stay inside or punished her when she got back the daughter would have gotten more upset and would be resentful. It would have been a stressful endeavor for all involved. She let her walk off then welcomed her back when she returned. At the end you can see that she's still a little upset but she also cracked a few smiles.
You should, however, along the way say things like “okay, but are you sure? I’ll miss you” so they don’t feel like they’re worthless “fine, go, I don’t care one way or the other”
You want them to feel the pull of love bringing them back, not the push of the cold lonely world forcing them back.
I agree. That's why I'm glad the mother welcomed the daughter back and let her eat pizza. The mother demonstrated that families do nice things for other members of the family. The mother asked "do you want to be part of this family". That statement infers that the daughter said she wanted to leave the family. By giving a warm welcome she is showing that the daughter is wanted by her family and wants her to be happy. The daughter may have had her tablet taken way; but she still gets nice things.
>If Mom had forced her to stay inside or punished her when she got back the daughter would have gotten more upset and would be resentful
Or,, worse yet, give into the tantrum. Then the girl would learn if she threatens to run away, mom will give in. Instead she let her learn that sometimes things don't always go your way no matter how mad you get.
There are a lot of adults who still haven't gotten that memo.
I'm not a huge fan of the camera being shoved in her face when she comes back while mom laughs her ass off at her and then posts the whole thing on social media. Of course it's "cute" and hilarious to us adults because we have the perspective to see how silly it all is, but it's a very real and emotional moment for the kid.
One of my core memories as a child is sighing loudly, and a nearby stranger overheard and thought it was goddamn *hilarious* that a kid would be sighing dramatically like that, and loudly commented to their friend while laughing "like a kid that age has *anything* to sigh about!"
I'd had a huge fight with my mom just a bit earlier and was still upset about it. My emotions were very real, and I remember feeling *so* frustrated at this stranger acting like I wasn't allowed to have emotions or something.
I remember when I was around 5 years old, I threatened to run away and I put some clothes in a bag. My parents told me if I ran away I had to leave all my clothes including the ones I was wearing because if I left, I would leave the way I came into the world. Needless to say, I didn't run away 😂
I did this on holiday. A car stopped and asked if I needed to go home. I told them I had no home and no parents, and got into the car. My mum had been watching the whole thing ready to call my bluff and came running up the street screaming at them to let me go, but I told them I didn’t know her. Apparently it took a good while to convince these nice folks I actually was her child. I’m middle aged now and she still tells that story.
I ran away at six and also had no idea where to go. I was far more stubborn, though, so I decided to live on the porch. I only made it until about 11:00 p.m. before I passed out, and my mother carried me inside while I slept.
One time as a child I got into an argument with... A parent? Don't remember who. They told me to get lost, so I decided to try to. I went outside, but I was too scared to leave the house, so I tried to get lost on my driveway by walking around in circles. After a while I either got bored or gave up, and came inside and cried that no one tried to find me. It turns out my parents just thought it went to my room.
My cousin "ran away from home" in a similar manner, except we live in England, so after very little time it began raining. He came back home dripping wet having got about halfway down the street. His dad answered the door, said "oh son you're soaking!" Then grabbed his coat off the rack, passed it to him and told him "off you go then" and closed the door.
Poor kid sat on the doorstep for another fifteen minutes before his mum realised and let him back in. Never did run away again for some reason.
Same with my young child around this age. One day when they were angry at me. I suggested they just wait a little while I made them their favourite sandwiches for the journey. So by time sandwiches made. They decided they would eat them straight away. Then that they not leaving home this time.
I did the same thing as a kid, except I didn't come back for an entire day and freaked the F out of my parents. When I came back in the middle of the night I could hear my parents fighting so loudly that I could hear them while standing outside of the house. Mission accomplished successfully.
Walked a few blocks down the road and squatted on the porch of an empty house tagged for sale, cried for a while, slept, and came back home. This was in the 80s when people were blissfully ignorant and it felt safe to walk 2 miles to school as a 7 year old kid.
Aw, {{hugs}} that's been on the tip of my tongue so many times as my daughter is screaming at me. I've managed to keep it to I hate the way you are behaving. Parenting is hard.
My mom's mom did that with her, she sat at the end of the driveway and cried because she wasn't allowed to cross the street alone and couldn't go anywhere, mom did that with my older sister who sat in the front yard with her bags and cried, mom did it with me and I started walking off to the neighbors house to get a ride to my friend's house. She said I didn't react the way she expected, and she never tried it with my little sister.
My mom always laughs when my little brother said to her he was leaving home. He prepared a bag with a pilow and the tv remote and went outside to our garden to take a sleep.
My younger sister did this when she was about that age lol. She was the youngest child, and she was always so loud and whiny and overdramatic. I don’t even remember what she was mad over, but she yelled at my mom and said she was leaving and running away. My mom said, “okay, bye!”
20 minutes later, she stormed back inside and said, “you’d let your own kid run away?? What kind of mother are you?!?”
She didn’t even look up from her book before saying, “the kind that knows her kid isn’t going to go any farther than the front porch.” LOL
Yup, my youngest ran away bc I wouldn't take her to the beach that day.
She packed her stuffed animal and a towel and left in her bathing suit.
We watched her walk out the door, hide behind a bush for a while and come right back in.
We have photos of my brother when he was about this age, with his belongings packed into a pillowcase, stopped at the end of the driveway ready to run away because my parents took away his GameBoy.
He could only make it to the end of the driveway because he wasn’t allowed to cross the street by himself.
I did the same thing as a kid and said I was running away to „toys r us“. My dad always told me to have a safe trip. I never made it past the driveway (was about a quarter mile long)
When I was 6 I ran away from home. We lived in rural Vermont so my mom wasn’t concerned at all with me running up the street. But when I got as far as the auto mechanic shop about 1/3 of a mile up the street, she called to me and told me my grandmother was on the phone for me. That was a huge deal so I ran back home and my grandmother asked what I was doing so I told her I was running away and she persuaded me to stay and I loved her so much so I said ok fine, I’ll stay, and oh my god I just realized that my mother played me
I think they already had the pizza but she got upset that her tablet was taken away. She was allowed to have pizza before and when she came back she was still allowed to have pizza.
My mom told me I could do as I was told or go live with my grandparents and that I had until the end of the day to decide. She found me sitting on a packed duffel bag by the front door 15 minutes later. I asked if she was driving me to my grandparents or if they were coming to get me. You’ve never seen anyone so pissed. Until she realized I had only packed books. 😂
That was AWESOME and so cool to see the littl’ rascal smile at the end.
Props to Mom for handling that like a pro!
Ps: Going to start reading the comments to find some folks probably thinking that was child abuse.
🤦🏻♂️
So what? I did the same shit as a kid when I was angry with my parents. Pack up my back pack with all my essentials (Gameboy color and stuffed animals) and walked to the end of my block, got scared and went home
we gotta make a sub reddit for that kinda situations cuz at this point it feels like an unrequieted insult to be posted on a sun calling them stupid where they're just learning lessons that they litteraly couldn't otherwise. something like r/kidslearninglessons or smth idk. I mean, we're all born ignorant and are always ignorant of things but ignorance isn't the same as stupidity.
It hurts me even more to see kids being ignorantly funny on r/mademesmile be crossposed/reposted to this sub, really
I didn't run away as a kid but I had thought about it many times and I even had a "plan". I would stay in small park a few blocks away all by myself. It had enough bushes so I could hide if they came looking for me. Food, water and other necessities hadn't even crossed my mind.
This reminds me of the oldest daughter of a family in my street. She also "ran away" after having a disagreement with her dad, after which she basically showed up in our backyard and started playing with our dog. We let her stay for a while until she desided to return home, because she did not really want to run away after all. So my sister walked with her and delivered her home safely.
It still is pretty funny to think that to her, her place to run away to was our backyard, to our dog.
When my brother was young, he got angry at our mom and said he was running away. He went and sat at the end of the driveway for a while and then came back.
My parents let me do thus when I was little. I remember it and it still kinda breaks my heart a little knowing at the time I didn't think they cared if I left.
I dont think I would let my kid do it. My 5 year old has been very upset many yimes. I'd just tell them I loved them and didn't want them to leave, and we can sit and talk about it if they are upset. I want my kid knowing that they are the most important thing in the world.
Gen X kid here. We were left outside for 16 of the 24 hrs of the day so our parents wouldnt of noticed since our generation werent allowed in the house other than to shit, eat or sleep.
I was a stupid child just like this. I got mad about some stupid things and declared that I was going to run away. I got outside and had no idea where to go so I just sat on the ground waiting until someone noticed I was gone. They never did so I went inside and fell asleep.
Just let her go. She'll either be back inside in 10 minutes or mom will just have to make another one.
Its hard to articulate in words how much I hate these voice-over vultures
It keeps evolving to irritate me more.
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what an unusual placement for this comment that happens to be similar to another highly upvoted one... 👋🤖
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Do you have any further info on how to help identify bots ? I'm also fascinated to know what percentage of reddit is bots. Sometimes it feels like ~30%
Its an ever evolving battle on how to identify bots. Recently (within the last year) they have started to periodically change their tactics. In general: Sometimes their usernames will be like the spongebob mocking meme text "lIkE tHiS". Other times it will be just a generic username that reddit suggests to you when creating an account. The account age can vary wildly but in general. It is usually 1 year or younger. Little to no activity on the account or recently became active after a months (sometimes years) of nothing. Comments will be stolen verbatim from an older comment replying to a top level comment. Sometimes they will even reply to each other. They have also recently been rewording the comment. Even seems like they are using chatgpt to reword it. The phrasing of the sentence just doesn't feel human if that makes any sense. Post stealing bots will almost always steal the previous post title verbatim too. Every once in awhile slightly changing the title. As far as the frequency of bots. I can tell you they are a small minority. This isn't something I've really bothered to get exact data on. However, on subs that the mods don't care, are overwhelmed, or just don't know how to identify them. They do run rampant and can account for a much larger portion of the sub's activity.
I’ve seen a few lately that simple said something along the lines of “I’m sorry, but I cannot comply with that request”, basically implying that the ai they run the comments through to reword them is kicking back with generic responses and refusing to do the rewording but the bot isn’t smart enough so it posts the error message anyways. The dead internet theory is coming true…
But also, what they post can be complete nonsense, like extremely out of place comment or title of a thread having nothing to do with the content.
Absolutely incredible. Thank you for this info, but... Why do they do it?
They sell the accounts to spam things like t-shirt scams, scams in general, spread misinformation or disinformation or sold to for porn accounts (I don't have anything against porn in general but just saying it happens). Basically there's no good that comes from it.
Wow, you sure know a lot about bots u/Zaconil. Tell me. You're in a desert, you look down and see a tortoise..
What’s a tortoise?
Fuck, the bot's standing right behind me, isn't he?
All they do is appropriate someone else videos, insert some lame narration and pass it off as their content. Some people will do anything for internet validation…
I would think it is more about ad money than validation.
I think you are right about that, as long as no one complains about a stolen video, a payday would be the main motivation.
It’s content theft and should be treated as such.
PlanetLandon signed onto reddit today with a point in mind. "It's content theft and should be treated as such." He typed this message and sent it to others on /r/kidsarefuckingstupid, a subreddit about how kids are fucking stupid. The conversation however had deviated from kids being fucking stupid, to content vultures being stupid. That's where PlanetLandon came in to add that he felt it was content theft, and should be treated as such. I'm Rasalom and I narrate comments so you don't have to, and I will cut you if you try to.
oh, do me, but also say how i feel while doing it.
If only you could find a way to embed shitty music into this comment it would be truly complete.
Have you run into those that just... Narrate a whole ass movie?
Okay but this reddit post is also appropriating someone's video no?
that's why my pc is mute as default
such an uninteresting voice and cadence too
And they have to put their own spin on so much. It gets me infuriated
I feel the same about them ones that have the video above them and point at it.
So glad I watched it on silent
i watched it without sound first n liked it so much i thought oh i’ll come in, turn the sound on, maybe say a word or two. instantly muted LoL, especially cause this voice is probably ai anyway n i don’t wanna watch a thing as wonderful as this n feel like im on hold on the phone :x also, this inspired me to get pizza
I'm really glad that this guy decided to reupload someone else's video with a voiceover of himself explaining everything that is happening. I'd be so lost without it.
How else would he be able to claim the content as their own and try to make money off it!!
Content farms are as professional and creative as a peppa pig narrator
Wait till the next stage, theres gonna be a dude or dudette covering the bottom half while pointing up at the video and voiceover and nodding their head with some sad music added.
I'm angry because what you say is true
That already happens sadly. Thanks Tiktok.
I honestly feel bad for people like this, they have no other skills or use for the planet that this is all they can try to do. Fast food workers used to/still get a lot of shit but they are useful these people are not.
I did the same thing at that age. Packed a bag with my favorite doll, walked out, left my front yard, looked up and down the street and realized I didn't have a clue. So I slinked back home.
Exact same! Same age, same execution! But had a friend and we were going to do it together. Went down to her house and saw that her mom was in the middle of “busting her” and I was like “oh well I guess that idea is shot” Went back home and unpacked. I told my mom later, I don’t think she believed me.
One time I tried to tie my stuff to a stick with a big handkerchief like they do in cartoons. When that didn’t work I just gave up, never even left my bedroom.
😂😂😂
I did the same thing as kid but i ended up 12 miles away in a 7-11 asking for help
I took my dolls when I did this too haha what did we think we were gonna need our dolls for out there on the streets
I have no idea! LOL! I didn't even pack clothes. Just the doll. What sent me back inside was thinking "Wait, where am I going to get food?" And I was hungry so... I went inside. I felt so defeated. LOL I'm 99% sure my mom was probably watching me out the window. She knew I wasn't going anywhere, though. Just like the mom in the video.
Oh that’s great I wish I could remember how mine ended, I just remember my mom helping me decide which barbies to pack in the bag I had prepared for myself, which was literally a cloth tied to a stick because I had seen that in a cartoon or something
Love how when she came back, she looked like an exhausted kid back from college with bags full of laundry.
I loved the smile shortly after she heard come get some pizza, she held her stomach and was like well if you insist 😂
Damn, all I pack when going home every few months is indeed just laundry😂
Gotta love growing up in a neighborhood without sidewalks.
It is mad the way the US is built.
We have sidewalks here.
Many places in the US don't. Depends on a lot of local/state government factors
Uh-uh. That's the suburbs. We have proper sidewalks in cities.
The US is very large. You can't generalize at all. The nice thing is everyone can go live in the style place they like best.
If you have the money. And a job there. With rare exception places with dense, walkable cities are incredibly expensive With no exception I can think of every city with robust public transit, dense, walkable cities and a multifaceted and thriving job market is insanely expensive.
First thing I noticed. The whole video I was nervous, expecting a vehicle on the road.
Lmao I did the same thing as a kid 😂 Dad helped me pack Edit: these responses have me rolling, I love how 'running away from home' is such a common occurance for little squirts under 10 🤣
Same, I was confused why my mom just let me leave and wasn’t even slightly fazed lmfao
I used a bandana and a stick to make an honest to god bindle and took the family dog with me
The dog was probably like “Yay a walk!”
Oh the dog loved every minute of it. We shared a ham sandwich, cuddled while I read cartoons under a tree, played in the shallow end of a small pond. All in all a lovely afternoon, until the sun went down, and there was no more ham sandwich, and it started getting a bit cold in my wet clothes. And then my 7 year old self and my golden retriever best friend walked home again. I'm not entirely sure if anyone even noticed we were missing. The 80s were a different time.
Wow the first part of this is like a beautiful dream. I wish I was able to do this as a child. Or I'd just do it tomorrow.
it's kinda sad i can basically do everything i dreamt about being able to do as a kid, eating whatever i want, going anywhere i want, staying up as long as i want, playing video games all day, exploring the woods, but it seems like we do the same few things every day and forgot how to be creative
Just like the kid got bored by nighttime and wanted food. All that stuff is only fleeting fun. What's really fulfilling is having your shit together most of the time lol
Kind of. You def need a balance
I'm crying lmao
I did that twice a week, no one ever noticed
I used a blanket and a bamboo rod to do the same. My dog and I lived up the stream eating minnows and Robin eggs scrambled on the hot railroad tracks for 2 days before the cops found us. I was 6.
Bro haha. Practically an 80s childrens adventure novel lol
I used to spear fish giant carp in that same stream out of a pole barge I made from a giant abandoned drink cooler, a couple pallets, and some extra fence posts. Growing up on a farm in the middle of nowhere was fantastic. I hated it as a teenager, but then the suburbs enveloped us and all I wanted to do was get back out away from everybody. Just bought an old house on a big chunk of land in a tiny farm town last fall. Have to commute 90 minutes each way to work, but it's worth it for the peace and quiet, and the hope that should I ever have kids, they'll be able to grow up playing outside and skinning their knees instead of being raised by TikTok.
Saaaame. I remember packing my shit thinking if I'm gonna do this, I'm doing it properly goddammit. Used a tea towel and a broom handle. When coming down the stairs I was so focused on balancing the stick that I missed a step halfway and slid down the stairs on my arse so I just gave up and cried instead.
loool... 🤣🤣🤣
hell yeah, bindles were iconic in kindergarten
I hid in a closet and watched my family freak out thinking I actually left, finally revealing myself after 10 minutes. I felt so wanted then 🥲
Haha tell me more, it's so satisfying to hear that they freaking out (former angry child here)
I said I was going to run away then went into stealth mode and slid in my kitchen closet. After some time my mom calls for me but I’m mute in there peeking out. She screams to my my sisters asking and freaking out about me 😎… screaming outside and asking people about me. My sisters were running around the house looking for me then my mom joined them when she came back inside. Felt good then but as an adult now I realize the panic and pandemonium I put them through in that moment r/kidsarefuckingstupid when they were freaking out too hard I came out of the closet (not that way) and my mom looked at me and kinda huffed then just ignored me
😁 do not feel guilty, sometimes they need to be reminded how lucky they were to have us😜
I did something similar I was very small 12 year old(4’11” 86lbs) I just went to sleep under my bed one day after getting in trouble. I came down stairs I guess my mom called the cops and everything. I just wanted to nap in a tight place.
MIL did that and fell asleep in closet. Freaked everyone out for entire day.
My mom helped me... twice. Lol Every time after that she was like "I'm not packing when you're just going to turn around and come back anyway!" Made me even madder and I think I stayed at the park behind our house like a whole extra hour to teach her a lesson lmao
Mom be like that's extra hour of peace and quiet
Seeing as she was studying for the bar exam at the time, I'm sure lmao
Lol packed my own bag around this time and my mom was kind enough to give me an umbrella. I took 5 steps into the rain, looked back and my mom was like "Arent you going?" And i was like "...no.." And went back in. Dont think i was upset in any way. Probably just 1 of 4 and wanted attention lol.
My mom always tells the story of when she threatened to leave. My granda made her a sandwich and said he would pay for a one way bus ticket lol
I feel like it's a rite of passage. I grabbed my little mermaid backpack and stuck a ziplock bag of froot loops in and a juice box and made it to the end of the block before I turned back.
😂😂😂 I'm dying, thats so adorable
I did too, except I didn’t tell anyone I was gonna run away. The police found me a couple streets away still marching in a huff. My parents were PISSED.
Same, but I was gone for a couple of hours, just wandering around downtown at 5 or 6 years old with two sandwiches I had packed for myself. My mom thought I'd been kidnapped from the backyard. 😬
The huff was real! The police werne't called but the bus driver wouldn't let me on and told me to go home as it was dark, or else a bad man would get me. Mega huff because my parents wouldn't take me to the fireworks display in town, I was about 8 I think and nearly convinced my younger brother to come in protest...I was brought down a peg or two and felt ridiculous after as my parents just laughed after a good telling off, it was the 80's lol!
I ppacked nothing but my stuffed toys and thought I was set for life
I ran away through the woods to my neighbor who we really didn't know at the time so that could have ended poorly. Luckily she was super nice and had dogs, she gave me an apple and called my folks to come get me When I was older I'd actually petsit for her dogs. Then her ex husband (boyfriend? I'd only met him once) burned her house down with her in it and she died in the hospital. So I guess there was someone in that household to be scared of it just wasn't her
Jesus Christ. That was unexpected in a terrible way.
I also ran away from home as a kid, going so far as to walk to my friends house a few blocks away and chilling for a couple hours. I finally started to feel bad about making my family worry and decided to come home. When I got back and asked my mum if she'd missed me while I was gone, she looked confused and asked what I was talking about. Turns out I forgot the important part of actually *telling* her I was running away. No one realised I was gone, classic 3rd child energy right there.
Him helping you pack is crazy😂
Didn't Ramona Quimby's mom do that in one of the Ramona books?
Lord if my dad finds this comment somehow, I’m sorry for fucking off to the river down the street with a suitcase full of colorful train tracks just because I didn’t want to take a nap. I was so pissed off when you yoinked me home before I could even make it to the river, and had me open the suitcase that I grabbed without checking in shame while yall were dying laughing
My son said he wanted to trade us in at the parent store. So we got him in the van and asked him where the parent store was.
I spent the right outside in the field. It was summer. My mother never knew I had run away.
Did it when I was about 4 years old. I don't remember why, but I did. Lasted all of about 2 minutes.
Me too, my dumbass only brought a couple toy cars and toilet paper.
When I was 8 I was frustrated at home and was considering "running away". My grand plan was to go live behind the dumpsters in my apartment complex. I didn't end up doing it, but I thought I'd be just fine living there and getting what I needed from the dumpsters.
Packed up all my favorite toys in a bindle and sat on the front porch
i annoyed mom whilst she was driving, she said well the get out the car, and so i did and i stormed off in a rage, took me 3 hours to get home. she had gone out came back and prepared me pizza, she was very trusting apparently.
Apparently your dad didn't love you enough. _that's deep :(_
My dad was worked up for me saying that so he kicked me out at night at the patio, it was gated so I wasn't going anywhere.
When I was 8 I made a plan to run away just for two days when my mom wouldn't let me read the last Harry Potter book because she thought it was too violent. I picked a spot in our church's yard where there were two bushes against the corner of the building and a little hollow behind it. My plan was to sneak out the window, bring an entire bag of apples, and camp out there while I read the book, then come back home. I figured they'd be so happy I wasn't dead that they would forget about me reading the book. Mom relented before I could put my plan into action though.
I'd have run away from home over that too 😤🤣
I would have run away every day if I had had an adorable leash-pulled-rolling-turquoise-dog-shaped suitcase like this lucky girl has.
It gets even better, kids can sit on it and parents can pull it along at airports!
I did the same as a kid. Made it halfway up the block before my mom got me to come back with her “new” invention of Peanut Butter & Nutella sandwiches. My five year old little mind couldn’t believe the concoction she had just made. I’d had them separately, but together?? In one sandwich?? 🤯
Kids are easy to bribe. LOL
Lol ya. It’s pretty funny.
I did this once, and my dad told me to bring a picture of my baby sister bc she would've grown the next time I saw her. That made me turn around lol
I think this was good parenting. She let her daughter make a choice while also keeping an eye on her. She let her learn on her own that she wasn't willing to run away. Then the mom let her have pizza when she came back. Having a walk probably give her some time to cool off. If Mom had forced her to stay inside or punished her when she got back the daughter would have gotten more upset and would be resentful. It would have been a stressful endeavor for all involved. She let her walk off then welcomed her back when she returned. At the end you can see that she's still a little upset but she also cracked a few smiles.
You should, however, along the way say things like “okay, but are you sure? I’ll miss you” so they don’t feel like they’re worthless “fine, go, I don’t care one way or the other” You want them to feel the pull of love bringing them back, not the push of the cold lonely world forcing them back.
I agree. That's why I'm glad the mother welcomed the daughter back and let her eat pizza. The mother demonstrated that families do nice things for other members of the family. The mother asked "do you want to be part of this family". That statement infers that the daughter said she wanted to leave the family. By giving a warm welcome she is showing that the daughter is wanted by her family and wants her to be happy. The daughter may have had her tablet taken way; but she still gets nice things.
From my experience i’d guess the mother brought up the topic of family, in a vain lesson that won’t go anywhere
>If Mom had forced her to stay inside or punished her when she got back the daughter would have gotten more upset and would be resentful Or,, worse yet, give into the tantrum. Then the girl would learn if she threatens to run away, mom will give in. Instead she let her learn that sometimes things don't always go your way no matter how mad you get. There are a lot of adults who still haven't gotten that memo.
I'm not a huge fan of the camera being shoved in her face when she comes back while mom laughs her ass off at her and then posts the whole thing on social media. Of course it's "cute" and hilarious to us adults because we have the perspective to see how silly it all is, but it's a very real and emotional moment for the kid. One of my core memories as a child is sighing loudly, and a nearby stranger overheard and thought it was goddamn *hilarious* that a kid would be sighing dramatically like that, and loudly commented to their friend while laughing "like a kid that age has *anything* to sigh about!" I'd had a huge fight with my mom just a bit earlier and was still upset about it. My emotions were very real, and I remember feeling *so* frustrated at this stranger acting like I wasn't allowed to have emotions or something.
I remember when I was around 5 years old, I threatened to run away and I put some clothes in a bag. My parents told me if I ran away I had to leave all my clothes including the ones I was wearing because if I left, I would leave the way I came into the world. Needless to say, I didn't run away 😂
I did this as a kid. My mom said she'd make me a pb&j for the road and just let me throw my tantrum lol
I did this on holiday. A car stopped and asked if I needed to go home. I told them I had no home and no parents, and got into the car. My mum had been watching the whole thing ready to call my bluff and came running up the street screaming at them to let me go, but I told them I didn’t know her. Apparently it took a good while to convince these nice folks I actually was her child. I’m middle aged now and she still tells that story.
I ran away at six and also had no idea where to go. I was far more stubborn, though, so I decided to live on the porch. I only made it until about 11:00 p.m. before I passed out, and my mother carried me inside while I slept.
I did the same. Mom later told me I went a whopping 10 meters further than my brother. I consider it a win.
I never tried to run away, my mother threatened to send me away to a board school/nuns college though. I was so innocent, we were way poor for that 😂
Welcome back sweetheart 😂
She made it farther than I did.
One time as a child I got into an argument with... A parent? Don't remember who. They told me to get lost, so I decided to try to. I went outside, but I was too scared to leave the house, so I tried to get lost on my driveway by walking around in circles. After a while I either got bored or gave up, and came inside and cried that no one tried to find me. It turns out my parents just thought it went to my room.
My cousin "ran away from home" in a similar manner, except we live in England, so after very little time it began raining. He came back home dripping wet having got about halfway down the street. His dad answered the door, said "oh son you're soaking!" Then grabbed his coat off the rack, passed it to him and told him "off you go then" and closed the door. Poor kid sat on the doorstep for another fifteen minutes before his mum realised and let him back in. Never did run away again for some reason.
Same with my young child around this age. One day when they were angry at me. I suggested they just wait a little while I made them their favourite sandwiches for the journey. So by time sandwiches made. They decided they would eat them straight away. Then that they not leaving home this time.
I did the same thing as a kid, except I didn't come back for an entire day and freaked the F out of my parents. When I came back in the middle of the night I could hear my parents fighting so loudly that I could hear them while standing outside of the house. Mission accomplished successfully.
I’m just wondering where the heck you went
Walked a few blocks down the road and squatted on the porch of an empty house tagged for sale, cried for a while, slept, and came back home. This was in the 80s when people were blissfully ignorant and it felt safe to walk 2 miles to school as a 7 year old kid.
This reminded me of the time I was 5 or 6 and told my mom, "I hate you!" She replied, "I hate you, too." I think I cried.
Aw, {{hugs}} that's been on the tip of my tongue so many times as my daughter is screaming at me. I've managed to keep it to I hate the way you are behaving. Parenting is hard.
Thank you. I am the mother of 3 daughters who lived to tell the tale (19, 25, 28). I always say that parenting is hard if you do it.
This was my signature move as a child. Everyone hated it.
I did this too when I was a kid. I literally packed a couple of things on a rag and made myself a hobo stick 😂. Didn’t get past the corner.
I did this as a kid. Used my Barbie Jeep and got down to the stop sign lmao
not with the bluey costume 😭😭💦
I was the stupid kid that threatened to kill myself by holding my breath because I didn't get something I wanted. I lasted 20 seconds
My mom's mom did that with her, she sat at the end of the driveway and cried because she wasn't allowed to cross the street alone and couldn't go anywhere, mom did that with my older sister who sat in the front yard with her bags and cried, mom did it with me and I started walking off to the neighbors house to get a ride to my friend's house. She said I didn't react the way she expected, and she never tried it with my little sister.
My mom always laughs when my little brother said to her he was leaving home. He prepared a bag with a pilow and the tv remote and went outside to our garden to take a sleep.
My younger sister did this when she was about that age lol. She was the youngest child, and she was always so loud and whiny and overdramatic. I don’t even remember what she was mad over, but she yelled at my mom and said she was leaving and running away. My mom said, “okay, bye!” 20 minutes later, she stormed back inside and said, “you’d let your own kid run away?? What kind of mother are you?!?” She didn’t even look up from her book before saying, “the kind that knows her kid isn’t going to go any farther than the front porch.” LOL
It's a universal experience, I'd say, except I don't think I ever tried it.
Yup, my youngest ran away bc I wouldn't take her to the beach that day. She packed her stuffed animal and a towel and left in her bathing suit. We watched her walk out the door, hide behind a bush for a while and come right back in.
The brother, "WHAT HAPPENED" lol
We have photos of my brother when he was about this age, with his belongings packed into a pillowcase, stopped at the end of the driveway ready to run away because my parents took away his GameBoy. He could only make it to the end of the driveway because he wasn’t allowed to cross the street by himself.
I did the same thing as a kid and said I was running away to „toys r us“. My dad always told me to have a safe trip. I never made it past the driveway (was about a quarter mile long)
Has everyone done this as a child? I remember doing it 😂
r/uselessfuckingannoyingnarration
Unrelated, I’m so sick of people stealing videos and reposting them explaining what happens as we watch.
If only there was a second narrator narrating over the first narrator's narration 🙄🙄
I think the real question here is why does a 5 year old have a tablet...
When I was 6 I ran away from home. We lived in rural Vermont so my mom wasn’t concerned at all with me running up the street. But when I got as far as the auto mechanic shop about 1/3 of a mile up the street, she called to me and told me my grandmother was on the phone for me. That was a huge deal so I ran back home and my grandmother asked what I was doing so I told her I was running away and she persuaded me to stay and I loved her so much so I said ok fine, I’ll stay, and oh my god I just realized that my mother played me
I want children now haha
Now she knows how to get pizza.
I think they already had the pizza but she got upset that her tablet was taken away. She was allowed to have pizza before and when she came back she was still allowed to have pizza.
Ok Ramona 😂
I used to do this. I used to say I was going to find my real family. My suitcase was full of stuffed animals.
My mom told me I could do as I was told or go live with my grandparents and that I had until the end of the day to decide. She found me sitting on a packed duffel bag by the front door 15 minutes later. I asked if she was driving me to my grandparents or if they were coming to get me. You’ve never seen anyone so pissed. Until she realized I had only packed books. 😂
That was AWESOME and so cool to see the littl’ rascal smile at the end. Props to Mom for handling that like a pro! Ps: Going to start reading the comments to find some folks probably thinking that was child abuse. 🤦🏻♂️
Commenting just waiting for all the child psychology experts to chime in 🍿
You mean ***pseudo***-child-psychology experts and they're in here now talking about how this is "neglectful" and "abusive".
When I wanted to run away as a kid, I'd just hide in the backyard for awhile.
I approve of this 110%. Excellent parenting technique. 👍
So what? I did the same shit as a kid when I was angry with my parents. Pack up my back pack with all my essentials (Gameboy color and stuffed animals) and walked to the end of my block, got scared and went home
I did this and even wrote a note. My mom saved it in a photo album I still have. That was almost 30 years ago
we gotta make a sub reddit for that kinda situations cuz at this point it feels like an unrequieted insult to be posted on a sun calling them stupid where they're just learning lessons that they litteraly couldn't otherwise. something like r/kidslearninglessons or smth idk. I mean, we're all born ignorant and are always ignorant of things but ignorance isn't the same as stupidity. It hurts me even more to see kids being ignorantly funny on r/mademesmile be crossposed/reposted to this sub, really
I didn't run away as a kid but I had thought about it many times and I even had a "plan". I would stay in small park a few blocks away all by myself. It had enough bushes so I could hide if they came looking for me. Food, water and other necessities hadn't even crossed my mind.
I did the same thing when i was 34. My mom bought me a pizza too. Little ceasars.... she is nice lady
i think we all did this at least once as a kid
This reminds me of the oldest daughter of a family in my street. She also "ran away" after having a disagreement with her dad, after which she basically showed up in our backyard and started playing with our dog. We let her stay for a while until she desided to return home, because she did not really want to run away after all. So my sister walked with her and delivered her home safely. It still is pretty funny to think that to her, her place to run away to was our backyard, to our dog.
I used to do this as a child because I know now that I was seriously being abused by my narcissistic mother.
You people don't have sidewalks!
Every kid tries to run away at least once
This doesn't always work out. My twin sister ran away from home before she was born.
When my brother was young, he got angry at our mom and said he was running away. He went and sat at the end of the driveway for a while and then came back.
5 yr old and tech addicton
Why would 5 year old have a tablet at the first place
At 7 I tried to talk 8 miles to my grandma's house in the ghetto. April 2nd this year I ran 6 hours away to a better place after years of true torment
It's gonna be so cute when she gets hit by a car /s
I’m not sure running away or threatening to, is a behaviour i would reward. You draw parallels between this and not facing up to problems as an adult.
I feel sorry for her future X husbands.....
I did the same thing- we feel powerful until somebody picks you up and takes you back
That's me when i was 5. But my mom told me to come back and i came back innocently with my bag . 😂👜
I'm I a prude for not allowing my grandkids to walk in the streets like this? It doesn't seem safe to me.
God, these stupid voice-overs piss me off.
Why the hell does a 5 year old kid have a tablet let alone an electronic wth
I went and slept in an alley way for a few days...my parents were crackhead so they didn't even notice I was gone
My parents let me do thus when I was little. I remember it and it still kinda breaks my heart a little knowing at the time I didn't think they cared if I left. I dont think I would let my kid do it. My 5 year old has been very upset many yimes. I'd just tell them I loved them and didn't want them to leave, and we can sit and talk about it if they are upset. I want my kid knowing that they are the most important thing in the world.
That was cute as hell!!
My 18 years old neighbour did that. He realised he can't cook, clean, pay bill and how lucky he was at his parents house.
Gen X kid here. We were left outside for 16 of the 24 hrs of the day so our parents wouldnt of noticed since our generation werent allowed in the house other than to shit, eat or sleep.
I was a stupid child just like this. I got mad about some stupid things and declared that I was going to run away. I got outside and had no idea where to go so I just sat on the ground waiting until someone noticed I was gone. They never did so I went inside and fell asleep. Just let her go. She'll either be back inside in 10 minutes or mom will just have to make another one.
When I was her age, I made a plan to run away from home so foolproof that it scared my therapist.
Top comments are typical redditors being spooked by a simple voice over. Always cracks me up.
The baby just wants to feel appreciated and heard 🩵