People Are Cringing At These 50 Pics That Show New Levels Of Human Stupidity

As Mellisa Dahl, author of Cringeworthy: How to Make the Most of Uncomfortable Situations, told Elle UK, it's about how we want to be perceived. "It's when you can sense that the version of yourself you're trying to present to the world isn't really you. When there's this gap between who you want to be and how the world actually perceives you. That is where the cringe comes in."

Is there a good side to calling out cringe other than it being a form of self-discipline? Some say that yes, a healthy dose of shame is necessary for us all. In today's society that is over-individualistic, caring about what others think might take us back to the times when community mattered, Taya Cohen, associate professor of organizational behavior and business ethics at Carnegie Mellon University, believes.

"In the past, if you wanted to fit in within your local community, you had to act in a way most people thought was appropriate," Cohen told Vox. "On the internet, a person can behave in ways that the vast majority of people find completely unacceptable, but they're getting positive feedback in the form of people sharing it." 

As long as shaming for being cringe doesn't turn into bullying, we might just be okay. We shouldn't yuck other people's yums. But perhaps we also shouldn't normalize people squeezing pineapples between their thighs and drinking the juice for online attention. 

There are heaps of examples of shame-worthy behavior in this list, too. Let us know which of these pics you deem to be the most cringeworthy and embarrassing by upvoting your favorites!