Have you heard of the twitter trend #followateen that everyone is talking about? No? Congratulations. Life is good. Turn off the computer now and go outside and enjoy your perfect life. Still there? Well, if you insist on biting into this poisonous knowledge fruit, read on. Learn of the Great Teen-Adult Twitter War of 2013.

Twitter users are constantly trying to devise new and more unsettling ways to waste time on Twitter. One twitter user, the writer David Thorpe (@arr) decided a good way to do this would be to follow a random teen. In 2011 he tweeted:

A few days ago ago he re-launched the #followateen concept:

Adult Twitter users began reporting bemusedly on teens' lives:

#followateen continuted to gain steam, helped greatly by people like Slate economics blogger Matthew Yglesias being confused and/or concerned by it:

As someone who has long followed teens (for work, I swear!), I knew trouble was brewing. Teens may seem naive, but they are not stupid. And if anything, they know when people are talking about them. Inevitably, the teens found out about #followateen:

And the teens were mad. The counteroffensive was led by the Queen of Teens herself, 17-year-old Rookie Magazine founder Tavi Gevinson. Someone came up with the amusing hashtag #followanadult, spoofing #followateen, and Tavi and Rookie took up the mantle:

But then the mean adults co-opted the tag:

The teens did not like that. They thought perhaps the adults did not understand that the teens were mocking them:

Which brings us to now. The age-old war between teens and adults has moved into cyberspace. Pretty soon cadres of teens might start hacking into adults' computers accounts and stealing their trade secrets. All of this will be adapted into a summer blockbuster. Adults v. Teens. Whoever wins: We all lose.

[image via Shutterstock]