BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • Trending

'What have we done' - teenage anger over Brexit vote

  • Published
    24 June 2016
Share page
About sharing
twitterImage source, Twitter
ByBBC Trending
What's popular and why

As the result of the EU referendum became clear, the poll's divisive effects across generational lines became highly visible online.

Some of the most visceral reaction to the Leave vote came under two related hashtags: "Not in my name" and "What have we done" shot into Twitter's top trends list on Friday morning and were used more than 20,000 times combined.

Twitter does not reflect the general population's view. The social network's demographic skews much younger than the UK's population, external as a whole. Pre-vote polls indicated that young people were more likely to vote Remain, external, and thus many commenters using the hashtags were decrying the result.

twitterImage source, Twitter
twitterImage source, Twitter
line

What does the term Brexit mean?

It is a word that has become used as a shorthand way of saying the UK leaving the EU - merging the words Britain and exit to get Brexit, in a same way as a potential Greek exit from the euro was dubbed "Grexit" in the past.

line

The hashtags were dominated by Remain supporters, although some pro-Leave voters also waded into the debate:

twitterImage source, Twitter

Other than anger, a common theme was frustration among 16- and 17-year-olds, who were not allowed to vote in the poll. Last year an initiative backed by Labour, the Lib Dems and SNP proposed lowering the voting age. However the government rejected the idea on the grounds of cost, and it was voted down.

"I love waking up to be completely terrified about something that's going to affect me yet i had no say in it," mused one teenager.

twitterImage source, Twitter
Picture from Thomas The Tank Engine of bricjed up tunnelImage source, TWITTER

Next story: Scotland: 'Indyref 2' being pushed online

tweetImage source, Twitter

The online conversation in Scotland immediately turned to the possibility of another vote on independence. READ MORE

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external, and find us on Facebook, external. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

Top stories

  • Payouts of £700 per driver after car finance scandal

    • Published
      2 hours ago
  • High immigration levels damage communities, Badenoch warns

    • Published
      2 hours ago
  • Stephen Lawrence killer admits role but refuses to name accomplices

    • Published
      2 hours ago

More to explore

  • Harlequin ladybirds are swarming UK houses this week - here's why

    • Attribution
      Weather
    A close up picture of a swarm of red and black spotted ladybirds
  • Emma Watson, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie in the spotlight at Paris Fashion Week

    Emma Watson poses for the cameras outside the Miu Miu show in Paris, wearing a brown jacket and sporting a ring on her wedding finger.
  • Time may be running out for Master of clocks Macron: What next for France?

    A headshot of Emmanuel Macron looking serious
  • 'I deeply hurt people by moving to Saudi Arabia'

    • Attribution
      Sport
    Ashleigh Plumptre
  • I was fooled into paying £500 to be a model. Here's how to avoid my mistake

    Older woman with short blonde hair wearing a red top and white trousers posing for a photoshoot
  • The footballer who cycles to work after being inspired by Wenger

    • Attribution
      Sport
    Arsene Wenger and Hector Bellerin
  • Rare October Harvest Moon rising Tuesday marks first supermoon of 2025

    • Attribution
      Weather
    A close up picture of a full moon on a black night sky
  • Jeremy Bowen: Two years on, will Israel and Hamas seize the chance to end the war?

    Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes targeted residential areas in the Gaza Strip, as seen from Israel near the border, on October 07, 2025
  • News Daily: Our flagship daily newsletter delivered to your inbox first thing, with all the latest headlines

    A promo promoting the News Daily newsletter - a graphic of an orange sphere with two concentric crescent shapes around it in a red-orange gradient, like a sound wave.
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Payouts of £700 per driver after car finance scandal

  2. 2

    Robin Williams' daughter pleads for people to stop sending AI videos of her dad

  3. 3

    EU steel tariff hike threatens 'biggest ever crisis' for UK industry

  4. 4

    Farage 'genuinely worried' by death threat: court

  5. 5

    Stephen Lawrence killer admits role but refuses to name accomplices

  6. 6

    Canadian marine park threatens to euthanise 30 beluga whales

  7. 7

    High immigration levels damage communities, Badenoch warns

  8. 8

    Time may be running out for Master of clocks Macron: What next for France?

  9. 9

    Two Austrian women switched at birth meet 35 years later

  10. 10

    Emma Watson, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie in the spotlight at Paris Fashion Week

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • The Bafta-winning Belfast police drama returns

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    Blue Lights has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    Blue Lights
  • Andy Zaltzman dissects the week's news

    • Attribution
      Sounds

    Added to My Sounds
    The News Quiz has been added to your My Sounds.
  • Exposing a disturbing scam targeting teenage boys

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    Blackmailed: The Sextortion Killers has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    Blackmailed: The Sextortion Killers
  • The foods that could help you live to 100

    • Attribution
      Sounds

    Added to My Sounds
    The Food Chain has been added to your My Sounds.
    The Food Chain
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.