As a teenager of about 15 or 16, I identified myself as brutally honest but I quickly got over that phase and realized that sometimes people want lies. Still, if somebody asks my opinion on something, then I will give it. I try to be tactful about it if it's negative though.

"That dress fatters you"

"That dress makes you look thicker than a bowl of oatmeal"

Problem is, the second statement doesn't give any information about why the dress is unflattering, which deprives the individual of knowledge they could use to actually improve their situation.

Imo, a better option is to combine straightforward information with emotional support - eg, "Hey, so I love you, but as your friend I wanted to let you know, for your own long term benefit, that that dress makes it clear how many cookies you ate last Christmas."

Wtf? sonic probably hasn’t been good in my entire lifetime

I just don't like Sonic. 🤷‍♂️

That phrase is largely used by assholes trying to make their rude commentary come off as honesty. I haven’t ever heard someone say that in good faith instead of trying to avoid angry backlash for something said.

Telling the truth, while sometimes harsh, is vital in a good communicative friendship where challenging our peers helps them to grow and leads to closer connections in the long term.

Considering the other person goes deeper than ‘does the truth hurt their feefees and should I lie about it’ but yes, there’s often a kind and unkind way to share hard information with someone.

TL;DR Context is huge for when to apply it, though largely honesty is the way to go and someone claiming they’re ‘telling it like it is’ is just a way to twist out of responsibility for their lack of tact or empathy