A man allegedly commits suicide by drowning and teenagers sit on the side of the water and watch while giggling and filming it.
A young girl is in the car with her sister live streaming as they have an accident and her sister dies as she continues to live stream.
People in grocery stores get into fist fights and instead of stopping it or walking away, people sit around and film it.
People filming their own suicides on Facebook Live.
The immediacy and the voyeuristic qualities of social media have desensitized us as humans. And it can only get worse. I don't know. I have a problem seeing dead bodies in my timeline. I have trouble seeing people's bloated bodies in caskets or seeing people in hospital beds hooked up to tubes and machines- even if it is your grandmother.
I'm just trying to figure out what makes a person want to take a pic with their grandmother while she is ailing, in the bed, barely with her wits about her, and then post it on Facebook. Look, I had a family member post a pic of her stillborn child on Facebook and I unfriended her. Call me whatever you want to call me. I know that people grieve in different ways, but don't force me to look at your dead or ailing loved one because you feel a way.
Some things are meant to be private. And the problem is that social media lessens our ability to have healthy boundaries. It weakens our ability to understand that everyone does not want to know what you are doing and thinking every moment of the day. This 24/7/365 online diary allows people to attention seek relentlessly.
On a daily basis, I see people constantly on social media crying out for attention. Posting SOS messages waiting for people to take the bait so that they can halfway describe what's wrong. Wanting their "audience" to beg them to spill the beans on what's happening. It's pretty ridiculous. And so now we are at the point where people have no regard for life or death. What is happening in today's society is an epidemic. It's why bullying is prevalent, why we consistently have recorded evidence of crimes versus people actually helping victims. It's the reason we will most likely see those boys in Florida who watched the man drown and meet his death show back up on the police radar at a later date. They lack empathy, so what is to stop them from committing any other crime or being an accomplice?
Too many of us clicking to share without even thinking. Not hiding those posts in your timeline. Not choosing to not perpetuate so much negativity. I mean, everyone is entitled to post whatever they want to post on their social media. But why are you sharing it? Why are we unable to live in reality, for those of us that are even aware that reality even exists. Too many people's lives and self esteem are contingent on validation based on likes and comments.
It's because you live (and die) by social media.