Things Fall Apart as Humanity is Dragged Through the Mud

By Dr Masimba Mavaza

Social media has become notorious for flying videos and photos of people in dire distress.
Why do some people feel it’s okay to trivialize tragic events? How can anyone justify seeing another person in danger and not stepping in?
Is it selfishness, cowardice or ignorance? We have seen people taking videos of people groaning in pain, crying for help, but, people rather take photos than help the poor person in pain. Perhaps it’s a combination of all three.

Unfortunately, the trend of people whipping out their smartphones at the least appropriate moments has increased a great deal in recent years. This has led the Zimbabwe Republic Police to issue a stern warning about this photo regime.

In the process, people have often disrespected the memory of deceased individuals or failed to help people who desperately needed it.
Helping victims should be priority, not filming.In the modern society, people fail to understand where to draw the line when it comes to use of technology. They simply remain glued to it, even at the expense of another person’s safety. This has become an increasing problem, especially in case of accident and crime scenes, where misuse of technology has made its unwelcome presence. When an accident, assault or crime happens anywhere, instead of jump in to help the victim, most of the bystander remains callous enough to record the video and post it on social media rather than saving a life. It seems that reacting to a real life situation is being overrated and to get approval and attention on social media network has become more important than to help an accident victim. Such incidents show these days there is no place of humanity. Nobody is ready to protect or care for others.

While it’s certainly important to show the world what’s going on and take as many photos and videos as possible, it still should be possible to help the people in your photos/videos, if necessary. People are so keen to send these dreadful pictures on X. After the clip went viral, people on X wondered the same thing. “Drop the phone and help that man or woman?” one would ask “We are so much better at documenting the things we might have helped out with instead,” It’s a familiar indictment of the social media age: We’d all rather record a clip for likes than actually do some good in the world. Does the presence of cameras make people more likely to intervene when they see someone in danger? Perhaps it’s even worse, however, to bear witness to violence and do nothing. There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to act simply because we want to take photos and be the first to break the news.

We may not be able to step in and save the day in every situation, but speaking out is far better than simply watching and taking photos.

Recently, a fight broke out in some town in Zimbabwe. A 15-year-old girl was beaten by several other girls in front of a crowd of people. Someone videotaped the event.
Eventually, people came to the girl’s aid, but it’s incredibly disconcerting that someone’s first instinct was to record the incident rather than intervene or dial the police or do something to help first.
It seems exceptionally inhumane to stand by and record these types of incidents instead of making any effort to rectify the situation. It’s one thing to want to provide evidence, it’s another to ignore a human being in need.
There’s nothing wrong with desiring to document history, whether it’s your own story or an event you’re bearing witness to. But context plays a very important role in this regard.
Journalists, for example, make a career out of recording history and explaining it to the masses. They perform one of the most vital roles in society. An informed populace is imperative to both the establishment and perpetuation of basic freedoms.

With the rise of the smartphone and social media, we’ve also seen the advent of the citizen journalist. These people have no journalistic experience, yet might find themselves taking photos or recording video in the midst of a war zone or any event.
There are both pros and cons to these developments. Without getting into them, we can all agree there are certain circumstances in which filming, taking pictures or snapping selfies is completely inappropriate.
It seems more often than not, Millennials are the culprits in these situations.

Generation 2000 is a very contradictory and complicated generation. On the one hand, it’s one of the most generous and service-oriented groups in recent history. When you see young people take selfies at scenes of destruction, this characterization gets reinforced. Social media has the capacity to empower this generation, and in many ways already has.
It’s also been a catalyst for entrepreneurship and economic mobility for the generation most heavily impacted by the Great Recession. Indeed, social media has arguably been the greatest tool for all.

Simultaneously, however, social media is a debilitating entity that often makes us less connected, more narcissistic and increasingly disengaged.
Ama 2000 have a choice. They can continue to use the Internet and social media as a means of bringing about social change and innovation, or they can allow it to disintegrate into a platform for vanity and apathy.
The Internet is meant to be both informative and fun. Its success depends on all of us finding a healthy balance between the two in terms of the way we utilize it.
Taking selfies in the midst of danger or the aftermath of disaster epitomizes imbalance.

It is sad to note that more than 50% of those who die on Zimbabwean roads can be saved if they receive timely medical attention including assistance from crowd. In such kind of situation we must have to be humans first. Fast and cheaper digitalisation has led to deep penetration of social media in our society in the last few years.  Any incident small or big circulated on social media can make anyone famous instantly. The craze for being famous among common people on social media has made us inhumane. The rush for uploading videos or posting photos of any incident has become an obsession nowadays.  The video shooting of critically injured persons is also a result of this. We all are responsible for this and it’s our duty to teach compassion and selfless service to all sections of society.

People may record themselves helping a poor person for a variety of reasons. Some may do so to raise awareness about the issue of poverty and inspire others to take action. Recording their actions and sharing them on social media can help reach a wider audience and encourage more people to get involved.
Others may record themselves helping a poor person as a way to document their philanthropic efforts or to show their friends and followers the good they are doing in the world. This can help build their personal brand or improve their public image.
However, it is important to note that recording acts of kindness can also have negative consequences. It can create a power dynamic between the helper and the person being helped, as the latter may feel obligated to comply with the helper’s requests or expectations. It can also come across as exploitative or insincere, especially if the helper is only doing it for the attention or recognition.

In general, while recording acts of kindness can be a powerful tool for raising awareness and inspiring others, it is important to do so with sensitivity and respect for the dignity of the person being helped.
A number of incidents pertaining to accidents are being reported almost daily where the accident victims need the help of the passersby. But the biggest tragedy of the modern times is instead of carrying the victim to the nearby hospital the people gathered around him/her keep on making the video of the injured who is battling for life People should understand that if a critically injured person is carried to the hospital in time, not only will a precious life be saved but also it will bring smiles on the faces of the members of the victim’s family. The character and approach towards life of people vary situation to situation. Some are willing to help an injured person and some want to film an accident spot to post online. People who shoot or click pictures of such incidents show their heartless and careless emotions towards injured people. However, in order to live in a good society, there is need to teach students in schools and colleges to help each other in distress. Nothing can be more inhumane than not helping a person in excruciating pain after an accident. It shows the insensitivity of the society towards humanity. The habit of uploading video clips and pictures of an accident site is not only shameful but shows no worry for the injured.. It seems that we are now a society of robots but not of humans.

With the increasing development, modernisation and better standards of living have changed the moral values among people nowadays. Our society is turning a blind eye to the misery of the people. The addiction of social media has crossed the limits when people at the site of accidents start shooting videos and clicking pictures to post online rather than helping the victims. How can someone give more priority to socialising than taking care of the severely injured victims? If we don’t have care and affection for others nobody will have these for us too.  The attitude of the society should be changed for the betterment of the society.

The insensitivity among people is increasing with each passing day. In a world driven by ‘likes’, ‘shares’ and ‘views’ the fundamental essence of humanity is being forgotten. Nowadays there is a large number of heartless people as we are ruled by social media. The obsessions of recording and clicking pictures have made our lives limited to the internet. Instead of helping a profusely-bleeding man pleading for water, minutes after the accident, gory images from the scene start coming on the social media. Within a few minutes thousands begin to share  and start commenting on them . But with every share, humanity dies a silent death. Surely, this is not the world where we want our kids to grow in. Sadly, all we see is an opportunity to share videos related to accidents. Don’t let social media rule our lives anymore.

I think people can sometimes lack empathy and are cowardly and their first reaction is to stay safely on the sideline while filming. Just plain empty voyeurism.
But most of the time, I think it’s a desire to capture the moment of injustice or danger or whatnot in a way of cautioning and showing the world what others are enduring. If there weren’t people on the sidelines capturing these things… we might not know how bad a situation truly is. Like ICE raids or police officers being brutal to innocent people or someone being beaten by a group.
Some other people simply might have the idea youtube views in mind when they whip out their phones. It’s tough to tell what might motivate someone to hold up their phone rather than step in and help. Not even we can know how we are going to react in a given situation. Whether we step in and help or we step back and capture it so it can be viewed.