Often times we live out our lives too much on social media. We take numerous photos and videos while only posting the best ones. For what though, to present ourselves as the best? To hide our flaws? To outdo our friends and followers? At what point do we stop ourselves and realize that we are doing too much on social? Let’s look at two stories that occurred this past month with grave results.

Stunting too hard can come at a steep price

The first story comes out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada where rapper “Jon James” McMurray plunged to his death after losing his balance on the wing of a flying plane. The 34 year old was filming a music video while rapping on the live plane. McMurray had repeatedly practiced the stunt safely.

However on the day of the video shoot while walking deeper onto the wing, the plane took a downward spiral. This caused James to lose balance and fall off the plane while in the air, with not enough time to deploy his parachute. His body was eventually found in a farmer’s field.

While Jon James was known to be a risk taker, his death could have been prevented. Why not go with a music video treatment that had less extreme ramifications? Did he have his own expectations to outdo his previous videos?

We live in an era where there is pressure to stand out, to be different. But at what point do we draw the line and say enough is enough? Was his desire to live in the fast life and show it all off on social media really worth it? There must come a point where you need to put your safety first, regardless of how many engagements you get on social media.

Death from a selfie?

At what great lengths are you willing to get the perfect shot? How far will you travel to get the picture that will generate the most likes and comments? For Vishnu Viswanath, 29, and his wife, Meenakshi Moorthy, 30, their pursuit of a hobby as travel bloggers cost them their lives.

On October 30, their bodies were discovered some 800 feet at the bottom of Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. The couple from India had built a growing following on their Instagram page with 14,000 followers, which has since doubled in the wake of their tragic story. Vishnu and Meenakshi were standing on the ledge of the popular Taft Point overlook and must have lost their footing, plunging to their deaths.

The duo may have foreshadowed their own fates by even writing in the captions of their posts. They questioned if they were really chasing sunsets or chasing likes. One must have to think that there could be a social media addiction here. Could it be that we often look to social to create our best version of ourselves from what we really possess in reality?

Outro

These two fatal stories in the month of October are a reminder that some people, are willing to go to dangerous lengths to live our their best lives on social media. Without a doubt, this social pressure is alarming and could be an emerging trend on moving forward.

People need to realize that at the end of the day, you are simply a human. You do not live your life solely on digital. Stop trying to show off online just to feed your ego. Don’t oversell yourself on social. There is no need to showcase your own insecurities. Don’t try to be some daredevil putting your life at risk, just to produce that viral visual.

While these two headlines involved were adults in their early 30’s, imagine what millennials and generation Y and Z are capable of doing. Tide Pod challenge anyone? 🤨