This past month’s story involving six students from an all boys high school assaulting two fellow classmates, has been the talk of the town on social media. St. Michael’s College School is one of the most prestigious high schools in all of Canada. If you are not to up to date with this news story, here is a recap:
CityNews were the first media outlet to receive the disturbing videos.
Was the bullying inspired by 13 Reasons Why?
The details are certainly disturbing. While hazing and bullying are nothing new to adolescents, could it have been inspired from programming seen online?
Netflix’s controversial show 13 Reasons Why, takes a look at teenage pressure such as sexual, alcohol and drug abuse. It is quite possible that what happened at St. Mike’s could have been inspired from the hazing that character Tyler Down endured on the show:
This was the most controversial scene in season two of 13 Reasons Why.
What to do now?
It’s a terrible thing to see our youth emulate what they see on their devices. I think bullying in general is never going to go away and with a medium like social media, we can react fast and raise attention. In this case, the videos were briefly circulating on Instagram and it was a matter of time before the authorities got involved.
As for the school turning a blind eye originally, shame on them. It took local news outlets to expose them for not paying attention to the school culture that goes within their hallways. What they thought that was happening was just a small level of teasing, has now turned into a sexual assault case, with six students aged 15-17 being expelled for good.
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.
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.
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? 🤨
Social media is a powerful tool. We know that it can help raise awareness, promote an idea and highlight a moment. But while everyone is watching, reading and listening…it can back fire on you with disastrous results. Let’s take a look at three celebrities who took to their social accounts and rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
Roseanne Barr
Don’t blame it on the drugs, blame it on your fingers
Comedian actress Roseanne Barr enjoyed great press as her TV sitcom Roseanne returned to the small screen earlier this year with rave reviews and strong television ratings. The current trend of reviving old programming in the modern era worked for the 65-year old. However, what got her in trouble was her racist comments made on Twitter about Valerie Jarrett, the senior advisor to former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Her May 29th dismissal by broadcaster ABC also resulted in the termination of the Roseanne show. When you have a network that is backed by Disney and an employee with no filter like Roseanne Barr, it is a recipe for disaster. Roseanne tried to back pedal and say she was tweeting, while medicated, but the damage was done. Her TV show was cancelled, her cast mates were angry and temporarily jobless, while being vilified by the press.
Bryan Colangelo
Burner accounts are for everyone…including executives?
Former NBA executive Bryan Colangelo can be described as a genius who knows basketball operations and also a slimy, two faced, dishonest man all in the same sentence. The former president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers can be credited for laying the seeds in scouting young talent and building them into contenders. He did that previously for the Toronto Raptors, earning 2007 executive of the year honours leading the franchise to the Atlantic division title.
But fast forward to 2018, it was reported that he was using five Twitter ghost accounts known in the digital space as burner accounts, to talk negatively about players on his own team. The accounts also shared private team information leaked for public view. His own wife was implicated in the whole ordeal, which led the team to firing him on June 7th. Moral of the story here: No one is safe on social media. You can create “x” amount of accounts all you want…but one way or another, your secret will be revealed and you will be outed like Colangelo was.
Katherine Heigl
Jokes from the dead don’t sit well with everyone
Amercian actress Katherine Heigl recently joined the cast of Suits, which films in downtown Toronto. While not shooting on the weekend, she made a 1.5 hour drive to Buffalo to visit some family. While touring through a cemetery where her own relatives were buried, she made some insensitive comedic gestures roasting the dead. Heigl tried to enlighten the mood at the grave site, but it did not sit well with her Instagram story followers.
Once the former Grey’s Anatomy star caught wind of the offensive responses, she quickly deleted the stories and issued a video apology. Sometimes we feel like we can share any piece of content on social media and not think twice about how it might affect others. In this case, the 39-year-old actress is no different and she was savvy enough to take quick action which could have turned into a disaster PR move for her career.
Social media can reward you and burn you if you let it
These three cases of public figures misusing social media are just a few examples of the backlash you can face if you don’t use any of the digital platforms wisely. It can happen to anyone, from a regular civilian to a high profiled celebrity. The larger your audience is, the larger your reach grows as well. But it can also mean that your every social media movement is traced, studied and critiqued. Always make sure to be self aware of what you post on social media. We live in an ultra sensitive climate these days and while your original intentions are not hurtful, others can interpret it in the wrong way.
