Willing to put their lives at danger to gain 15 seconds of online fame
Recently, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have seen a number of incidents when young people turned to theatrical actions in order to gain rapid social media fame.
The time when fame could only be achieved via pure talent and unique abilities has long since passed. Today’s youth desire immediate social media fame, and they’ll do anything to get it by utilising numerous social media sites.
Young people are so obsessed with being seen on social media that they are even willing to jeopardise their lives, much alone risk being arrested, spending time in jail, or arousing the wrath of the community. According to experts, adolescents are being influenced by social media’s immense reach to do something bizarre, crazy, or even deadly in order to become online celebrity right away.
They made the argument that, whereas in the past people gained online fame through their unadulterated talent or by honing their skills in genres like music, dancing, acting, painting, and literature, social media nowadays has made it possible for people without particularly special talents to achieve fame.
Young generation want to become famous more quickly than brewing instant coffee by creating short films and submitting them to websites like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Many people think they can instantly become famous around the world using different social media platforms.
Others seek to gain online fame with just one video of their daredevilry or other odd behavior, while YouTubers and some others who have been active on various social media platforms for the past few years continue to look for novel strategies to grow their subscriber bases or gain more likes.
Recently, there have been multiple cases in the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh when young people have turned to theatrical actions to gain online fame.
A 17-year-old boy in Telangana’s Hanamkonda district almost lost his life last month due to the obsession to record him walking close to a fast train.
When the 12th-grade kid was struck by the train while posing for a picture, he suffered severe injuries. He can be seen wandering along the railroad track dangerously close to Kazipet Railway Station in the video, oblivious to the impending threat from behind, which went popular on social media but not in the way the young man wanted.
The young man, who was fixated on filming for a video, is seen walking along the rail with his hands in his pockets as a train approaches from behind. He was struck by the train and hurled aside in a matter of seconds. Before the young man was knocked down, his companion, who was capturing the footage on a mobile device, is heard warning him.
Chintakula Akshay Raju desired to record a video with a fast train in the distance in order to post it on Instagram. But this passion nearly cost him his life. He was hurt in the hand and the leg.
A video of a girl dancing onboard a metro train in Hyderabad went popular on social media in July.
The little girl recorded dance videos for Instagram while dancing to the Tamil song Ra Ra.
Hyderabad Metro officials threatened to discipline her for breaking the regulations since taking pictures and videos inside the train or on the platform is not authorised.
The girl’s behaviour attracted conflicting reactions on social media. While some applauded her bravery, others criticised her behaviour and called for punishment.
“The height of indifference… These females act more publicly inappropriately for the society we live in. Metro, put an end to this insanity in public spaces, “penned a user.
Five young people were detained in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh in July after they broke into a wild boar enclosure near Visakhapatnam. They entered the cage and started tease the animals to make an Instagram video while they were between the ages of 19 and 21. Their goal was to gain more followers.
The five suspects entered the enclosure at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park by leaping over the barricade. On social media, the incident’s video quickly gained popularity. For a few minutes, the young man taunted and chased the wild boar.
One of the soldiers was struck down by a boar that charged directly at them. He was later observed climbing the fence to escape.
The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 was invoked in the arrest of the teenager.
