Risk Awareness VS Social Media

A common sight when disasters occur is hordes of people with their phones pointed at the commotion. This is seen all the time on social media in videos with attention grabbing titles like “SCARIEST Natural Disasters Caught on Video!” or “Top 10 Most Dramatic Footage of Natural Disasters Caught on Camera”. When something terrible happens, whether it be a tornado, a tsunami or a building on fire – there’s guaranteed to be someone there pointing a camera. These videos rake in millions of views, shares and comments from viewers looking for an exciting watch.

In today’s social media driven times, occurrences like natural disasters are a gold mine for those aiming to claim their 15 minutes of fame and ‘clout’. The search for this seems to take precedence over the severity of the situation being filmed. Instead of running away from a tsunami, people dart towards them to get a better shot of the destruction- it’s insanity!

From a risk assessors perspective, clips like these are very worrying, especially given the frequency of it’s occurrence. More and more people who see these videos, are being desensitized to how dangerous these situations really are and are being lured by the social media attention a disaster video could bring them.

One of our recent social media posts that’s made the rounds on twitter-

“You see a building on fire, what’s the first thing you should do?

a) Call 999

b) Film it on your phone

It seems like common sense which one of these is correct, however, people filming before taking action is an increasingly worrying problem!”

-We posed this question. And the fact that many choose to do the latter is a terrifying reality. When you see a fire, your instinct shouldn’t be to get your phone out and snap a video for social media, it should be to call the emergency services!

Remember that risking yours and others lives for 15 minutes of fame is not a risk worth taking.