Don't trade your life for thousands of likes

A photo for a life

Recently, a clip recording the scene of a young man falling from a cliff has been continuously shared on social networks and attracted the attention of viewers. The action of this young man, climbing a mountain without protective gear in an area with a prohibited sign, just to check in and post it on Facebook to get likes, has met with public reaction.

Do Thanh A, a young man climbed a cliff to take photos to "get likes" and fell freely from a height of nearly 20m. Photo: IT

The young man in the clip is Do Thanh A (22 years old, living in Dong Nai). On the morning of March 10, Thanh A wore shorts and a T-shirt to Con Heo Hill (Ward 2, Vung Tau City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province) to challenge himself by climbing to the top of a steep hill more than 20m high. The action attracted many people to watch, film and post on social networks.

However, while climbing barefoot and with his bare hands, near the top of the hill, this young man suddenly slipped and fell freely into the rocky abyss. He fell several times, but fortunately Thanh A was still conscious and suffered not too serious injuries: shoulder dislocation, greater tubercle avulsion, and severed radial nerve of the humerus...

Previously, on March 11, social media spread a photo by the nick Kha Banh, capturing a group of young men lining up on the highway, regardless of the danger to their lives and the lives of other road users. The Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) sent an invitation to the subjects to come to work.

During the process of working with the police, Ngo Ba Kha (owner of the Kha Banh account) said that the car stop on the highway was just an accident. After he went to a friend's wedding in Thai Binh, on the way back, he and his friends stopped the car to go to the restroom and then stood in a row to take souvenir photos and post them online for likes.

There are many similar types of actions that happen continuously in society.

Deviant, deplorable trend

Referring to the above funny and sad stories, Dr. Trinh Hoa Binh - Director of the Center for Social Opinion Investigation (Institute of Sociology) said that all the above stories are deviant and strange behaviors of young people stemming from the need to live a virtual life on social networks.

Mr. Binh believes that behind the stories of virtual life, it partly reflects the deadlock of individuals in modern society. Young people always want to express themselves and assert their ego. And they can do anything to satisfy this. In recent times, those deviant and erroneous lifestyle trends have been assisted by social networks, so they spread more and more quickly.

Psychologist Nguyen An Chat: Virtual life can cause autism

“Currently, many young people are almost "addicted" to social networks. Accordingly, those who are "addicted" to social networks and live in a virtual world for too long can distort their outlook on life, causing negative phenomena among young people: cutting themselves, dangerous racing, using stimulants. If young people use shocking, disruptive, "showing off" actions and then posting them online, regardless of the ridicule, criticism, and anger of the online community just to "make themselves famous", it can lead to serious consequences, causing harm to themselves and others, and most likely they can be prosecuted according to the law."

Dr. Khuat Thu Hong - Institute DirectorInstitute for Social Development Studies: The illusion that you can trade your life

“The phenomenon of virtual living is created by mental pressure and distorted values. Many people think that being famous leads to money, seeking fame regardless of honor and life, and even being “cursed” is considered a success. But this concept of success is understood in a distorted way, which leads to distortion in personality formation, making wrong friends, wrong behavior, illusions about one’s own strength… This can lead to behavior that is harmful to oneself and others.”

Dr. Trinh Hoa Binh - Director of the Center for Social Opinion Investigation: Deviant behavior from the need to live a virtual life

“Young people often have little life experience, they live in a hurry, so they rarely think about the consequences of their actions. In addition, with the encouragement of netizens, virtual living and liking actions help people become famous online and even help them make a lot of money thanks to likes. Therefore, sometimes they ignore their own dangers, even those of others, and commit deviant acts.”