Whither Youth: Social media Obsession

I remember reading a news article last year that said that selfies kill more people across globe than sharks do. Young people and social media have redefined ‘live for the moment’ phrase in the past decade. Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat are no longer simple ‘social networking’ channels, they have turned into obsessions. Obsession to have the best display picture, thousands plus likes for it and the largest following chunk.

It was a fall out of this mania that a lawsuit was filed last week blamingSnapchat for a Georgia car crash that left one man seriously injured.Amy Joyner, 16, of Delaware, died last week after being beaten in her high-school bathroom. A student allegedly recorded the attack with a cellphone and shared it on social media.

"Social media plays a big part in a lot of what's going on nowadays," said senior SuleidaZayas, who attended a vigil for Joyner."It's cool to record a fight and it's cool to be on social media because of a fight and I think that's where a lot of us mess up."

Ohio case where rape of a 17-year-old was live streamed on Periscope app was sick to the core. The 18-year old who allegedly did this faces up to 40 years in prison for the same. In March, near Tacoma Washington, three teenagers were charged with raping a 15-year-old girl and posting it on Snapchat.

Something is seriously rotten out there. Otherwise, why will you see a filter in an app that can measure speed? The way Snapchat works is that you can take video and pictures and choose from a number of filters, including one that measures speed, before posting.

18-year old Christal McGee from Atlanta allegedly used that filter last year to take a selfie to show her friends she was driving 107 miles per hour. Moments later, she crashed into a driver, who survived but was seriously injured. McGee survived but continued to post pictures of herself while on a stretcher with the caption, "lucky to be alive."

Life and death have in a way become meaningless today. For this young generation, their profile pictures, likes, followers, comments is their ‘real life’.

"I have teenagers say that things don't feel real 'til you see them on social media," said Dr. Lisa Damour, a child psychologist, adding that "It's so tough with teenagers because their better judgment can be overridden by their wish to be connected to their friends."

Perhaps its time, we stop and ponder, Whither Youth?