Online plaudits more important than saving lives?

There is an adage - make hay while the sun shines. That should be changed to - 'do not make videos while others pine' - in today's day and age. A 22-year-old Vasai resident died after passers-by stood shooting videos and photos of him lying on the road for two hours instead of taking him to hospital following a bike accident on Wednesday night. The pillion rider, who escaped unscathed, ran away soon after the accident, a report said in this paper.

In a shameful incident of irresponsibility, people stood taking pictures not for one minute but for hours instead of helping this man. While he may have died anyway, there was also a slim chance that he could have lived with timely medical help.

This talks very badly about us as a society. It also shows the little value of human life and the importance of pictures, likes, thumbs ups and views that is an indicator that we live vicariously. Applause and plaudits online seem to matter more than saving lives. A very poor commentary on how our value system has changed, and the way social media now rules us, becoming a marker for our identity or very being.

Just like all those traffic campaigns saying do not drink and drive, speed kills or whatever, our traffic honchos will do well to unspool campaigns that tell people to desist from this shocking behaviour and try to help victims of road accidents. Those very same phones that were used to record videos could have been used to make calls to get medical help. If people do not want to get help fearing police rigmarole, they can at least initiate a process through the very same tool they are using for collecting online 'wah wahs' on social media. Let us get our priorities in place and remember that life takes precedence over likes.

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