Social media likes are not going to save your life

Two people had died in the fire in Pavan Dham Veena Santoor building in Kandivli last week. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Fire brigade officials have made a startling pronouncement in a Kandivli building fire, a report said in this paper. Three people perished in this fire. The first call to the fire brigade came a full 30 minutes after the fire broke out, because, according to fire officials people were busy recording videos to post on social media.

People get so engrossed capturing videos for social media platforms that they often forget to first dial for help when a fire breaks out, stated a senior fire official.

This is absolutely disastrous and can be deadly as has often been proved. While this refers to a fire, we see this happening elsewhere, too. In case of an accident on the road, people are bent on taking pictures and posting them to their accounts, rather than helping the victims. Even if they cannot help, they can keep out of the way and help others get access to the victim. Instead, selfishly and without a shred of empathy they will start taking pictures and in fact, try for selfies, too!

Fire brigade officials have cited instances when they were called 20 to 30 minutes after a fire broke out. The first 30 minutes are crucial in fire combat and that is the optimum time slot to contain the fire,
they stated.

Like we said, this tendency to post on social media and garner likes stretches to other emergencies, too. Get over the likes you want to collect, the cyber admiration and two minutes of fame you want.

Respond responsibly and appropriately to these events. Social media posts do not fit those categories. We are living in a virtual world far removed from reality. Too many people seem to think this existence supersedes real life, or in fact, is real life itself. This attitude is delusional and dangerous. There are statistics to bear that out.