So, I've been thinking about this whole incident with Bill Nye the Science Guy. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Bill Nye was doing a presentation at USC, as he was approaching the podium, he collapsed. No one went to his side to see if he needed help, but a bunch of students pulled out their cell phones and began twittering the play by play.
Now, I'm going to give the students and staff the benefit of the doubt here, because it's what I do. One account said it was only for about ten seconds, so that wouldn't be enough time to leave your seat in the audience, approach the stage, and help. Also, our reaction time to such things would probably take that long. I mean, if I saw someone faint, my first reaction would be wtf is this part of the show, my second reaction would be holy shit someone should do something, my third, holy shit I should do something. 
That being said, I do think we live in an apathetic society and maybe we've become jaded by technology. When someone collapses we think first to update our Twitter or Facebook status because we've just experience something interesting rather than to call 9-1-1. And let's face it, our college students today have been branded generation "Y" for good reason. They are the entitled generation, raised on television, Internet, and video games. Never taught to care about anything but instant self gratification. Maybe that's a little harsh, and yes, I'm generalizing, but there is some truth to that.
Interesting post. I hadn't heard the story about Bill Nye the Science Guy, but last night, my husband fell on a patch of black ice. I leapt out of the vehicle to see if he was ok.....my stepdaughter updated her Facebook status to mock his fall to all of her friends. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY!! Of course, if you weren't there I'm sure she would have helped him first. Right? ;)
ReplyDeleteHow do we change this in our teens? As a mom, I wonder what I can do to make certain social graces are still part of their education....hmmm...
ReplyDeleteWhat?!?! I hope not all kids are like this, I definitely know my kids wont, because lack of social graces is a big turn off for me so I have started instilling it in my toddler.
ReplyDeleteSad but true. I believe that while technology is a good in itself, it has a lot of drawbacks. The key one being de-personalization of day-to-day interaction. I was once visiting a friend of mine for a week and noticed he was a little down; when I asked him if he was okay, he said, "Oh, yeah, I am fine..." but later my sister told me he asked his friends on facebook for prayers because he was very depressed. I don't have facebook, but I just think it's sad that people find it easier and more convenient to tweet things or put them on facebook than to actually interact with people in the real world.
ReplyDeleteTess, it's hard, but we have to teach our children responsibility and compassion, and I think that people are so busy rushing through life these lessons get left by the way side.
ReplyDeleteJoanna, it's what you have to do. I taught my children to be polite and respectful, and I always hear how wonderful they are from their friends parents. Well worth the diligence.
And Faith, it is sad, but on the other hand, sometimes people feel more comfortable talking to a perfect stranger about the difficult things in life than to someone in their tangible world. I have been guilty of this myself.
I thank you all for your comments. Let's hope they call the next generation, Generation S, for sympathy.
You are so right about our younger society, not that they are wrong in the way that they respond to things. I would definitely call 9-1-1 first, but then, I am of a different generation. We didn't have cell phones, internet or anything like that.
ReplyDeleteSo was Bill okay? It does seem like there will be a rebound at some point to the electronic tether that we're all linked by, but maybe that's just me. Good food for thought.
ReplyDeleteThink about this: Do you really think those students would have done anything even if they didn't have twitter? I doubt it. Instead of telling their facebook friends about it, they would say the exact same thing to the person sitting next to them, and still not lift a finger to help.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard enough to get a human to take responsibilty for something they're not directly connected to. Harder still when there are hundreds of other people around, and everyone keeps expecting someone else to take control of the situation. Harder still when those people happen to be kids who are used to being told to let adults take control in emergency situations.
Technology had nothing to do with it, I'm afraid. This is just the plain old human nature at work.