Video ga ga. Is technology replacing humanity at accident sites?

Recording parties, weddings accidents or even deaths have now become a passion for a lot of people armed with a simple smartphone. For the new ‘media persons’, i.e anybody with a mobile and social media account, capturing any incident on camera is a greater priority than perhaps even jumping to help. The wide-ranging backlash at the person filming a video while Swapnil Walke, the Margao jeweller, was fighting for his life is indicative that our society does realise this and doesn’t quite approve

Ajit John

It is the new today. Picture an accident site. The vehicles
involved are in strange angles and needless to say acquired new shapes. 
The sounds of the injured are loud and clear. The ambulances which have been
called have not arrived as yet. There are people around the site, some trying
to offer assistance but others standing around and recording the proceedings on
their smartphones.  There seems to be a voyeuristic delight taken in
recording accidents, deaths, other people’s misfortunes or generally just
recording it instead of offering assistance.  This disturbing trend has been visible for a while. What does it
mean?  What does it say about a generation that is more interested in not
providing assistance and keen on recording such situations?Advocate Caroline Colaco says everything these days can be
recorded by the click of a button and there is a distinct lack of
sensitivity.  She said “When someone posts that he or she has lost their
father, there are people who press like without thinking. There is this need
now to record and post on various platforms.  This is the height of
irresponsibility”.  Speaking about the disturbing episode in Margao she
said there were different versions which were being shared and this was just
another example of people sharing gruesome videos of accidents and other
misfortunes.  With regards to the argument that all this recording could
somehow help the authorities perhaps, she said it was not as easy as people
imagined. She said, “Electronic evidence can be tampered and even if people
record they may not be willing to come forward and help out during the case”.Another man with strong views on this was Vinesh Iyer. He has
organized eclectic music shows in the state and even used the digital space to
popularize various causes. He felt it was all about vomiting out now because
now there is no physical interaction.  Then there was also the fear of
getting stuck in the legal system if one went to help in an accident. It is all
about fear he felt and now with the virus everything was going online.  He
said “Life now revolves around the smartphone and its power is in your hands.
Instead of helping people want to record and it will become evidence. That is
the direction things are moving now and that’s the way it is.”For the young people who are in the midst of it all, those who
live and die by the likes they get or don’t get, this is the only way to live
life. Sonali Pandit a student of a college in Panjim likes watching videos on
dance, cooking and street food but she also said she would get clips of
arguments mostly verbal and sometimes physical and also of accidents which were
forwarded.  She, however, was categorical that if she was present at the
site she would offer assistance instead of recording everything. Another student Ali Azad Sayed said he learns a lot from
the digital world and it was also a place to showcase their talent be it
dancing or singing and increase their popularity. Speaking about the tendency
of recording accidents sites, he felt people would learn that such an incident
had taken place and if blood was needed they could offer help. He felt the
digital world was the way forward and one had to learn to live with it good or
bad.Parvesh Bharti  a student of a college in Verna perhaps
explained it best when he said it was all about getting likes and recording
developments be it social events or accidents which would guarantee them more
viewers and likes. That he said was the nature of the game and there was
nothing more to think about.     Leonard Fernandes a Margao based publisher felt it was a
voyeuristic trend that had caught the fancy of the people and it was all about
being popular in that world. He felt people had got on to the bandwagon without
understanding the etiquettes or its ethics. The recording he felt bordered on
porn where people could look after and enjoy it. It can’t be a good thing he
said.Priya Zangiri a psychiatrist based in Panjim felt that with
children being so comfortable with technology it was open to misuse and it was
also very competitive. She said “Recently students at a school in Panjim
morphed an image of the teacher and it resulted in much anger. For them it was
fun”.  Speaking about this urge to film everything as was evident in
Margao recently she said it was all about being first and it was not done out
of any malice. It was all about seeking validation from peers and the larger
society. She however also pointed out that all this recording could help
because there was now nowhere to hide and the authorities could use this very well.This is a trend that has caught the fancy of people in the last
couple of years and it will certainly be interesting to learn where this will
land us all eventually.But one thing is clear. Technology cannot replace humanity.