Bruised fingers, trembling hands and drops of cold sweat running down his face… That’s how Miguel remained when he hung on the horizontal bar for more than five minutes, as if it were a gymnastic competition or an acrobatic number.

But this young man (at that time he was 24 years old) was not a high-class athlete, much less an aerialist. His task was to complete a task he had seen on the Internet and ask a friend to film it: play at a height of more than six meters between him and a not-so-pleasant fall.

The famous physicist Albert Einstein once said, “There are only two infinite things: the universe and human stupidity. As for the universe, I’m not very sure.” This criterion has been confirmed in recent years by the spread of a phenomenon known as Problems or viral challenges, in particular, when a person posts rash actions on their social media and encourages users to follow them, sometimes even with a competitive approach, and there really are those who follow them!

It is impossible to ignore the positive direction of some of the challenges launched to support the campaign against homophobia, violence against women, animal cruelty or environmental violence, to name but a few of the good reasons; or if they reflect beautiful behavior, humanitarian acts and actions
innocuous ones, such as posting photographs or cultural and humorous challenges.

But it’s not the one Problems to which we refer, but to the new “virus” of the environment Online with high frequency on networks such as Tik Tok, YouTube or Facebook. The one that involves dangerous actions, and this is precisely the problem of this virtual direction.

A study by the International University of La Rioja in Bogota states that Problems Dangerous make up 20.6% of the calls offered on the networks, while the rest are of a less disturbing social nature. However, the study highlights that young people adopt both forms almost equally.

The consequences of these risky or violent actions can be severe. As in the case of Miguel, who in the seventh minute of his feat was unable to move to a safe position and, despite having survived a brutal descent, was hospitalized for several months due to irreversible damage to the spine and fractures of the ribs and sternum.

“Now my mobility is impaired and I can’t work or run much. Not to mention the trauma that the fall left me: it is impossible for me to be higher than four or five meters. All because of this stupidity,” he said two years after the event.

But why do these tragic events occur despite awareness of the risks involved? Today’s society maintains such a strong connection to the virtual scene that many times the rules of this alternate universe supersede the rules of reality. looking for likereactions, views and greater popularity on the Internet are much more important to some than social coexistence and direct communication.

In the case of adolescence, this is a stage of behavioral and psychological patterns that reflect their physical and moral transformation, and they do not yet have a clear idea of ​​​​what is dangerous and what is not. The constant need for dopamine that is typical for this age (between 14 and 18 years old) encourages them to take risks, which is a source of more excitement and immediate rewards.

On the other hand, it should be noted that these Problems They are mainly created by famous people or users who are very famous in various social networks, which makes the tasks more significant. But those who follow them tend to ignore the fact that the people who are the protagonists of these feats may be professionals with a lot of training and education behind them, and not ordinary users without the necessary skills. Except for the existence of deceptive video editors. In other words, not everything published is true.

The pleasure of participating in certain virtual challenges can be undeniable, but we must be aware of how reasonable it is to perform them, and their possible consequences for us and other people. Being young does not give us the right to be ignorant, and we may well be aware that everything has its limits.

Source: Juventud Rebelde