There has been a huge trend lately where people (mostly teenagers and young adults) perform various stunts in order to get “social media fame.”  The idea is that their post or their idea with gain traction and eventually become viral.  This has lead to some young people making very questionable to downright stupid decisions in pursuit of this fame.  Social media fame isn’t worth it and here’s some of why.

It’s in pursuit of this fame that we’ve seen teenage boys willingly consume Tide pods while taking video of it.  This decision has ruined the lives of several young men who have chosen to ingest the highly toxic contents of a Tide pod for however brief a time.

The poor decision-making has not stopped there.  There are plenty of other ways in which young people are seeking the fleeting fame of a viral social media post.  I have an example of my own.

A few weeks ago, we had some business on the other side of Red Canyon (a place commonly believed to be a part of Bryce Canyon National Park by tourists; it’s not).  Along the way, all drivers will pass under no less than two man-made arches referred to as tunnels.  One is depicted here.

On the way, I happened to notice a young man up on top of one of the man-made arches.  He was out on the ledge and jumping up and down.  He was also posing while doing so.

Keep in mind that there was lots of traffic on the road below.  Also, that arch/tunnel isn’t very wide.  It’s perhaps a few feet wide and also made of uneven sandstone rock.  Basically, one wrong move could have really ruined his day and someone else’s as well.

The second picture here will give you a rough idea of approximately where he was standing.  As you can probably gather, he willingly put himself in a rather precarious position.  One wrong move or bad landing could see him tumble off the edge onto the pavement below or worse, perhaps, onto someone else’s car.  Depending on what happened, this stunt could have cost this young man life and/or limb literally.

This final picture should give you a rough idea of the kind of pose he was repeatedly trying to strike with each leap.  It was clear that he was doing this deliberately from the repeated attempts.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  I didn’t have much time to process what was happening as the traffic was moving but I caught that he was a young Asian-looking man about mid-twenties.  The next thing I saw was what really sealed it for me.

When we got to the other side, there was another young man of about the same age and physical description in the middle of the road holding a camera.  It was even a nicer camera.  It wasn’t a smart phone.

This whole stunt being performed in front of me was for a photo shoot, presumably also for internet fame.  I feel very safe in calling this particular young man what he is: an idiot.

The hike up to that perch is short but VERY steep.  Most sane people wouldn’t think to attempt it.  If they did, jumping would probably be the last thing on their minds for fear of their own safety.

While this may be publicly-owned land (run by the National Forest Service), there are still ways you can trespass.  This young man demonstrated one of those ways very nicely.  He put his own life at risk in the process.  He’s lucky some official didn’t catch him or something worse happen.

There are serious legal and ethical issues which come into play with stunts like this.  There’s also serious risk to physical well-being of self and others as well as risk to others’ personal property (cars).  If you are wanting to perform a stunt like the one described above, make sure to seek out proper permission FIRST.  It’s not always better to ask forgiveness than permission.  Social media fame isn’t always worth it.