When Demands For Social Media Content Make Humans Exploit Ignorance

JAKARTA – In just one day, June 2 and 3, 2022, two teenagers died because they created content for their social media (medsos). The first incident occurred in Soreang, Bandung Regency, while the second occurred in Karawaci, Tangerang City. The reason is the same, the two teenagers died when they were hit by a truck that they were trying to stop to fill social media content. The stupidity displayed by the enthusiasts of social media content, invites a big question mark.

In Karawaci, teenager Y, who was only 18 years old, was killed by a truck. Meanwhile in Soreang, a junior high school student also died with the same cause. These two tragic events complement several similar tragedies, which have occurred since social media was rampant in Indonesia.

According to the Head of Public Relations of the Tangerang City Metro Police, AKP Abdul Jana, Y and several of his friends really intend to create social media content.

“Y and his partner blocked a passing truck. However, while evading, Y was hit and killed at the scene of the crime. Maybe for content. The victim failed to escape and died because he was run over by a container truck," Abdul Jana told VOI.

“There was indeed a friend, who was injured as a result of blocking the truck. The victim survived, but also participated in the ambush," said Abdul Jana again.

This is not the only time this year something like this happened. Last year there was also an incident where two teenagers in Bekasi were killed by a truck, just because they acted bravely for the sake of social media content.

The Mayor of Tangerang, Arief R Wismansyah, had to issue an appeal to his citizens to strictly supervise their children, especially in social media.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please continue to monitor their children, don't let them just for the sake of social media content, our children are endangering their lives," said Arief in a written statement received by VOI on Wednesday, June 8.

From the records of the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Indonesians are among the most active social media groups in the world. As many as 4 out of 10 Indonesians are active on social media. With the high number of social media users, the spread of negative content is very likely.

A report from British media company We Are Social in collaboration with Hootsuite to compose Digital 2021: The Latest Insight Into The State of Digital published on February 11, 2021, states that in Indonesia there are 170 million active social media users. That number almost covers 70 percent of the total population of Indonesia. The report also stated that compared to 2020, in Indonesia there was an increase of 10 million social media users.

We Are Social also stated that the level of social media users in Indonesia has reached the addiction stage. The average Indonesian spends 3 hours 14 minutes every day visiting social media pages.

According to We Are Social, there are 10 countries whose population is at the level of social media addiction, and Indonesia is in it, which is ranked 9th. The ten countries are: Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia and South Africa.

In 1968 a contemporary artist from the United States who became the originator of pop art or modern art, Andy Warhol, once said that in the future fame can be obtained by someone in just 15 minutes.

"In the future, everyone will become world famous in just 15 minutes," said Warhol, who later became known as the 15 Minutes of Fame phenomenon.

The current 15 Minutes of Fame phenomenon deserves to be pinned to people who become famous through social media. But when then that fame is obtained in a way that exceeds the limit, even reckless, the consequences will certainly be negative.

The teenagers' recklessness by blocking oncoming trucks for the sake of social media content invited a reaction from psychologists. Kasandra Putranto, a psychologist from Kassandra & Associates Psychological Consultants in Jakarta, sees that there are three major phenomena behind the recklessness of teenagers in creating social media content.

“There are three things that play a role in this problem. First, that information technology does affect human behavior. The two factors are teenagers, who have distinctive characteristics because they are in a period of growth and development," Kasansra told VOI.

“From a neuropsychological point of view, their brains are actually not perfect. Unable to distinguish exactly what can be done and what can't be done. The third could be in terms of trends or environmental factors, whether family or friends. It could also be a wider environment, the influence of netizens, for example," Kasandra continued.

Kasandra then suggested that the government make a policy of limiting information technology. These restrictions are intended so that users of social media and other information technology products do not act too fast.

Seto Mulyadi or Kak Seto, who is currently the General Chair of the Indonesian Child Protection Agency (LPAI) also highlighted environmental issues, as the most influential factor for teenagers' recklessness for social media content. Kak Seto is of the opinion that these reckless actions have fatal consequences because they demand attention. Either attention from family or the wider environment.

“It is very concerning, in the sense that communication within the family seems to be decreasing. So that these children do not get the attention of their families, their friends, their environment. Finally, making dangerous content, because it doesn't get appreciation from the family and appreciation from the school environment," said Kak Seto to VOI on June 7th.

As one way out, Kak Seto suggested that the police and government create a content competition, so that teenagers and the public can get a positive channel of creativity through social media.