EDITORIAL - For the sake of likes

Russian vlogger Vitaly Zdorovetskiy was arrested in Pasay City last Thursday for harassing several people and stealing items just so he had something to post in his social media account. He makes it a point to shock or insult people to get reactions from them.

He isn’t alone when it comes to going to extremes for the views and likes.

Just recently, American content creator Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov was also arrested for trespassing in North Sentinel Island in India, trying to make contact with an isolated tribe there. The place he went to is considered one of the most restricted and dangerous areas in the world and the native tribe there has already killed a missionary who had too much zeal but too little common sense.

Apparently, Polyakov fancies himself a “danger tourist” and his social media accounts have videos of him going to dangerous places and doing risky things, like going to Afghanistan to meet the Taliban.

We also have a good example of local content creators willing to do stupid things to get attention. Remember that vlogger who dressed up as a snail and inserted himself into traffic in Consolacion Town because he thought it would be amusing?

What in the world led him to believe it would be funny?

People like these prove that there is nothing some of us won’t do just to get attention, views, likes, and shares. It’s almost pathetic.

They will even cross the boundary of decent behavior, common sense, or even safety; which can be harmless if they don’t rope others into their antics. But then again they usually do, and they don’t think twice about causing inconvenience or trouble for others for their own sake.

We shouldn’t encourage --heck, we should even punish-- such reckless behavior and disregard for others.

We can shut them down, or at least hit them were it hurts, just by not choosing to view or share their content. Let’s be honest here; there are many more interesting things to look at in the internet.