Internet Fame: How Far Is Too Far?

Photo+courtesy+of+Marketing+Land.

Photo courtesy of Marketing Land.

Madeleine Katz, Photojournalist

With youtube, facebook, instagram and countless other social media websites and apps if you post something that can easily attract attention it could gain millions of views, likes, or comments.  In order to get famous online people do insane things for attention. The limits people will go for online fame range from shaving their heads to bathing in a bathtub full of milk and cereal.

Glozell is an extremely popular youtuber with over four million subscribers. She got famous for her reactions to eating gross and spicy food about four years ago. Her more recent videos include the “Eat it Or Wear It” challenge, the “Camel Milk Challenge”, and “Bow Wow Challenge”.

Many different accounts online have started to post videos of them holding expensive things such as phones and ipads over places where they could fall and lose them forever. They usually place the object between their pointer finger and thumb and hope not to drop it. In some cases, their reactions to dropping it is what actually gets them famous according to The Richest.

A more painful way to go viral would be by spreading salt on your skin and placing an ice cube on top. It leaves noticeable marks, but for some people it’s worth becoming internet famous. A twelve year old boy tried the “Salt and Ice Challenge” which left second degree burns on his arms which luckily heal for him in a few weeks but not without the help of several antibiotics, as reported by CBS News. In other cases, the only way to treat the burns would be surgery and there could still be lifelong scars left behind. After the incident, his parents stated, “Vidoes on YouTube, Facebook, and other social media do not accurately show the terrible injuries that can result. We are grateful that our son is recovering,” and the parent’s purpose in sharing this incident is to discourage other young people from making similar mistakes when trying to get famous online.

“People often take things way too far just to get famous. It shows a lot about today’s culture. Society has told people, especially the younger generation, that hurting themselves will gain popularity. First of all,their ‘popularity’ is short lived. Second of all, a lot of the people that do hurt themselves for fame in videos aren’t even funny, it just looks painful,” stated Jenee Anekwe (9). While some of the things people do to get famous online are funny and enjoyable to watch,others take it too far and try irrational things that could seriously harm themselves or others around them.