3 ms·

I'm sorry for posting this here, in advance. However, this Like/Peer Approval culture has indirectly contributed to one of the worst wildfires in Oregon's histo

I'm sorry for posting this here, in advance. However, this Like/Peer Approval culture has indirectly contributed to one of the worst wildfires in Oregon's history. > A woman who was hiking over the weekend in the Columbia River Gorge said Tuesday that she happened across a teenager who threw "a smoke bomb" into Eagle Creek Canyon, igniting the now 10,000-acre Eagle Creek fire. Liz FitzGerald, 48, of Portland said she's fairly certain that she heard the teenager's friends -- including a boy who was video-recording with his cellphone and some girls in the group -- giggle as the firework dropped down a cliff and into the trees below. http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2017/09/witness_teens_giggled_as_they.html http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2...

Roritharr 9y ago
I don't think kids have only started doing stupid things when they discovered Snapchat/Instagram...
- wallflower 9y ago
  I agree and I want to clarify that Snapchat/Instagram/Twitter have created an amplification such that while kids may have done stupid things in the past, they are more likely to do it for an audience of their peers. The most mainstream example being YTers like Jake Paul who has taken MTV's Jackass into the New Media age. The less common examples being kids who are so self absorbed in their own world that they fail to take responsibility for what their actions incur. It is possible these teenagers who started the fire will escape consequences and (modern fire prevention techniques aside) the true tragedy is that the actions of a small group of individuals have affected the larger society irreparably. Like a jackass motorcycle rider weaving between cars on a major highway at 100+ mph, it is when your actions affect innocent bystanders that you are no longer just "selfie expressing".
- Nanite 9y ago
  Well at least nowadays, they're more likely to self-incriminate.

Roritharr 9y ago

I don't think kids have only started doing stupid things when they discovered Snapchat/Instagram...

wallflower 9y ago
I agree and I want to clarify that Snapchat/Instagram/Twitter have created an amplification such that while kids may have done stupid things in the past, they are more likely to do it for an audience of their peers. The most mainstream example being YTers like Jake Paul who has taken MTV's Jackass into the New Media age. The less common examples being kids who are so self absorbed in their own world that they fail to take responsibility for what their actions incur. It is possible these teenagers who started the fire will escape consequences and (modern fire prevention techniques aside) the true tragedy is that the actions of a small group of individuals have affected the larger society irreparably. Like a jackass motorcycle rider weaving between cars on a major highway at 100+ mph, it is when your actions affect innocent bystanders that you are no longer just "selfie expressing".
Nanite 9y ago
Well at least nowadays, they're more likely to self-incriminate.