While delivering a lecture at the University of Southern California, Bill Nye “The Science Guy”, from the same named 1990s television show, fainted. After this something shocking happened. Instead of rushing over to see if he was okay or calling a paramedic, students took to the Internet to spread the news. One of the tweets posted to Twitter said “Bill Nye tripped on his computer cord while speaking at USC, was out for abt 5 secs, got back up, spoke w/slurred speech and fainted.” This begs the question, why did students tweet instead of help him? Was spreading the word more important than assisting the famed “Science Guy”? Where was the teacher when this happened?
Of course, as news can virally spread like wildfire, different reports were filed instantly on Twitter. As with witnesses, varying accounts of the situation are to be expected. Whether no one helped him and everyone was confused, or whatever actually happened, no one may know. What we do know is that he fainted and instead of someone rushing to the podium where he fell, they used their cell phones to text message or tweet out the news. I am not sure why this happened. I guess if I saw someone faint I might be too shocked to run to the stage, but I know that I wouldn’t be tweeting. You’ll never catch me tweeting about my EMAC 6300 professor if for some unfortunate reason she fainted. I would never say “@purplekimchi just fell and knocked her head on the projector, more details to come”. Would you?
The reason this bothers me is because this specific example is a perfect lesson in technology. People spend so much time connecting via Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms via devices such as their computers and phones, that they lose touch with the here and now. Even though technology has allowed the creation of online communities and ways to connect, you never want to be with the person who is text messaging someone instead of paying attention to you while you are trying to catch up over coffee at Starbucks. I think the dependency level of communication through these online communities translates into instant sharing. While sharing online is great, we can’t forget to live our actual lives in the present day.
Which part would you play? Would you be the person sharing the news or the person making the news?
Hey Alan,
Great post. This phenomenon is something I blogged about towards the beginning of the semester, the way that becoming increasingly social online seems to decrease our collective ability to form deep human connections. I think you have a very valid point here. Let’s hope we don’t technologize ourselves out of our humanity. And no, I would’t tweet about it if our prof fell and bumped her head either.
Great post! Check out mine on a similar topic:
http://thoroughlymodernmeka.blogspot.com/2010/08/emerging-media-ecosystem.html#comments
I think that this is more of an example of the Bystander Effect. If I were in the audience, I probably would not have done anything because I am not the most qualified to handle the situation. Being that this happened at a university, it would be expected that a representative of the university would take action.
Bill Nye’s collapse and the subsequent reaction by students brings to mind two events, one fictional and the other historic. In the movie Network when Howard Beale is assassinated on live television, people merely sit and watch without seeking to help the poor guy. In fact, the only thing that moves are the cameras, so they can better angles and a decent closeup of the deranged host’s death.
Bill Nye’s spell also reminded me of a video I watched during my undergrad, when the news was covering JFK’s death. Rather than report the story in the traditional method of the time, one network chose to use some sort of radio intercom, or walkie talkie. The news of JFK’s assassination was reason enough to be engaged, but hearing the real-time (albeit with heavy static) responses through a new piece of equipment gave viewers another reason to watch the news and even marvel at the technology amidst all the commotion.
I agree. People today spend too much time on social media. I am thinking how much time people leave for themselves? Are we really using those social media well?
Sam
“I would never say “@purplekimchi just fell and knocked her head on the projector, more details to come””
And for that, I thank you (And thanks to Tameka too!). I would also attempt to help you should either of you faint in class.
I think Nick may be right though. Though perhaps instead of standing there feeling helpless, onlookers decided to fill the void with their gadgets. I don’t mean to suggest that they acted appropriately, but I have to wonder how many people, in a large crowd, would have rushed to his aid prior to Twitter.