Through experts’ perspectives, FUNMILAYO AREMU-OLAYEMI examines the pervasive impact of social media that forces many to record tragedies rather than offer assistance in cases of emergencies.
In this digital age, human lives have become entwined with social media which not only connects people defying space and time but also provides a constant stream of information. However, in spite of social media’s redeeming values, there is inherent pressure on social media users to outpace one another, including traditional media outlets, to break the news first.
After some social media platforms started paying content creators whose posts generated lots of engagement, the hustle to create more engaging contents, and capture controversial or viral-worthy contents in real-time became more intense and competitive.
But this desire to break the news first and the hustle to have more engagement amongst Nigerian youths have now taken on a worrisome dimension as sensationalism and misinformation have become prevalent.
Some people go as far as taking videos of gory scenes in a bid to spread the same on social media. Many times, videos of accident victims have trended on social media, and many cases where people’s lives could have been saved have been captured by the very people who could have saved them.
One such case was a video which trended on social media on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, where a girl who was stabbed in the arm during a fight bled till she passed out. Based on the video, no attempt was made by any of the parties shown in the video or the person behind the camera to help stop the bleeding. The victim was recorded till she collapsed.
The video generated a lot of reactions with people quering why the girl was not given assistance by the emrgency videographers and onlookers. Why did her friends, who appeared in the video, fail to administer first aid or call the right people for help? While some queried why she was not rushed to the hospital, some hinged that on the possibility of fear of the police or just panic. Many observers berated the person who kept on capturing such moments, rather than resorting to helping the victim.
Further questions posed by the public include ‘What is the rationale behind recording a person on the verge of death?’ ‘Has our desire to trend overshadowed our empathy and humanity?’ ‘Could it be the lack of first aid knowledge?’ Unfortunately, no one can answer these questions but the people involved.
Exploring the possibility that there could be a psychological explanation for this behaviour, Sunday Tribune spoke with some psychologists to shed more light on the matter.
Lending her expert opinion, a clinical psychologist and Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Dr Imisioluwa Ibikunle, revealed that there may be a psychological aspect to every human behaviour, explaining that the matter can be looked at from three perspectives.
According to her, “Psychology has to do with human relationships in collaboration with what is going on in the brain. So, every human behaviour probably has a psychological aspect to it. Sometimes, it can be destructive but it does not necessarily mean the person has a disorder.
“People get used to doing some things and are doing it more because they are getting a reward from it. It might not be in terms of money but maybe in terms of psychological well-being. They just feel like doing it, that’s one. Secondly, they do it because it is an in-thing, it is what people do without necessarily knowing the repercussions or the adverse effects. They are just doing it because they are used to doing it.
“And thirdly, some people are just jobless; they don’t have anything to do. Because they are so idle, they do things like that and it is not necessarily to hurt the other person. Sometimes they do it because they don’t a have full understanding of the implication for the other party or even on the society.”
She, however, mentioned that she would not conclude that such people are not psychologically balanced as some people may just be very impulsive and do things without thinking about them for their satisfaction.
She explained further that: “There is a kind of well-being where they do that. They feel contented that their voice is being heard. It’s not necessarily because they are bad people or they want people to feel bad or they want to hurt other people. But, if they do it to hurt other people, it could now be a psychological issue. That person is probably a sadist who wants bad things to happen to people and feels happy when others are hurting. But, I wouldn’t totally submit to the fact that they have a personality disorder.
“They could have traits of such personality issues, but I don’t want to completely agree that they are disordered. But of course, it is something that is not right. When a lot of people are doing something, it becomes abnormally normal and sometimes they make wrong judgments.
“The first thing was not to help that individual, but to show your world, that’s wrong judgment. That’s part of intelligence. There are a lot of facets to intelligence. One of them is knowing what to do at the right time. So, if all a person wants to do is just to record, the sixth sense didn’t tell her that the first thing to do is to save the person’s life. If a person is intelligent enough, in the first instance, they won’t be doing things like that. If that individual is intelligent enough, he/she should know that they don’t have to post everything. Even if somebody didn’t die or collapse in the process, why do you have to be recording everything?”
She also opined that people who engage in such behaviour do not have full reasoning to understand that the first thing to do is to save life, adding that “there is also the issue of fear. Some flee the scene to avoid getting implicated, but other people will not flee, they will try to save the person. It is because their judgment is right, but people with poor judgment will record instead. If you go by what intelligence is, people who record others and are obsessive about doing it have poor judgment.
“You need to ask yourself, ‘why am I doing this? What do I profit from this? What will the society profit from this?’ And if your answer is that there is no point doing it, then don’t. But if you now feel compelled to do it, it is joblessness out of wrong judgment and judgment is part of intelligence.”
A case of psychological disorder?
Sunday Tribune also spoke with a drama therapist and an associate professor from the Department of Theatre and Media Arts, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Dr Olaide Nasir, who disclosed that if the habit of recording things becomes compulsively obsessive, then it is a disorder.
He said: “Obsessive compulsion is a mental imbalance. Yes, it is a psychological disorder. There is a social malady. The problem is that the society itself is problematic and there is an urgent need for people to be reoriented about all these maladies going on and the need for the government to create a pathway for people to follow to reduce these maladies to the barest minimum.
“There is a need for the victims, and the victims in this circumstance are those doing the recordings because they have a psychological problem, to be aware of what they are doing and its repercussions. Rather than recording, they should go to the person’s assistance. Right now, they are a danger to themselves and a threat to society. Through drama therapy, so many things can be corrected. If only, enough cognisance could be given to it.”
He also added that there are so many psychological issues in society as “a well-dressed man walking on the side of the road is probably a walking corpse suffering from various problems –from family, work to so many other issues. That is why at little provocation, they flare up because they have to vent their anger on somebody and they do it wrongly because, at that time, they are not in control of their mental senses.”
When asked if people could develop a psychological disorder from the content they digest on social media, especially gory and scary content, Dr Ibikunle said what we see or hear can precipitate a mental breakdown.
“When you’re looking at the theology of mental illness, when something suddenly happens, it can precipitate a mental breakdown. Somebody who is hypertensive can even slump and die from there. The news we see, and what we see and hear can precipitate mental breakdown. In fact with the current situation of the country, you will see that people are not mentally stable and everybody is just managing. There are perpetuating factors all around us,” she explained.
Dr Nasir also believed that seeking attention and online validation is not perfectly normal and may not be a psychological disorder, noting that “it could just be a way that some people try to eke out a living. You know they get paid, they have followers and all that. Some people just create unnecessary content.”
He also noted that social media is too free and needs to be controlled. In his words, “Social media is too free, it needs to be controlled. Some things should not even be posted on social media. And if they must be posted, there should be a reason for it. It needs to be censored and culprits need to be sanctioned because that is the only way people can obey rules and regulations in this country.
“Some people even edit videos of killings and fights in other countries and post them as if they happened in Nigeria. Such affects the viewers because we are not all psychologically balanced. Some people will view horrific scenes and be disturbed for a very long time.”
People need to be trained in first aid administration
On exploring the fact that many Nigerians seem to lack first aid knowledge, Sunday Tribune spoke with a doctor to educate Nigerians on the basic things to do and know when dealing with an injury or emergency.
A resident doctor in the Surgery Department of Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja, Dr Olukayode Benjamin, said people should get trained to administer first aid so that they can be guided on what to do in an emergency because things may get worse in the process of trying to help.
He advised that the first thing to do when there has been an accident, stab wound, fire, electrocution or any other accident is to secure the area and call for help.
According to him, “As a rescuer, tell someone to call for help before assessing the situation, then secure the area. If it is on the road, other people will help you divert cars so that the situation doesn’t become worse. Make sure the area is safe. If it is a fire incident or electrocution, make sure there are no live wires near the patient.
“The next thing is to assess the patient. Ask for the person’s name and call it to know if the person can respond, this is just to make sure the person can talk and the airway is clear. If the person is unconscious, what you can do is lay the patient by their side so that the tongue will not fall back, because if it does, it will block the airway. If it is a pregnant woman, lay her on her left side so that blood can flow to the foetus. It is better to lay everybody on the left side because you may not know who is pregnant.
“The next thing is to check for injuries. There are three areas of injury, there is one around the core area which is the central area. There is one around the body joints and there is one at the extremity. There are ways to stop bleeding in those three areas. If there are extremities, that is from the arm to the forearm and from the thigh downward, they are very easy to manage, just apply gauze and put a tight bandage on the cut. But if these materials are not available, get a cloth, pack it, apply pressure to the site and don’t stop until there is no bleeding again or someone comes and helps.
“There is another method called the tourniquet. If the wound is on the forearm, you can tie a rubber just beyond the elbow, so that blood will not flow to that point. The issue with that is if it remains tied for too long, the limb might be lost, but at least, the patient will be alive. That is how extremities are handled.
“Then, in cases where there is bleeding in the body cavity. These are the axilla, the neck, and the groin, if there is bleeding in those areas, they cannot be tied, what can be done is to pack them with cloth and apply pressure so that the bleeding can stop. The third one is practically impossible for the layman to do and that is bleeding along the main trunk. Like abdominal bleeding and chest bleeding, sometimes, you may not be able to do much but you can still apply pressure. If there is a gunshot to the chest, and the wound is open, you can cover the wound.
“If a person is choking, or a child is choking, you can do what we call the Heimlich manoeuvre. This is done by holding both your hands in front of the stomach of the child and jerking the child up towards you, this puts a thrust on the stomach and pushes the foreign body out of the airway.”
He also mentioned that “For a trauma patient, those that have severe injuries, the problem with carrying them is that the person might have a fracture or an injury to the neck. For the neck, we don’t want you to convert a minor injury into something serious, so people have to be very careful with carrying someone who has a neck injury.
“What to do is to carry them as a whole; carry the head, the shoulder, and the entire body at once, put the person on a board so that the head does not shake and you don’t convert a minor injury to a full-blown one.
“For the extremities, if there is a fracture, you just need to put it in a straight line to reduce pain and make it well-aligned. A layman can stop the bleeding, make the patient lie in a comfortable position, don’t curl up, and lie straight. If the patient is not conscious, tilt the head to one side, and check the legs for injuries while someone else calls for help. It is advisable to not transport victims in the back of a car in severe cases so that the patient will not curl up, put the patient on the back of a lorry and transport them to the hospital. If the patient is to be transported to the hospital with a car, lie the patient on his back and if the patient is a tall person, fold the legs and not any other part of the body for the patient to contain the space.”
Furthermore, he advised that for injuries at home, the wound should be cleaned with water alone and stop the bleeding. Meanwhile, in cases of electrocution, he urged rescuers to make sure there is no water around the victim and use a stick or plastic to put any live wires away. They should also make sure they are wearing shoes after which they can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) which is also known as chest compressions.
“What usually happens in electrocution is that the electrical activities of the heart have stopped. Rescuers can perform chest compressions. If it is somebody close to you, you can do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by tilting the head backwards, closing the nostrils and blowing air into the person’s lungs through the mouth. Then perform chest compressions, two breaths and 30 compressions over and over again till help comes.
“In cases where it is a stab wound, do not attempt to remove the knife or whatever has injured the person; leave it there and move the patient like that to the hospital. If the patient has an identity card or any other personal effects, you can hand them over to the right authorities, either the doctor, nurses, road safety at the scene or police,” he advised.
Dr Benjamin also recommended that the government provide a dependable emergency service. While noting that the emergency number, 122, works in Abuja, he urged the government to link such calls to hospitals, adding that the hospitals should be categorised by their level of specialisation as this will help the emergency responders know where to send emergency patients.
He further added that “people need to be educated that the next thing to do is not to take pictures or videos in cases of emergencies. If they cannot administer first aid, they should call for help. If they have data to stream the videos, then you can also call for help.”
He also advised that “the government can make use of the National Orientation Agency to spread the knowledge of first-aid, include it in school curriculums, talk about it in the media, and train more paramedics. Train children in schools, especially people in areas with recurrent attacks or accidents. They can make videos on TV, run courses on it and train people.”
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