Someone pretends to accidentally cut their finger then seeing their loved ones panic makes for good content nowadays on social media. I've seen a video of a kid pretending his hand is stuck in a jar and asking his panic stricken grandma to help him remove the hand from the jar. Doing or saying something that would make the person worry, frightened, or alarmed, then at the end, they'll shout "It's a PRANK!" Those types of videos garner lots of Haha reactions. Honestly, these are starting to get less and less funny.
I'm not totally, completely against pranks. I used to watch shows that did practical jokes to random people on the streets. I used to do those to my friends when I was younger. I once hid my friend's favorite toy and waited until she was almost crying before I showed it again. I helped hide my friend's slipper under the airplane seat and waited until everyone else has gone before showing it to her. My friends and I used to be like that. We've outgrown it, although we still have some occasional pranks of the same scheme every once in a while.
Just the other day, someone so close to me sent me a picture of her with a badly bruised eye. She even sent me another one, a close up showing how bad it was. Seeing the photo made me so furious, I immediately called her. When she said she couldn't talk, I then when she did not answer, I called her husband to confront him. That photo triggered so much hurtful memories in me. I have promised myself that I will never ever let another woman I love suffer any form of abuse. Then, this person told me it was just a prank.
I felt relieved seeing that message. Then I immediately felt furious about what happened. These pranks have just gone a bit too far. It turns out that it was just a filter at some social media platform. I looked at the photo again and I can't help but admire how well the filter was done. It looked to realistic so I know whoever made it went to so much lengths to make it look like that. I watched a Make Up reality show contest before and one of the categories was those social media filters. I saw the process on how they made it. The level of artistry and digital skills used for these kinds of filters were really admirable.
Now, I kept thinking why someone with such talent do such a thing? Why would they want people develop such great talent, then create something that would create panic or trigger any traumas. Were they expecting that people would wonder how they would look like if they had a bruise on their face, or if they had a black eye? Did they really think that people are that bored to ask that question? Well, apparently, people are.
I reprimanded the person that sent me this anger inducing image. It was not such a great use of someone's time. They should not be sharing these pictures on any platforms because should the time comes that they do need to show a photo of them actually hurt, help may not come on time because the people will be too busy scrutinizing first if it was real or not.
This was really a prank that does not go well with me. Not anymore. I used to think those videos of pretending to be hurt just to scare their loved ones was funny. Now, not so much. People find it an excuse to tell a lie, go to so much lengths to make the people believe them, then towards the end, when everyone has believed the lie they made, they would say they were just kidding, or that it was just a joke, or that it was just a prank. A line has to be drawn here. There surely are so much more ways of showing humor and cracking jokes without having to bend truths.
Whether we like it or not, there are too many kids now that has access to these kinds of videos. What do these videos achieve aside from making money out of making these pranks? They make these children feel that it's okay to lie as long as you say it was just a joke at the end. And once they learn to lie, it becomes a habit if not corrected right away. And that truth is so unsettling.
