Indore Teen Dead After Mock-Hanging Stunt For Instagram: Social Media Jeopardising Life?

The recent case of an Indore teen hanging himself to death during a stunt for social media is bone-chilling and points to the lack of safety directions around the fast-progressing virtual world, even as its effects spill over into everyday lived reality. This death is not solitary, in that there have been an unbelievable number of cases this year that outline the perils of social media addiction and its shockingly often fatal implications.

Multiple social media influencers across the world lost their lives painfully young this year to frivolous stunts performed for the camera or to deteriorating mental health that can be attributed to their online presence. Going forward, can the global community afford to let social media giants run unchecked in the way that they encourage addiction to the point that jeopardises human life itself?

Are they being held responsible enough for the life-endangering situations being created as a direct consequence of their technologies? Should the internet be permitted to develop into advanced territories before suitable checks are devised for the virtual realities already existing?

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As per reports, the 16-year-old boy in Madhya Pradesh was attempting to shoot a fake hanging sequence for Instagram reels but "accidentally" strangled himself to death. The noose around his neck reportedly tightened when his foot slipped.

The incident came to light when the boy's brother discovered his body. The deceased was described as a social media addict and his parents had urged him to delete all social media apps from his devices.

The Indore teen hanging case is one in a string of unfortunate accidents of its kind in the recent past. Earlier this year, influencer Sophia Cheung in Hong Kong slipped to her death from a waterfall while reportedly clicking a selfie. Chinese TikToker Xiao Quimei too lost her life while allegedly filming a video from atop a crane she was operating. In Turkey, meanwhile, influencer Kubra Dogan plunged to death while capturing a daring selfie shot with a sunset.

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It is not simply social media validation through likes or popularity that is robbing people plugged into the internet of mental peace. And not all social media-related deaths are accidental. On several dystopian occasions, the internet has driven netizens to take their lives.

Serbian gamer and online personality Kristina Dukic died by alleged suicide earlier this month following five years of continuous cyber bullying for her looks and physical appearance. In another tragic tale from China, influencer Luo Xiao Mao Mao Zi fatally ingested pesticide while her followers egged her on to do so on livestream.

What the world is witnessing is nothing short of a social media crisis that in the future could spell serious doom for society. Platforms, where girls are told they are not good enough without a filter screening out their "flaws" and the lust for fame encourages dangerous passions, have flimsy safety guidelines to speak of. Policies are limited to flagging hate or blocking bullies.

What about provisions for what social media is actually doing to those using it? When big tech makes money off the physical and mental safety of people as young as teenagers, does the responsibility of making these spaces safer and better not rest heaviest on their shoulders?

We can best believe cases such as that of the Indore teen hanging will repeat themselves in the coming year and for many years to come until some lines are drawn. How long before we are shaken from our reverie to actually draw them? 

Views expressed are the author's own.