Idiocy in the social media era: the burning British Airways plane in Las Vegas

[marmar]

.....(snip).....

Your Kindle, iPad, iPhone and electric toothbrush are all replaceable. You, Smith says, are not. “Perhaps most reckless of all is taking a bag down one of the inflatable escape slides,” he adds. “They are not designed with convenience or fun in mind. They are designed for no other purpose than to empty a plane of its occupants as rapidly as possible. You’ll be coming down from over two stories high in the case of a wide body jet, at a very rapid clip, with others doing the same in front of you and right behind you.”

People have been known to behave badly on planes and even get arrested, but footage of the British Airways plane also shows passengers stopping to take photos of the burning plane. Crossing a busy runway with a burning plane behind you that’s got a full fuel tank is not the time to stop, put down your luggage and start recording the event for posterity so you can share it on social media, Smith says. “It’s crazy,” he says. “Like the people who selfie-video themselves going down the emergency slides of an airplane.” .....................(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-not-to-do-when-you-are-fleeing-a-burning-plane-2015-09-09

[FlatBaroque]

1. That's an SNL segment that just wrote itself. nt

[Statistical]

2. I really do think the human race is getting dumber.

In the future they will need locks on the overhead bins to prevent them from being opened in an emergency.

[Shandris]

4. I think it's a symptom of oversocialization.

I've long wondered if, since people exist in at least extrovert and introvert classifications (and most agree there's a middle at this point), perhaps trying to force everyone to 'recharge' in the same way was a one-way ticket to destruction. For example, I fight for the rights of people who are overlooked, forgotten, and oppressed...but at the end of the day I truly am most comfortable without a single person, light, electronic device, or electric wire anywhere near me. I saw someone post jokingly in a thead about uninhabited pacific islands, and my first thought is "Paradise". But when I wake up tomorrow, I fight for the kinds of people I'm not again.

Anyway, sorry to ramble a bit. But definitely a thought. Is making 'social' the center of our universe such a good idea in the long run? I don't know...but it does prompt some questioning.

[MisterP]

3. eeeh, a lot of plane people were pleased that someone managed to get shots

before the whole thing melted

there's no pleasing people

[tblue37]

5. I always have my meds and anything essential in my reasonably sized purse,

which is always with me. I would take it down the slide hugged close to my body, but everything else could be left behind.