Can you imagine the lengths one can go for the social media world? Recently a 25-year-old YouTuber named Muhammed Bahçecik buried himself alive to get popular online. Before attempting this bizarre stunt, he promised his followers that he’d do so if they gave him enough “likes” to one of his YouTube videos. When it happened, he climbed into a custom-made glass coffin in Tuzla, Turkey, with few monitoring devices, according to an initial report from the Turkish news service, Onedio.
The Turkish man is reported to have been buried alive for six hours.
Bahçecik’s coffin was built with materials including health monitoring equipment and an oxygen (O2) cylinder. In case of emergency, there was also an ambulance parked few steps away from his burial site. In addition, the stunt was entirely monitored with radios, cameras, and other devices that informed his condition to a doctor outside the grave. Finally, after staying under the ground for six hours, he was lifted via a crane. After the daring act, Bahçecik said: “I learned how beautiful life is.”
“The moment I entered the grave, I thought of all my loved ones, the people I loved, who I buried in the grave,” he added. “I felt that they were here too. I am very happy that I can breathe easily now because I could not breathe for 6 hours, I was connected to an oxygen cylinder. What is life like? I learned that it is something as strong and beautiful as it is. I never panicked. Until it was dug out of the ground with the crane. At that moment, I was a little nervous.”
“I came out from under the ground, and I am very cold right now,” added Bahçecik in the report. “My health is good.”
With its immense power and availability, social media has enabled ordinary people to gain stardom via platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok etc. Similarly, YouTube empowers to get celebrity status just by being the first to do something either fascinating, desirable, or shocking. However, this has plenty of cons too. With immense popularity comes great responsibility. With this undue pressure of staying in the limelight and not falling behind the digital marketplace, content creators often indulge in dangerous behaviours, at times putting their own lives at risk.
Social media has altered how people go about their civil roles. In 2008, Facebook alone converted a “hail-mary” presidential candidate into the DNC frontrunner. The company successfully shifted people’s attention from U.S. elections and public events to social media influence and relatability. Similarly, in 2016, a “pivot to video” in which Facebook predicted the importance of video-based media like Snapchat, TikTok and other media apps. In addition, memes have become a popular way of communication.
It is strange how quickly people have shifted from newspapers and TV programs to an uninterrupted biased system, channelling the whole world through social media networks.
Knowing this, a man burying himself alive for six hours doesn’t seem as bizarre as it initially did.