The Cancerous Growth of Attention

By Kyle Min

Los Alamitos High School

Millions of people conversed with one another as they expressed their disgust towards a Tik-tok in which a teenager licks a toilet, dubbing the video “Coronavirus Challenge.” Another influencer followed the same challenge, and posted a video of him in the hospital, admitting he contracted the virus. Regardless of whether the videos were real or not, many question the irrationality of teenagers as they have the tendencies of doing things that are not moral, or logical. However, what if it isn’t rationality? What if it is something that society inadvertently placed upon the shoulders of teenagers today? 

There is only one answer: insecurity. The most important factors, unfortunately, of success in society is the attention people give to one another. Desperate for attention, people attempt to grow in influence through means of athleticism, intelligence, talent, or even through other, not as acceptable methods. This is especially true in teenagers, and the arrival of the social media platforms only exacerbates the problems. We must break down insecurity, by teaching younger generations not to fret so much about the attention they believe they need.

We need to understand that society is not a contest of popularity. The number of followers do not define who we are as people. The amount of followers should not benefit us no matter what we do to make it so.

Some are worried despite the lack of issues they face. An 11th grade student at Cypress High School, Frederick Suh feels not as pressured by insecurity, but he feels as though “it is a concern that many feel as if they are forced to search for attention to gain satisfaction.” 

Similarly, another junior at Sunny Hills High School named Daniel Kong expresses his concern over the situation. “Rather than feeling like a place where people can share their thoughts and experiences, society, social media in particular, is like a popularity contest with so many searching for followers.”

Insecurity is extremely dangerous to society as it brings terrible repercussions. If we do not fix this issue, people will be inclined to do irrational actions such as the Coronavirus Challenge. If we do not fix this issue, people will do more and more dangerous stunts. If we do not fix this issue, people will hurt not only themselves, but threaten other’s safety as well.

 So many are worried about how many followers they have, despite the fact that it does not define them. We need to make sure society understands that followers are not as big of a deal. For the benefit and transcendence of society, insecurity must be combatted and ultimately removed altogether.