“Meanwhile, the net celebrates kids whose antics are the most sensationalist and, as a result, often reckless and self-destructive. An entire genre of YouTube video known as Epic Fail features amateur footage of wipeouts and other, well, epic failures. "FAIL Blog," part of The Daily What media empire, solicits fail videos from users and features both extreme sports stunts gone awry along with more random humiliations—like the guy who tried to shoplift an electric guitar by shoving it down his pants. Extreme sports clips are competing on the same sensationalist scale and result in popular classics such as "tire off the roof nut shot" and "insane bike crash into sign." Daring quickly overtakes what used to be skill. In "planking" photos and videos, participants seek to stay frozen in a horizontal plank position as they balance on a flagpole, over a cliff, or on top of a sleeping tiger. For "choking" videos, young people strangle one another to the point of collapse and, sometimes, death.”
Quote by Douglas Rushkoff
Work
Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now
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Author
Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff is a writer, media theorist, and cultural critic of the digital age. Born on February 18, 1961, he is renowned for his profound insights into technology, media, and culture. Rushkoff's work covers a wide range of topics from personal technology to global politics, frequently exploring how technology shapes social structures and human behavior. more
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