This article is ~5 years old, but I recall at the time there were a few articles about selfie deaths and it became “a thing.” I don’t 100% agree with the opinion piece, but it’s definitely true that dumb rednecks have been falling off stuff for a long time. The only difference was the numbskull had a camera in his/her hand when he/she fell instead of just falling, or perhaps saying “Hey look at me, Bubba!” before falling.
Where I really disagree with the author is the notion that “no place has ever been ruined by Instagram.” Social media platforms absolutely drive huge numbers of people to very specific photogenic sites, and some of them are not in any condition to handle the crowds. Sometimes that’s fine, like the street in DUMBO (Brooklyn) that has a great shot of the Empire State Building framed under the supports of the Manhattan Bridge, which can handle the crowds and I think is now somewhat pedestrianized. Other places are more fragile, like slow-growing cave stalactite systems, or the protected mossy landscapes of Iceland, and the visitors do harm the place. I think a lot of the pressures on these places can be ameliorated, and there’s a conversation to be had about access versus isolation, but I can’t agree that no place has ever been ruined by an Instagram post.
This article is ~5 years old, but I recall at the time there were a few articles about selfie deaths and it became “a thing.” I don’t 100% agree with the opinion piece, but it’s definitely true that dumb rednecks have been falling off stuff for a long time. The only difference was the numbskull had a camera in his/her hand when he/she fell instead of just falling, or perhaps saying “Hey look at me, Bubba!” before falling.
Where I really disagree with the author is the notion that “no place has ever been ruined by Instagram.” Social media platforms absolutely drive huge numbers of people to very specific photogenic sites, and some of them are not in any condition to handle the crowds. Sometimes that’s fine, like the street in DUMBO (Brooklyn) that has a great shot of the Empire State Building framed under the supports of the Manhattan Bridge, which can handle the crowds and I think is now somewhat pedestrianized. Other places are more fragile, like slow-growing cave stalactite systems, or the protected mossy landscapes of Iceland, and the visitors do harm the place. I think a lot of the pressures on these places can be ameliorated, and there’s a conversation to be had about access versus isolation, but I can’t agree that no place has ever been ruined by an Instagram post.