Is social media killing athletes?

[JCF]

Humans will always find a way to be reckless - for good and bad and with better or worse results.
“jackass” and copy jackasses were movie driven. Before that it was books.
Climbing mountains ? That goes back a loooong time before SM
Two things that are different are accessibility and the equipment; it is now easier and “safer” to do reckless things.
Even recently there was no easy access to Everest and there was no room for error - no one did it “for fun”, now - sign up, pay up and join the long line at the Hillary Step (though it is not there anymore) ….same with big mountain skiing, surfing etc.
SM didn’t make people race cars back when there were deaths in almost every race.

The automated algorithms - that’s going to hurt because it makes people THINK stupidly

 

[ThomasD]

Perhaps we should educate people to distinguish athletes from performers? Or at least recognize athletic performers as being a particular subset of that latter group.

The reason being that performers have always been trying to take things to eleven and the only thing the new mass media has done is made it more ubiquitous and more obvious.

In the past you needed sponsors and broadcast participation to be Evel Knievel, now most anyone with an internet connection can at least try.

 

[Philpug]

The big difference between the kind of social media I think we’re talking about here and even other social media (like SkiTalk), let alone traditional media, is the algorithmic feed. Traditional media has certainly always incentivized engagement, but decisions about what content to produce and promote are still made by people who will probably have some sense of whether that content misrepresents risks or encourages dangerous behavior.

I was talking to some pillars in the industry about the closing of Ski Magazine and this came up. I think the promotions of these activities are what also was one of the major nails in the coffin of ski magazines. When the images that are promoted are well above the the average reader past the point of being able to aspire to be like them and walking away, that has an effect and it was part of the demise.

The ski movies also have to take some blame here too, one of my pet peeves is the obligatory Russian roulette of outrunning of an avalanche that seems to be in every movie now. This is bad enough for the addrenalin action junkies that are in the movie but the wannabe psuedo expert skiers that think because they saw it in a movie "How hard can it be, just ski faster" first have no concept the danger that they are putting themselves in but the complete disregard for the risk that they are putting other in, including the volunteers that have to recover their bodies.

 

[Tom K.]

No. "Kodak Courage" has always been a thing.

Remember Kodak?!

 

[scott43]

No. "Kodak Courage" has always been a thing.

Remember Kodak?!

My dad worked there... Train wreck..

 

[fatbob]

I don't think athletes doing more dangerous things killed ski print media. If athletes feature its because in the past they needed a profile or interview piece in a mag whereas social media and video enables them to skip all that. Likewise on gear - here or TGR or Blister or Newschoolers way better at answering questions an individual may have. Likewise on travel the same with an added dose of independent recommendation.

Mags were no longer needed as an intermediary/curator

 

[James]

Ski mags at one point had very detailed tests and specs of skis. Pretty sure that went away, ironically, in the early days of shaped skis, maybe 1998,99?

Also much more detailed technique articles. The more general everything becomes, salted with nice pictures, the less useful or needed it really is.

 

[Ken_R]

It goes all the way back to gladiators in The Colosseum. Media is media and people have always taken risks to seek fame. People have always used media to be asshats and attack others via whatever form was easiest at the time. Same spit, different day..

Karl Wallenda. I was only 5 when it happened but remember it vividly (I was born in San Juan and lived there most of my life, at some point within eyesight of where the accident happened). It was a lesson I never forgot.

Play stupid games win stupid prices...

 

[crosscountry]

SM didn’t make people race cars back when there were deaths in almost every race.

Exactly!

Let's be honest, the adrenalin rush in doing something risky is pretty intoxicating!

As adults, we can make judgement on the risk potentials. Even then, sometimes we got it wrong. When "fame" is being sought after, it tend to color the risk-reward balance point further. BTW, that "fame" doesn't always need to be featured on TV or magazine! It could be just in one's own social circle, say the owners of fast cars? Except without social media, we may not even know about those death from many such street car races.

 

[Joby Graham]

Hey! Take a video of me while I go pet that bison!

 

[James]

Hey! Take a video of me while I go pet that bison!

How about taunting? Where’s the referee to throw a flag?

Is he in socks?

 

[Joby Graham]

How about taunting? Where’s the referee to throw a flag?

Is he in socks?

Darwin Award candidate.