Opinion: When did murder on social media become the new norm?

The US murders of two unmistakable individuals this week became viral videos on social media, without the country even batting an eyelash. How has this become the new normal, and who is to blame – Gen Z, or their algorithms?

In the wake of two shocking murders this week in America – the assassination of conservative commentator and Trump confidant Charlie Kirk, and the senseless death of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska – civilized society must ask itself:

When did showing the actual murder of innocent people on social media become the new normal?

The evolution of Gen Z’s fascination with posting every waking moment on their favorite app has definitively taken a gruesome turn. It seems that now we can look forward to not just living our lives online, but our deaths as well.

In what must be considered the ultimate violation of personal boundaries – especially in the case of Zarutska, who was not a public figure – internet gawkers passed around the video of her stabbing with morbid fascination, only to discard it when the dopamine hit of watching something so vile ended.

One can only imagine – was the murderous video sandwiched between a cute puppy and the latest jetsetter travel advice? But, I digress.

A lesson in humanity

These murders, taking place just days before the anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks, brought this writer back to her first days as a newsroom lackey in New York City.

As an eager newbie, I spent weeks working with seasoned producers on a 9/11 documentary just months after the tragedy, the smell of the still-burning towers filling my nostrils as I walked to work barely a few miles away from the rubble.

My job was to adjust the white levels on the footage taken by our cameramen that fateful day. (For those not in the TV world, it basically means to adjust the color temperature of the video so whites look truly white, and other colors will follow.)

Needless to say, I spent hours endlessly tweaking video clips of the victims, first waving for help out of shattered windows from atop the World Trade Center, and then, in their last moment of autonomy, choosing to jump to their deaths instead of being burned alive.

I can barely swallow as I am writing this – those horrific images are burned into my psyche forever.

I can not imagine a world where these kinds of horrors are simply floating around on social media like virtual candy, imprinting themselves on impressionable minds who gobble them up with abandon, without understanding the long-term ramifications, but yet here we are.

"We can now look forward to not just 'living' our lives online, but our 'deaths' as well."

Even those social media users who vow not to watch the caught-on-tape murders of Kirk and Zarutska may not have a choice. Most video platforms, with TikTok as the biggest offender, will auto-play videos one after another, leaving the user helpless to control what comes next.

Even passive scrolling is based on algorithms. You watch a few videos of reckless teens in a street brawl, and what do you think will pop up on your feed next?

Is there time to pivot?

As social media platforms, like TikTok and Instagram, continue to integrate and overlap into every aspect of society, where do we go from here?

When the next get-rich-quick scheme becomes less of a pipe dream and more of a strategic OnlyFans venture, the desensitization of anxious teens and young adult wanna-be influencers bombarded with digital tools used primarily for self-validation needs to become front and center.

From fitness influencers to small business product launches to brutal war zones, Gen Z and the generations following must be taught that life is not just a 30-second clip.

These platforms hold recordings of real people with real emotions (and families) that can bleed out just as much as they would given the same circumstances.

The hope is, like every controversial movement, younger generations will realize it's not all about the likes and inherently grasp that technology in the wrong hands can truly be a galvanizing weapon on every level.

Then, eventually, take a step back, allowing privacy (and human decency) to hop in the front seat and drive society in a different direction.

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