The show of suffering: Citizen journalism or morbidity?

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 25 (ACN) A boy lost his life on Monday when he was swallowed up by a flood during a flood in Havana. Everything was recorded, by chance, in a video of someone recording the flooded streets.

The accident was recorded by chance, but was its posting on social media a coincidence?

It is not the first time that our feed presents us with this type of images. Still fresh in memory are those of the plane that crashed in May 2018, the videos showing the charred victims, the fire, hell itself on earth.

In 2022, when a minor was fighting for his life, alone against the raging waves on the capital's Malecon, someone also took out his cell phone. Not to call and ask for help to the Rescue and Rescue Commandos of the Cuban Fire Brigade, but to film a video and announce the fatal result.
This type of attitude exposes an alarming trend: the objectification of human pain in pursuit of virality. This is the reflection of a global dynamic that, even in Cuba, is beginning to spread.

Social media, tools created to connect, have become scenarios where sensationalism triumphs over empathy.

The logic is simple: the more dramatic the content, the more visits, the more followers, the more monetization. But where are ethics, compassion and respect for the dignity of those who suffer?

In Cuba, forged on pillars of solidarity and humanism, which have been key to face hurricanes, pandemics and blockades, this digital individualism is especially shocking, because it is a practice that contradicts our values.

The problem is not the technology, but its use. A video of someone in danger can be useful if it serves to alert authorities or seek help. But when it is recorded without action, it becomes complicity.

The solution is not to prohibit, but to educate. Social networks should be spaces for denouncing injustice, not for commercializing pain.

It is urgent to promote an ethical digital culture, and also to rigorously apply the regulations that sanction the dissemination of content that violates human dignity, as established in Decree-Law 35/2021 on the responsible use of Information and Communication Technologies in Cuba.

This already viralized video of the minor who lost his life in the flood faces us with an ethical dilemma: Are we complicit in his pain if we share these images? The answer lies in choosing between the easy click and human duty.

Remember that behind every video there is a family, a story, a right to privacy even in death. No like is worth more than a life.