Week 2 Story: The Foolishness of Viral Trends
I have added this story to my portfolio website. I have tweaked and added some things to the website edition.
(A Photo of Social Media Logos. Photo by Sean MacEntee)
Epilogue:
Imagine this it is the year 2018, and the use of social medias are at an all time high. There is a new viral trend every other week, if not sooner. New dance moves are being created, new hashtags are exploding in the Twitterverse, videos are reaching everyone and their mother, and new challenges are being crated, which are getting more dangerous every time a new one comes out. Most all teenagers and sometimes beyond people of that age group are trying to set off a new trend, or trying to obtain fame somehow or another through social medias.
The Foolishness of Viral Trends:
It is the first day back to school after Christmas break for 17-year-old Misty. She has been sitting in classes all day going through the motions, not actually paying attention, but during this time she had been pondering ideas of how she could go viral and become a social media star.
As she is off daydreaming of becoming a viral sensation, she begins to think of what she did over the break, and came to the conclusion she had done a bunch of laundry. Guess what she used to wash her clothes, Tide Pods. In that moment, her big break to become a viral sensation was creating a new challenge, The Tide Pod Challenge to be exact.
Misty gets home and immediately starts to work on her claim to fame. By the end of the night Misty had videoed herself "eating" a Tide Pod, and spewing the soap back out go her mouth. After the filming, it was no time before Misty posted the video across all her social medias.
The challenge did exactly what Misty wanted. She had gone to bed getting her usual 100 to 200 likes, favorites, shares, and retweets, but when she woke up in the morning her phone was bursting with notifications.
Soon enough all the teenagers were jumping on the bandwagon. They were all posting their own video of the challenge. No one questioning the safety of putting toxic chemicals in their bodies. They are all just doing anything to get views.
Eventually, several different doctors come out with statements claiming that everyone participating in The Tide Pod Challenge is putting themselves at risk for death. Soon after the claim was made people started to realize that following a trend is not always the smartest idea, and the challenge started to deteriorate rather quickly.
Had the doctors not come out with a huge public notice, kids and young adult of all ages would have continued to risk their lives without thinking twice about the outcome.
(Photo by me)
Authors Note:
This story was based off of a traditional story, "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit". I have stuck to the basic storyline, but I put a spin on it that is more applicable to modern day life. I also changed the characters from animals to humans, and I decided to make the focus be on one character instead of two. I also added an epilogue to my version to give a bit more context to my readers.
Bibliography. "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit" from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. Web Source.
I chose the above photo because the photo of the Tide Pods packaging represents the main focus of my storyline.
I have to say, I applaud you modernizing this story even down to the tide pod meme! Making the story relatable helps the reader not only understand it but be entertained! Switching the characters from animals to humans was a nice twist. This left me to wonder.. if Misty ever regretted her actions, like if someone were to actually end up hurt which is insinuated at the end.
ReplyDeleteHey again, Hannah! I think it is so clever that you were able to re-tell this story in a modern and relatable setting. I was all too familiar with the dang tide-pod challenge... it was all over my facebook and twitter! I think social media is so powerful, and can be very dangerous if people aren't careful. In fact, I think a lot of the variation in political agendas comes from extremism and over-attention in media. Furthermore, social media can solve problems with over-attention by raising awareness of important issues.
ReplyDeleteWoah, this was like a Black Mirror episode but with Tide pods. I liked that it was written as a chronicle of events, more than a story with a singular character. This increases the scope of the story and makes it feel like the entire world is following in a viral trend.
ReplyDeleteA question, since you're a pre-med student do you know a lot about the Tide Pod challenge medically? How many people actually ate Tide Pods? What happens if you eat a Tide Pod? Should I eat a Tide Pod?
Also, just a little tip. Your epilogue at the beginning of the story is actually a prologue. A prologue comes at the beginning of the story to set the stage, while an epilogue is usually a follow-up summary at the end of a story.
Wow, I’m always a sucker for good satire. Meme culture is always an odd thing, from dangerous planking to eating tide pods, sometimes people act as stupid as the antagonists in moral stories. I know that nobody likes to be moralized at, but sometimes I think the people who engage in the stupider behaviors of our society need it. Maybe something you should do in the future is modernize the conflicts found in the Ramayana and continue to equate the bullheaded behaviors in modern society to those of the characters in the Ramayana. I think the way that you described the events of the tide pod challenge was great to illustrate how silly the trend is.
ReplyDeleteOne unrelated comment though, I think that the epilogue should be relabeled as a prologue, since you put it at the beginning. Either that or move the epilogue to the end. Either one would be fine, but the story is a bit off in its current state.
Either way, it’s a great story.
Hey Hannah!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this retelling of the story, it was fun to look back at the days of the tide pod challenge. I can't believe that it was so recent, it feels like years ago to me. I really enjoyed how you took a modern twist on an old story so that it was more relatable to people today. I wonder how Misty was able to eat the pod without getting sick herself. I noticed that "eating" was in quotations, leading me to assume that she in fact did not actually eat the pod, but instead simulated that action somehow. Or if she did actually eat it, then did she get sick? What if there was some paragraph where Misty reacts to all of the media coverage over the dangerous challenge that she created? I think you did a great job in showing her want for stardom, but I think it might be cool to show how she deals with the newfound fame she has gained and how she deals with the ensuing outrage of parents whose children are trying the challenge as well.
Hannah,
ReplyDeleteI genuinely loved your story and all of the modernized elements of it! I particularly liked how you mentioned that viral videos are reaching everyone and their mother. I think that statement holds a lot of value, because in current society, kids are having to be closely monitored more than ever. I feel like parents are really trying to crack down on the copious trends that have plagued youth somehow or another. Your story is also very informative to people that may not have been aware of the crazy tide pod trend. What made you want to link the tide pod trend specifically, to the original Jakata tale of the foolish rabbit? Has anyone you know participated in this specific trend? I cannot even imagine attempting something like this, just for likes and social media fame. I would think health is far more important. But, I feel like peer pressure has become increasingly problematic in situations like this. Social media has drastically altered people's perception of reality. Additionally, I think proofreading your story would be beneficial in catching spelling errors. You might also want to give a little more detailed description of the original tale, so readers can fully grasp the relation between your current story. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your story.