As we all know, early last week Hurricane Sandy ripped through the East Coast.
Sandy left behind lots of mayhem and debris in the coastline cities. It caused much damage and need
for cleanup. As I write this (some nine days later), a large portion of New York City is still without
power.
Hurricane Sandy was called the worst natural cause of death and damage in New York City in a very
long time. It shredded through the city drowning the streets and more crucially, the subway tunnels.
Even the New York Stock Exchange closed for two business days. Sandy was a big deal.
While many spent time adequately preparing (which seemed to be those in the unaffected areas), many
did not. The public response and management of Hurricane Sandy was hallmarked by overuse of social
media.
To give some background on my viewpoint, I have many friends from across the surrounding areas
of Manhattan, including Long Island, Westchester, Brooklyn, Bronx and most important to this story,
south eastern New Jersey.
New Jersey was supposed to take the biggest hit from the storm. People were supposed to be well
prepared with supplies including batteries, flashlights, water and an ample supply of food. Some did
this, as they should have.
However, as it approached, I noticed people were caught up in a social media frenzy over the storm. It
quickly became popular to post, hashtag, and inform everyone (even those who already knew) that the
hurricane was approaching through the various social media outlets.
Then the hurricane arrived.
I first heard of it making landfall in New Jersey. That was my friends’ most southeastern location.
People were posting about how crazy the roads were – while driving.
How can you be stupid enough to recognize you’re in the middle of a hurricane, yet continue to use
your phone to tell everyone what is going on?
People updated their social media continuously, mostly with common knowledge, which made it ever
so pointless. My feelings during this storm quickly changed from anxiety and empathy for those to-be-
affected, to feelings of empathy for their sophomoric mental abilities.
Translating your thoughts on the matter to text and bursting out through social media should not have
been the “cool thing” to do. Preparing for it and staying safe should have been.
For the first time in history, it was cool to be in the middle of a hurricane. Lives and assets were
borderline compromised in order to be a part of the Hurricane Sandy movement.
In a quick frenzy, I saw hundreds of the same pictures, from people in the same areas. Perhaps these
people should have focused more on getting ready and staying safe than feeling “cool” to be a part of it.
I am a social media user myself, but I do not feel compelled to hop on these illegitimate bandwagons
that hold no more merit than the keys I am using to write this column.
Take note of what you see in the affected areas: you can find generators running all over, but they are
hooked up to surge-protecting power bars which are serving as makeshift charging stations. I have not
heard a whisper about generators running refrigerators to keep people’s food cold. People should focus
more on the preparation and management of their selves over their phones.
Natural disasters can take people by surprise, as they have in the past, and I think Sandy did as well.
But this time it was different. The surprise was not correlated to a lack of technological information to
issue a warning; it was caused by the warned individuals, themselves.
They were busy tweeting away about the storm. Hurricane Social struck the coast very hard last week.
Bryan Wight can be reached by email at wight.record@live.com.