When social media decides to restore the faith in humanity: #WearYellowForSeth
- 1 avr. 2015
- 2 min de lecture
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest… If you are reading this, I can bet that you have at least one of the above. Indeed, it is no secret that social medias have never been so popular and important in our society.
Personal life, entertainment, but also business and marketing, anything can be found or done on these networks; and sometimes it can bring the worst of the humankind. Fortunately for us, on some bright days, social medias also bring the best in each of us, and restore our faith in humanity.
People on social media can be extremely harsh towards each other: insult, mockery, racism, stupidity, and it goes on … everything can be found online.
But everything also means that, scrolling through the different social medias; you can also encounter the most inspiring and kind actions, for no particular reason or interest. For instance, I am thinking about the most recent buzz online: Wear Yellow for Seth. On March 27, all social medias mobilized to show their support to the little boy.
5-year-old Seth became an international phenomenon last Friday through an awareness campaign. Seth Lane, who lives in England, has been diagnosed with the “Bubble Boy Syndrome”, an immunodeficiency disorder. Because of his illness he has to live in a completely sterile environment, and so spent an important amount of his life in within the hospital. He has been scheduled for a second bone marrow transplant in a few weeks, which could save his life, and to cheer him up before the intervention, he asked people to wear his favourite colour to support him.
Seth, who loves Fireman Sam, Paw Patrol and Yellow, was featured in a video by his parents, asking people to show their support by wearing yellow. His parents promised him to put up all the pictures in his room, but they didn’t realise how viral their campaign became. Seth’s mother told ABC "We said we're going to hang them (photos) all up, but I think there's going to be a lot more pictures than we thought. I think we’ll need a football stadium.”
Social medias were flooded by yellow pictures all weekend especially with the Hashtag #WearYellowForSeth. But it was the first time that this kind of phenomenon reached Snapchat, which put up the public story Wear Yellow For Seth and was seen by 26 million users. Millions of people also posted their pictures wearing the colour in honour of the little boy and to show him support. Some people even offered to become Seth marrow donor, even though he already has one (his dad).
In the mean time, Seth uses an Ipad to flip through the photos on the Bubble foundation website (wearyellowforseth.com) and his mom uses it to show him the extent of the world that the little boy cannot see because of his condition.
This just proves that in the middle of cat videos, college students’ posts, Internet and social medias are some of the most powerful tools of our generation. When used properly, we should be proud of what the entire Internet community is capable of achieving.
Find's Seth Video here:
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