Begging Online Viral Mud Bath on Tik Tok, UM Surabaya Lecturer Gives This Response

19 Jan
2023

Foto: Tangkapan layar viral TikTok/Fenomena 'Ngemis' Online

Begging Online Viral Mud Bath on Tik Tok, UM Surabaya Lecturer Gives This Response

Social media is horrified by the phenomenon of begging online while taking a mud bath on the Tik Tok application. Apart from attracting the attention of academics to provide a response, this has also received a sharp response from the public, many of whom consider begging online by taking mud baths to injure human values and even exploit poverty.

“It turns out that access to social media, which is open to all people and automatically makes it easier for people to earn a lot of money, has left a serious problem. The openness of access to information has resulted in some of us losing our empathic reasoning," said Radius Setiyawan, a Lecturer of Visual Communication Design (DKV) UM Surabaya, Thursday (19/1/23)

Radius said, in this instant era, in order to gain popularity and money, many people eventually lose their empathic reasoning.

“We have to see this through a different lens, grandmothers and mothers who take mud baths are victims. In the midst of tough economic conditions, sometimes people are willing to take ridiculous actions," he added.

Radius, a lecturer in the media studies course, explained that in this digital era, many people have access and means to meet the needs that exist in the real world in ways that do not make sense to humans. This condition requires the attention of all parties. Acceptance of these conditions is dangerous for the future of our generation.

"One of the things that can be done to stop cases of mud baths is to filter viewing, meaning not paying attention and contributing, by not watching or giving coins," he explained again.

Radius also said that this phenomenon has the potential to cause new problems. This is because it is possible that trends like this will spread to other social media platforms.

"The role of educators, parents, the community in this case is really needed to assist children in selecting and sorting information so that each program selected has value and benefits according to their age, especially since Tik Tok is loved by all ages," said Radius again.

At the end of his statement, Radius also hopes that in the future social media platforms will provide more prudent rules for existing content.

"Of course, if this is allowed to happen, social media platforms will be filled with low-quality content and have an impact on the quality of future generations," concluded Radius.