Periscope
What Can and Cannot Be Seen
Scrolling through social media sites like Facebook and Instagram has enabled an individual to glimpse the lives of their peers, or to an extent, random individuals. With the popularization of short-form video content, largely due to TikTok, peering into the lives of individuals has been easier than ever. Such accessibility feeds off the bandwagon culture, making individuals second guess if they are truly “living” the best life they can. Through this growing concern, we can see the extent of what individuals can post or share just to gain that “internet influencer” status, regardless of moral or ethical consequences.
Contents showcasing the “daily life” of an individual were first popularized via image content and the “What’s on your mind?” prompt on Facebook (now Meta) and Instagram. As social media sites dedicated to showcasing videos were developed, the possibilities of what one could share in their “daily life” have expanded. With this impetus and the Filipinos’ addiction to social media, it is no surprise when one TikTok user flagrantly filmed a flatlined heart monitor of a dying patient as she vlogged her “life as a nursing student in duty.”
The Appeal of the Mundane
Various content creators have expanded their own ‘brand’ for long-form and short-form video content highlighting their everyday events. On YouTube, while early local channels ventured into capturing somewhat sporadic moments like an ukay-ukay haul or a visit to a mall with friends, recent channels like Toni Fowler’s have adapted the style of reality TV. Given its nature as a long-form video, content on YouTube is heavily edited to appeal to the demographic of each channel.
Contrary to this, “a day in my life” content found on TikTok contains only the most important moment within the 24 hours a content creator experiences given the 10 to 60-second time allotment for content on the site. When looking at student creators, the bulk of their videos contain spliced 5–10 seconds or fast-forwarded videos of activities they do from morning to evening. Another example would be the style of Arshie Larga’s videos where instead of capturing a day-to-day job as a pharmacist, the contents are usually vlogs of an interesting case of dispensing medicines that happens in a pharmacy.
Regardless of whether long-form or short-form, videos depicting the daily lives of an individual are popularized due to various factors. One could argue that it is due to the effect of social media on self-perception as well as the pressure to be ‘one with the others,’ that drives people to film themselves.
From an economic standpoint, vlogging is a good sideline or permanent job if the content creator knows how to approach their target audience. Through sponsored advertisements and endorsements, livestreaming, yellow baskets, and TikTok lives, social media sites have actually optimized their platform to enable the act of content creation to be a viable source of income. As long as the creator can ensure a steady viewer base, the influx of views, gifts, and purchases is sufficient to their needs and wants.
Nonetheless, for viewers, these types of videos are appealing, as they are viewed through romantic lenses, providing them a glimpse of what life could be and what life could have been for them. Videos on students’ daily lives work because they open the eyes of impressionable high school students to why a certain degree program in college is fit for them. While it may seem odd to film oneself walking in the hallway of a school, a random snippet of a professor’s lecture, or simply mixing stuff in a laboratory, content that displays college life sells as it allows high school students to dream and adults in the industry to look back.
Clicking Before You Think
With the aforementioned reasons, deducing the behavior of the so-called “Flatline Queen” can also be explained through various means. For one, with the rampant use of social media and the different personas that have existed within the internet sphere, filming acts that violate the patient code of privacy and confidentiality do not matter. Given the gruesome content that one can encounter such as details of a murder, one may perceive the heart monitor or patient health record in a video as essentially harmless — after all, it does not depict blood and gore akin to a serial murder scene.
Another potential reason could also stem from ‘rage-baiting,’ the predecessor of ‘clickbaiting,’ where social media content is developed in a manner that incites a viewer to give hateful comments and reactions. As they say, bad publicity is still publicity. Regardless of being positive or negative, social media sites feed off the reactions of their users and pay content creators that allow these to happen more.
Playing the devil’s advocate, it could be that the so-called “Flatline Queen,” simply did not know the implications of their actions. Likely, the underestimation of ethics in one’s profession made the student behave recklessly. However, ignorance excuses no one — in a profession where the lives of patients are literally in your hands, ethical behavior is the barest minimum expected of anyone in the healthcare industry.
Towards A Trusted Healthcare System
“Flatline Queen,” could be just a drop in the ocean of healthcare professionals who violate the importance of patient privacy and confidentiality. When the issue gained notoriety, another queen was dubbed “CPR Queen” for filming the act of resuscitating an actual dying patient on duty. While these actions may appear to do little harm, they set a bad precedence for healthcare professionals seeking a place in the online sphere to educate.
In a country plagued with communicable and non-communicable diseases, expensive medicines, and a bureaucratic health supply chain, patients perceiving healthcare professionals as people who cannot be trusted is the last thing anyone wants. When patients see that matters of their health are reduced to hearsay shared by the “marites” health professionals, it further discourages them from consulting healthcare professionals for their ailments, out of fear of becoming a social media spectacle.
In building a trusted healthcare system, there is a need for individuals like “Flatline Queen” and “CPR Queen” to take accountability for their actions. Likewise, healthcare regulatory bodies should take proactive measures in improving their surveillance of cases of violation of patient privacy and confidentiality. Given the issue, it is also timely for academic institutions and hospitals to review their curriculum and code of conduct to emphasize the value of ethics in healthcare.
In modern Filipino society, vlogging is an act that can be done by anyone. While social media appears to be a hub of different characters and personas, it is important to remember that the individuals within each picture and video are people who can think and feel. While content creation seeks to inform, it is also important for the manner in which it informs people to be just and respectful. While vlogging can aid in destigmatizing perceptions of healthcare workers and educating individuals on the rationale of their work, there is a limit on what can and cannot be seen on the screen.
