What’s the best thing social media’s ever done for you?
Served as a chronological detailing of your life? Acted as a digital therapist and soap box? Landed you a friend collection so that you can pretend you’re popular?
Well, I bet it hasn’t saved the only dad that sired you. But it sure did for 10-year-old Brianna Vance. In a story that helps partially restore my faith in kids’ abilities to think outside the box in crisis situations, a girl saved her own father’s life using… Facebook. When lightning struck in her front yard, a tree fell, trapping her dad and his two friends underneath of it. They were pinned and injured, and the fact that the phone lines were down didn’t help matters for a frantic Brianna, her sister, and her dad’s girlfriend. Wisely, his pre-teen daughter thought to try to the Wi-Fi. Realizing it still worked, she uploaded a heartbreaking video to Facebook wherein she tearfully pleaded that somebody come help save her dying dad.
Indeed, someone sent an ambulance, he and his pals were saved, and daddy came home from hospital in time for Father’s Day.
This isn’t the first time Facebook’s helped save a life. A month or so ago, that one adventurer-professor-trekker dude in Nepal (who was out doing research) fell into a monster ice crevice and had to boss his way the eff out of it with a broken bloody body and back to camp. Even though that mofo proved to be diesel-grade bad ass, he still wouldn’t have survived had he not accessed the Facebook page and posted an SOS.
Meanwhile, all Facebook’s done for me is provide a massive distraction, an inaccurate portrayal of my IRL world, and turbocharged my anxiety when I see posts that do the opposite of aligning with my beliefs. And it’s all obviously ’cause I’m nice enough to keep around people with wrong opinions who love drivel drama. Plus, ya know…
…one of ’em might be useful if lightning strikes someone I actually do care about.
You see my conundrum, yes?
