Recording someone at their worst moment for views makes their pain your content. That’s not a clip. That’s a choice.

A person having the worst ten minutes of their year did not agree to be footage. Once it is posted, that moment stops belonging to them and belongs instead to strangers who will replay it for fun. Holding a camera feels passive, like watching, but pressing record is an action taken on somebody. They go on living inside that clip long after the views stop.

When something is unfolding in front of you, ask what would actually help. Sometimes it is standing near them, sometimes it is finding an adult, and almost never is it the phone.