    Social media has changed people's lives everywhere. Whether it is for better or for worse, social media always manages to creep into our everyday lives. This reign of the internet was not a slowly built up thing either. It came out of nowhere and exploded in popularity. This has led rise to countless problems. The picture above shows one of the less noticed issues that millions of people take part in daily. The idea that one can help simply by posting something and taking a stance has become all too familiar and prevented actual problems from getting the attention they deserve.

    In the picture above, there is a scene of a man attacking a woman. The man is approaching the woman with a knife, and the woman is calling out for help. Nearby is an apartment building with multiple people who can see what is happening but, nobody is going out to do something. Instead, they are all posting on social media about how something should be done. This image is trying to illustrate the point that social media has skewed people's sense of justice and bolstered inaction in the masses. 

    This visual text is directed to anybody who uses social media. This is evident from the use of hashtags by all of the people in the building. Hashtags are the most common method on social media to tag a topic. In the picture, many people are using different hashtags to relate to this situation, but they are not all the same. Some individuals in the photo use hashtag to side with her. Others use the hashtag to turn the situation in an entirely different direction. Many of these unrelated hashtags focus on something other than the woman who needs help in the first place. No matter what they are trying to say, It is evident that every person is using social media and nobody is taking action.

    The text in this picture is what gives the message its power. The first piece of text your eyes are drawn to is that of a woman crying for help. The use of bold letters and vague words like somebody show a sense of fear and urgency. This is then followed by the small and static text of the hashtags. Every person has a disinterested look on their face with their little tag next to them. The use of this contrast in texts and senses of urgency is calling the viewer to action. It is showing how people have gained a warped view on making a difference and doing something. It is trying to tell the user that something must be done about this culture that finds it okay to believe they are helping by just stating that they are. 

    This picture does a great job of playing on the viewer’s emotions. The focal point of the image is made by a spotlight put on two people. In the spotlight is a woman being assaulted by a man with a knife. The woman is shown to be beaten up with a fearful look on her face. Behind her is a large black silhouette of the man that is about to assault her. This makes the viewer not only feel uncomfortable about the situation being portrayed but worry about what might happen next. The viewer then looks to the right and sees all of the people who are doing nothing. Every person can see the crime being committed outside of their window. They all have a disinterested face and are on their phones or computers. The scene of multiple people ignoring someone in need gives a strong sense of injustice. Every person has their own moral beliefs and the artist used this understanding to get to people through the human feeling known as empathy.

    This picture goes much farther than simply appealing to one's emotions. It also brings up real world examples of situations like this. One of the people has text above them that says “#BanKnives” and another that says “#BlameBush.” These are both powerful as the relate to real world problems. The first brings in the issue of the right to bear arms. The second has to do with residual grudges that some people hold on individual members of politics. While it in no way deals with those issues or offers a method to do so, it attempts to single out specific groups of people that do this in the real world. The action of pulling specific people into this example may offend some; however, it is a tactic used to greater prove its point. The idea that there are individuals who talk about solving a problem but do nothing.

    The grounds of the argument are simply that social media being the powerful tool that it is has caused us to become numb to the real issues happening around us. The idea is that we are more concerned about the news of a problem or tragedy than the actual event. The picture makes it a point to show a terrible event happening in front of everyone. The people are the focus of the picture due to their numbers and positioning in the picture. The picture makes its point of disinterest by showing everyone with an uncaring face, posting away on their devices. The artist uses a shock factor to create a ground for their point. They show this appalling scene and lack of comradery to get a reaction. The over the top scene is to give the viewer the idea that this might be happening and believe more in the artist argument.

    Social media has brought about a society of inaction. While that statement is quite over the top, it is not completely untrue. That is the point this picture is trying to make. Too many people have come to think it is okay to simply say that a problem is wrong and not take part in fixing it. As this picture shows, it has become all too easy to ignore a problem that is right in front of us. Social media is a platform that has the power to rock the world. It is a place where bad habits can be formed, and terrible messages can be spread. While this may be true, It is important to understand that it is also an amazing thing. Social media is a stage that anybody can take and express their views. This picture manages to show how social media has affected the social norm. Its ability to portray a motion of inaction in the people, relate to the common viewer’s life to help them understand the point being made, and use their emotions to grasp the reader’s attention is what makes this image so powerful. A simple image has achieved what many people are unable to do on their own and this truly shows the power of a picture.