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   HebrideanHecate (hebrideanhecate@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 22:21:18 JST HebrideanHecate

   🤦 IDIOTS! So much of this nonsense going on, round here too now.

   https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj4nn4lyy5lo

   North Wales Police said the number of calls made to mountain rescue in the past two weekends had been "almost unprecedented", and the popularity of the area on TikTok and Instagram was partly to blame.

   Chief Superintendent Owain Llewellyn said: "What we're seeing is a dramatic increase in pictures and videos of the area appearing on social media, often posted by influencers.

   "Some of the footage they're sharing is absolutely stunning. It really highlights what Eryri has got to offer, but unfortunately some of that footage is taken on a good day when it hasn't rained. "Then we see visitors coming here, and on the day they arrive, the weather conditions aren't quite as nice when they get out the car - and they don't always understand that conditions up in the mountains can be even worse." A lot of callouts now are what we would term 'avoidable incidents' - if people had a little bit more knowledge and skills, or done a little bit more preparation, they might not have ended up getting into trouble.

   "If you're having to phone 999, it's a voluntary rescue team that's having to come and get you. "They want to go and help people who are equally enthusiastic about the outdoors as they are. "But there is no doubt that the increased pressure from people who are not prepared is putting an immense strain on them and we also need to remember that these volunteers put themselves in danger to rescue others."

   • Embed this notice
     The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 22:21:16 JST The Dread Slender Gnome

     in reply to

     • Feart n Tired ???????

     @HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired Probably the only thing that could curb this in short term is charging for stupid rescues and publicising that heavily.

     In the long term, I do think public education desperately needs to happen.

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     The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 22:21:16 JST The Dread Slender Gnome

     in reply to

     • Feart n Tired ???????
     • The Dread Slender Gnome

     @HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired I do dearly wish it was possible to make the vacuous influencers face responsibility for, well, influencing people to do stupid things.
     Sadly, I see no feasible way of doing that, apart from perhaps public shaming.

     KeepTakingTheSoma likes this.
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     Feart n Tired ??????? (feartntired@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 22:21:17 JST Feart n Tired ???????

     in reply to

     • The Dread Slender Gnome
     @Gnomeshatecheese @HebrideanHecate all avoidable incidents should be charged for. all incidents should be investigated and proportionate costs applid.
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     HebrideanHecate (hebrideanhecate@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 22:21:17 JST HebrideanHecate

     in reply to

     • Feart n Tired ???????
     • The Dread Slender Gnome

     @FeartnTired @Gnomeshatecheese I think so too.

     You don't mess with the Skye hills and yet there are high call outs now, see also down the road way too, because of same nonsense of people who think they can walk up them in sandals at midnight kind of thing, and I don't mean high summer midnight either, the stupidity is boundless.

   • Embed this notice
     The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 22:21:18 JST The Dread Slender Gnome

     in reply to

     @HebrideanHecate On the one hand, I'm glad people are looking at amazing pictures and being drawn to getting outdoors. That in itself is not a bad thing.

     But I do put a lot of blame on the influencers who post pretty pics without ALSO explaining that the outdoors aren't a joke. And I also think something has gone wrong in just learning basic life skills, when people haven't learned that it's not just towns and traffic that can be dangerous.

     Then again, I consider the entire influencer culture to be fundamentally toxic in its utter superficiality.

   • Embed this notice
     KeepTakingTheSoma (keeptakingthesoma@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 22:31:20 JST KeepTakingTheSoma

     in reply to

     • Feart n Tired ???????
     • The Dread Slender Gnome
     @Gnomeshatecheese @HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired The best thing to do is to just not get involved. If people insist on a comment, watch one with them and then say, "That's nice dear."
     The novelty soon wears off.
     Attention is the currency.
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     The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 23:13:15 JST The Dread Slender Gnome

     in reply to

     • Feart n Tired ???????
     • KeepTakingTheSoma

     @KeepTakingTheSoma @HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired That only works for you though.
     It does nothing about these influencers influencing those who don't know better.

     But like I said, I don't see many options, barring just "influencing" becoming hopelessly passé and worthy of LOLs.

     KeepTakingTheSoma likes this.
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     KeepTakingTheSoma (keeptakingthesoma@spinster.xyz)'s status on Saturday, 01-Mar-2025 23:17:35 JST KeepTakingTheSoma

     in reply to

     • Feart n Tired ???????
     • The Dread Slender Gnome
     @Gnomeshatecheese @HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired Don't forget that adults have got to be adults at some point and decide for themselves what they want to believe or admire.
     Children have parents, and it would do no harm for parents to step up from time to time. If my kids did stupid stuff, I would engineer it so they could realise how stupid it was for themselves without getting into harm or them losing face.
     Do some of these parents know what their children are watching? If no, why not?
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     The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz)'s status on Sunday, 02-Mar-2025 01:25:40 JST The Dread Slender Gnome

     in reply to

     • Feart n Tired ???????
     • KeepTakingTheSoma

     @KeepTakingTheSoma @HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired A lot of people, for some utterly unfathomable reason, seem happy to leave their kids to putter about on the Internet without supervision, much like they might allow their kids to watch regular TV before the watershed. It has to be either sheer ignorance, or just some form of laziness.

     I am aware that adults have to make up their own minds. But at the same time, there are cultural ideas of what is admirable and what isn't. Right now vacuous glam-fluencing seems to be seen as admirable in the general culture, but there's no reason why that has to be so forever. I suspect at some point the influencer-economy bubble will also burst, and being an influencer ceases to be fashionable.
     And then we might finally have some real respite from "people do stupid shit because influencer".

     KeepTakingTheSoma likes this.