Now that many of us have lived with a smartphone in our pocket for years, we tend to have a reflex to film or photograph anything that strikes our fancy. For better or worse, this also means documenting disasters, fails, and other events that would feel a lot worse if they happened to us.
The “Don't help, just keep filming” online group exists to document all those hilarious moments when someone needed assistance, but onlookers decided to, instead, immortalize the moment. So get comfortable, as you scroll through, upvote the best or worst ones, and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section below. We also got in touch with the page’s moderators to learn more.
#1 Let Me Just Post This On Facebook
Image credits: reddit.com
#2 Don't Bother Turning It Off
Image credits: icemanvr6
#3 Woof?irl
Image credits: reddit.com
Bored Panda got in touch with the page’s moderators and they were kind enough to share some more details. “Allow me to give a little more context on this subreddit. This subreddit's previous admins and moderators participated in the Reddit Blackout by no longer moderating the content and not adhering to the Code of Conduct. Because of this, the entire team was removed. This happened in a number of subreddits, and so Reddit reached out for any experienced moderators to help with a number of different communities.”
“Personally, I have professional experience running social media and communities in the tech space as well as the video game industry. Because of this - I volunteered. This was maybe 4-6 months back. Myself and the other mod were selected by Reddit directly after we threw a comment on their (Reddit Admin) topic asking for help. I knew of r/donthelpjustfilm before but in passing.”
#4 He Looks Like He Deserved It Though
Image credits: bobdoodlesmerf
#5 It's On My Leg!!!!!!!!
Image credits: arepuppers
#6 Back When My Little Brother Got Stuck In The Toilet. Still Hanging On The Wall
Image credits: DrakusD
“Upon joining - we learned the sub was made private for about 3 months and also had the mod queue completely flooded with bogus reports on topics - content posted that didn't adhere to the subreddit's own posted rules, etc. Not to mention upon re-opening the sub, no one really knew that it was back open. I assume this is because folks' interest in this sub is cursory and not a "main event" kinda community.”
#7 Do Something Hooman?
Image credits: ShortPromotion
#8 So My Mom Was So Tired She Fell Asleep On The Dog Bed While Petting The Dog. Our Dog Jak Decided That Mom's Face Was Perfect For His Butt To Lay On. His Farts Tend To Be The Worst While He Naps. My Poor Mother ???
Image credits: WhootieCutie
#9 Smiling On The Outside, Struggling On The Inside
Image credits: [deleted]
“As a Community Manager, you tend to simply focus on content curation and help folks to post. In my short experience here - that's been a tough one. We've got a fairly large community, but even with regular posting on my end - there's a little bump in engagement and other folks posting.”
#10 Frog Confuses Christmas Light With Firefly And Illuminates Himself From Inside
Image credits: AutoCrosspostBot
#11 The Chosen One
Image credits: coffee_now_plz_asap
#12 In The 70’s My Parents Thought It Was A Better Idea To Take A Photo Than Help Me
Image credits: reddit.com
We were also curious to hear why they thought the content was popular in the first place. “I don't think it's that deep. You can look at the success of subs like r/childrenfallingover to see that people like to see "fails." The other moderator also shared his input. “Of course, people are drawn to disasters, accidents, and similar types of events. Historically people would always gather around or watch these types of events, even before phones.
#13 Please Help Grandma. She's Trying Her Best
Image credits: Scubamesteve
#14 Shortly After My First Christmas, When I’d Figured Out How To Scoot Backward (But Not Forward)…
Image credits: NorCalNavyMike
#15 Sheep Charging Fisherman, Pushed Into The Water
Image credits: donthelpjustfilm
"The term "bystander effect" first came around back in the 1960s because of the murder of Kitty Genovese. Now people simply have the option to film it to show their friends and social media, but the concept isn't exactly new. Although I would say our litigious society where people get sued or ridiculed for everything certainly doesn't help influence people to assist others." they shared with us.
#16 He Could Have Picked Anywhere Else To Sit
Image credits: sjoerdja
#17 This Kid Can't Eat
Image credits: Adwaelwin
#18 Cat Gets Stuck, Hooman Gets Camera
Image credits: chunktv
In sociology, many of the images shown here might fall under the category of “someone else's problem,” the idea that, somehow the issue will just resolve itself. This isn’t just some modern malaise, it has been observed for quite some time. Oftentimes, when there are other people around, the people convince themselves that someone else will intervene.
#19 This Is Fine. I'm Fine
Image credits: Autism_Tylr_Schaffer
#20 Poor Guy
Image credits: u/RaymondLife
#21 Puppy Fighting For His Bed Back
Image credits: blaxeit433
Of course, this doesn’t seem to stop people from whipping out their devices and immortalizing the situation that they could help prevent. Some folks point towards this sort of content as evidence that people are less helpful, but this might be a classic case of confirmation bias. After all, “Diffusion of responsibility” was no doubt happening before the cell phone, just with less evidence.
#22 Ball In The Ice
Image credits: fantasticquestion
#23 Up Up And Away
Image credits: icant-chooseone
#24 Pick Him Up
Image credits: u/kevinowdziej
#25 When I Was A Kid A Big Plastic Easel Fell On Me And Mom Decided To Document
Image credits: Tex-Luthor
#26 Let's Pray For Poor Kyle Tonight
Image credits: MeliaDanae
#27 You Should Have Stopped Him!!!
Image credits: DjDetox
#28 Poor Cat Just Wanted To Have A Nap
Image credits: All__Caps_
#29 It's All Fun And Games Until Kitty Heads Begin To Roll
Image credits: AutoCrosspostBot
#30 Every Man For Themselves
Image credits: reyreystrudel
