Patostream - current trend or plague?
18 february 2020
Curiosity is a part of human nature. Already in antiquity, gladiators' fights in the arena to the people's delight were a common form of entertainment. We live in a society of voyeurs, which is perfectly shown by the popularity of TV reality shows.
Artificially created reality fascinates us more than real life. Universal access to the Internet has intensified voyeurism and related to it pathologies. Every each of us can show up in a movie recorded with a smartphone, share photos or conduct live reports, so-called the “streams”.
Those streams are directly connected with a relatively new phenomenon - pathostream. It is a kind of reality show that consists of broadcasting extreme behavior, which is often pathological, vulgar and disgusting (hence the name). The phenomenon has gained wide popularity among children and adolescents.
What is funny about beating another man (often a woman) or getting drunk, vomiting or destroying the furniture? And although watching streams like this, may seem embarrassing and scary, unfortunately, for a certain group of people it is a great entertainment. ”Professional creators” of such recordings achieve high viewership, which translates into their high earnings.
Minors are the main recipients of such recordings. They are often impressed by showing inappropriate behavior in such an extreme way. This can affect child's development, shaping his/her perception of the world and even his/her further adult life. Pathostreamers earn money not only on subscriptions but also on payments they receive from their viewers. In exchange for voluntary contributions donations they perform the promised actions. One of the pathostreamers after collecting PLN 5,000 set fire to the sofa in the apartment.
You may say: if you want to gain fame, just become a pathostreamer. Many novice YouTubers start their adventure with the Internet just by making pathostreams. They are aware that it is currently the fastest way to popularity. Apparently, being coarse and ruthless simply pays off.
Despite the scale of this phenomenon, the police are often helpless in bringing "creators" to justice. There are not enough officers in the departments designated to fight cybercrime. But we do know of some individual prosecutions. In one case the defendant was charged with hate speech, threats and urging minors to expose themselves in front of the camera. This conviction was primarily thanks to the Internet users who collected the evidence of his illegal actions. Many of Internet users try to chase patrostreamers on their own. The pace of the spread of content in online environment has led to a situation where it is virtually impossible to stop the phenomenon. If one portal blocks the pathostreamer, they immediately moves to another platform.
The awareness of a parent or guardian about this phenomenon increases the chances of minimizing the number of its young recipients.
Do you know what your child is watching online?
Let's talk to children and teach them respect for other people.