Three teenagers posted a viral video of them handling a homeless man a rice packet with chicken bones, sparking tremendous fury among Malaysians across all ethnic backgrounds.

I have always opposed to irresponsible social media posts for the singular motive of capturing tons of views, as I am convinced that any action must be accompanied with a responsibility.

When pursuing “likes” and “follows” becomes the sole  reason for an action, that signals the start of a gradual decline in human morality that will steer society towards the path of great dangers.

Should we condone unscrupulous acts breaching the most fundamental social morality bottomlines just to satisfy the unsatiable human lust for lowly gossips in pursuit of widespread attention? And all this just for more fame for the so-called influencers?

The teenagers’ folly has set an absolutely negative example for young Malaysians, exposing not just their own ignorance but also the sorry state of the country’s school education and web culture.

Anyone with a decent education should at least be able to tell what is right or wrong, but even this is now in tatters!

I am not telling you to stay away from technology or the Internet, or even reject AI and other web tools. I just wish to remind you all that we must not lose our directions while pursuing and enjoying the many conveniences afforded by breakneck technological advancement.

Many have forgotten the essence of education at a time the entire humanity is going after the latest developments in technology, seeing AI as the unmistakable passport to future happiness.

By right the advancement in technology should render us more humane and not more ignorant, selfish, cold-blooded, or simply unthinking.

To me, capturing eyeballs is but an ad jargon created by profiteering social media platforms.

Statistics over these two years have pointed to the stark reality that people across the world are spending an average of six hours and 40 minutes each day staring into their smartphones or sitting in front of their computers or TV sets, at least three hours and 43 minutes on their mobiles alone. The figure for Gen Z could reach a staggering nine hours!

By comparison, Malaysians spend an average of four hours and 42 minutes each day on smartphones.

In other words, more and more people are morbidly glued to their handset screens. Screen time is growing, especially for Gen Alpha who came to this world without the right of making their own choices, given the fact their parents started pampering them with a handphone or tablet, not a toy or story book, since day one! Before these toddlers learned to talk, they had learned to swipe the phone.

Our education minister and other politicians appear to have been hardly alarmed by this incident, oblivious to the more pertinent crisis in the form of gradual collapse of our education system.

Researches show that chronic addiction to mobile screen will compromise a user’s focus and learning capacity while also adversely affect the quality of sleep and result in degenerative vision.

Experts have even warned that growing children overdependent on mobile phones will eventually see their social skills shattered and their EQ tragically impacted.

Modern parents customarily hand out mobile phones to their children without realizing that they are unknowingly surrendering their educational responsibility to AI tools.

The end result could be frightening: AI understands their children way better than themselves, as young people are more inclined to confide themselves to AI and seek solace from the machine, instead of their disapproving parents who will more likely give them a piece of their mind.

While many in our society strongly advocate AI adoption, few will go into its complications and impact on human morality.

In our insane world today where efficiency and outcome are all that we aspire, much of our value system, judgmental ability and crisis cognizance has taken a backseat!

The crises confronting humanity now and in future include further decline in the education system and family education, the depletion of human emotions and nature, as well as possible deep social unrest stemming from displacement of human jobs by AI.

More alarmingly, the rate of new profession and job creation lags far behind job depletion caused by AI and automation, which invariably will spark chronic structural anxiety and social unease on a global proportion.

Three teenagers humiliated a homeless man by feeding him chicken bones, yet claimed they had done something great. The incident highlights the complete flop in Malaysia’s family and school education.

What’s worse is that our education minister and other politicians appear to have been hardly alarmed by this incident, but have instead grown excessively concerned about careless misplacement of Jalur Gemilang—triggering a new wave of rebukes and strong demand for thorough investigation, calling for the offenders to be severely dealt with.

However, the same bunch of people seem to be oblivious to the more pertinent crisis in the form of gradual collapse of our education system.

The chicken bones inside the rice packet reflect a social malady many fail to discern.

We tend to make a big fuss over some unintended oversight, often at the expense of more deep-rooted structural issues.

Those in power are less inclined to lead our multicultural nation towards real greater prosperity and reconciliation than allow toxic noises to quietly tear up our society.

No matter how developed technology is or how accessible information is to the public, it will be the greatest tragedy of our time if we still fail to see what is kindness, respect, tolerance, and worse, the essence of human living.