Last weekend, as I sat at my computer working, I found myself taking a short break and perusing Facebook. What I found were videos a plenty of people I went to high school with downing a beer or doing shots or drinking a random concoction in an odd situation and then nominating two other people to do the same. They then nominated the two others and told them they had 24 hours to post their own.
I watched a few videos and wondered what the heck they were doing as I hadn't heard of NekNominations until I Googled the hashtag accompanying the videos.
Apparently starting in Australia, where a slang word for drink is "neck," the fad quickly spread around the world. Essentially someone nominated accepts the challenge and proceeds to chug a beer or do shots in an unusual situation while having someone video tape the challenge.
Some of the more well-known stories around the world include a woman stripping in a store and downing a beer.
For my friends from high school, however, this meant making a snow angel while in their underwear and being told someone nominated them. They would be given a beer and proceed to down it.
Another person was nominated and chose to drink a beer out of one of his hockey skates, which he had just played a game in.
Drinking games are not new, there's plenty different ones out there which people play to pass the time at social gatherings; but, NekNominations have recently been in the news for a number of deaths linked to the trend either through alcohol poisoning, while some have even become injured while completing their nomination depending on what "stunt" they choose to do while performing their NekNomination.
This is what can be worrisome, when someone uses the game to binge drink and with their inhibitions to the wind choose to do something overly dangerous.
These videos made me think about what my reaction would be if I were to be nominated. Surely if I were in university still, it might have been something I would have done, but to me now it just seems ridiculous. Why would I want to act like a fool and put it on video?
It's not that drinking games are strictly wrong in my opinion, I've taken part in some after all, but there's a difference that comes with doing something at home with friends versus the technological decision of posting videos online in this fashion.
Not only is everything posted on the internet there forever, hiding somewhere in cyberspace, it's there for future employers to eventually find and could hurt your future.
In relation to these NekNominations comes pressure though. Not having been nominated obviously I don't know first hand, but I feel as though to many they wouldn't be able to say, "No."
The peer pressure which accompanies the NekNomination is immense. After all you're called out on social media to upload your video within 24 hours. I know some people, if they didn't do it, they would be razzed by others which likely factored into their choice to partake in the game.
Though this just sounds like young people acting out and drinking, they are possibly endangering their lives depending on what they decide their "stunt" to be.
Something good, however, can come out of something stupid. NekNominations have been linked to deaths, which are under investigation, but there are a group of people who have taken these nominations and turned it into something positive, a RAKNomination.
RAK stands for Random Act of Kindness and the young people in these videos simply do something nice for another person while videotaping it and then nominating two friends to do the same.
Many people have chosen to alter their NekNominations and take it on as a RAKNomination, which I think is admirable.
