Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills

Level 3: Advanced

1
  Warmer

a. Complete the two mind maps with as many ideas as you can.

SOCIAL
PRIVACY
MEDIA

b. Share your ideas in small groups.

c. Discuss as a whole class.

2
  Key words

a. Write the correct words from the wordpool next to the definitions below. Then find and
highlight them in the article to read them in context.

ageist bigoted bystanders defensive dignity disrespectful empowered

escalated grace homophobic incentive meltdown monetizing provoked
spontaneous surfaces thrill undesirable unworkable vape

1. a sudden feeling of being very excited and pleased .

2. Treating people with respect can also mean treating them with .

3. If you act with , your behaviour is kind, polite and fair.

4. when you are given power to do something

5. not accepted, liked, or welcomed

6. not practical and unlikely to be succesful

7. to become known or obvious after being hidden

8. The word is used to describe hate or fear of gay people.

9. The word is used to describe descrimination of elderly people.

D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA

Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.

M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC

Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS

T
O
H
AN
•P
C
 Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills
Level 3: Advanced
10. If you , you breathe the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette
into your lungs.

11. Someone who is has opinions that most people think are
unreasonable, especially about politics, race, or religion.

12. When you earn money from a website or a piece of software you are
it.

13. When someone deliberately tries to make you angry, you feel .

14. to make a situation worse or more serious

15. If you are , you are showing that you are angry or offended when
you think that someone is criticising you.

16. people who are in a place when an unusual event happens but are not directly connected to it

17. something that makes you do something because you know that you will benefit by doing it

18. A is a loss of self control or an emotional breakdown.

19. Being means you do not respect someone or something.

b. Choose five of the words above and write personalised sentences using them.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.
D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA

Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.

M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC

Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS

T
O
H
AN
•P
C
 Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills
Level 3: Advanced
None of us has an absolute
right to privacy in public,
but whatever happened
to respecting people’s
basic dignity?
Jason Okundaye
25 January, 2023
1 Once, when I was younger and would dress
fairly outrageously, I caught a stranger
recording me on his phone as I danced on the
tube, on my way to a gay club. The video never
surfaced online to my knowledge – perhaps he
simply sent it to a group chat – but for months
I looked over my shoulder when dancing.
2 Turning strangers into online content for the
purposes of comedy and entertainment has
become a global pastime. And we lap it up. A
drunk person in the street, a loved-up couple
in a supermarket, a man loudly singing on
crowded public transport – the content is
endless. But the line between lighthearted
teasing and digital harassment seems to be
getting thinner by the day.
3 Recently, a 64-year-old man was filmed
dancing enthusiastically at Fabric nightclub
in London. The video was uploaded online
with the caption: “Yo I’ll never be going Fabric
again.” The intention was clearly to laugh at the
man’s dancing, and the clip also invited a range
of homophobic and ageist responses, with the
man in question saying that his “heart sank”
when he saw tweets about himself.
4 None of us can expect a legally protected right
to absolute privacy when we step out in public.
There are, however, basic ideas that we’re all
supposed to hold around respect and dignity.
It’s an unspoken code that is disappearing at
a time where there are rewards to be gained
by selling out another person’s privacy, making
them go viral.
5 Sometimes recording is not as spontaneous
as seeing a stranger you think is ridiculous and
clicking “Record”: in our age of YouTube and
TikTok, it’s commonplace for strangers to be
pranked or misled for the purposes of content.
These pranks usually have less sinister or
malicious intent than spontaneous recording, but
the feeling of being degraded is often the same,
with uploaders potentially monetizing the content.
Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
6 For instance, an Australian woman who
was made to participate in a “random act
of kindness” TikTok without her knowledge,
described being filmed without her consent as
“dehumanizing”. A friend of mine, Kyle Skies,
recently fell victim to a YouTube prankster, in
which he was provoked by a series of annoying
questions. The video is incredibly funny (there’s
no argument about that) but Skies didn’t see it
that way.
7 “I had just run for and missed the train so I was
already annoyed, and then that happened to
me,” he tells me. Though he felt he was being
set up, he was still not prepared to see the
video online. “My cousin sent it to me because
he’s of that age group. He was laughing,
saying, ‘You’re so funny.’ But it didn’t feel
nice.” Skies is powerless here – so long as
footage is taken in public and does not reveal
personal data, such as your bank details or
medical history, you generally do not need the
subject’s consent.
8 There are, of course, instances where
recording strangers can be in the public
interest, such as when witnessing police
brutality. But we do need to start thinking
more carefully about this dog-eat-dog culture
of public spectacle. Take the example of
someone, who appeared to be a school-age
child, filmed shouting at passengers on a train
this month after apparently being asked not
to vape. (It was viewed several million times
on Twitter.)
9 Few people who negatively commented online
seemed to consider that they might have
been watching footage of a minor. Or that
being filmed by multiple recording devices
could have overwhelmed the subject, whose
response was likely escalated by a defensive
need to stand their ground and not look weak
in front of the cameras. Their behaviour was
certainly not appropriate, but what does it mean
when bystanders can witness a young person
vaping on the train and their first thought is to
ridicule and humiliate? Would the incident have
played out differently without cameras and the
incentive to create content from other people’s
meltdowns? And even if their behaviour was
bad, was it really in the public interest for it to
be shared, when the behaviour was simply
disrespectful rather than violent or bigoted?
D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA
M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC
T
O
H
AN
•P
C
 Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills
Level 3: Advanced
10 Until such practices become socially
unacceptable, there is the chance that you
could step outside and become someone
else’s ticket to social-media stardom. The use
of mobile recording devices has empowered
us in many ways. Beefing up privacy laws
to prevent the filming of strangers in public
would be undesirable, not to mention
unworkable. What can change is social and
cultural – reacting with grace to each other’s
embarrassments, and minding your own
business more.
© Guardian News and Media 2023
First published in The Guardian, 25/1/2023

D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA

Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.

M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC

Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS

T
O
H
AN
•P
C
 Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills
Level 3: Advanced

3
  Comprehension check

a. Change the sentences so they are correct. Three of them are true and don’t need to
be corrected.

1. The writer was filmed on public transport and the video appeared online.

2. There is more and more content that involves filming strangers.

3. An old man was bullied online for going to a nightclub.

4. You have a legally protected right to privacy in public.

5. Pranksters film strangers for videos on Twitter.

6. Kyle Skies found the video he was in funny.

7. You need a person’s consent to take videos of them in public.

8. The writer believes there are some examples where filming strangers is acceptable.

9. There was no reason for the child filmed vaping to react the way they did.

10. Making stricter privacy laws to protect people is likely to be difficult.

D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA

Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.

M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC

Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS

T
O
H
AN
•P
C
 Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills
Level 3: Advanced

4
  Key language

a. Sort the verbs from the box into the table to form phrasal verbs from the article.

beef      lap      play      sell      set      step

Verb + out Verb + up

b. Discuss the questions with a partner.

1. What is the meaning of each of the phrasal verbs?

2. Can you form other phrasal verbs that aren’t in the article using the same verbs and prepositions?

3. Can you find a compound adjective that uses the preposition up in paragraph 2? What do you
think it means?

c. Complete the compound nouns from the article.

1. g p (paragraph 2)

2. u c (paragraph 4)

3. m i (paragraph 5)

4. p b (paragraph 8)

5. p s (paragraph 8)

6. p i (paragraphs 8 & 9)

d. Check the meanings of any unfamiliar words using a dictionary.

e. Find the idioms and phrases below in the article. Discuss in small groups what you think they
mean. Share your ideas as a whole class.

1. a thin line

2. a ticket to stardom

3. dog-eat-dog

4. mind your own business

5. stand your ground

D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA

Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.

M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC

Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS

T
O
H
AN
•P
C
 Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills
Level 3: Advanced

5
  Discussion

a. Use the prompts to have discussions.

• Think about the article. What point is the writer trying to make? How does he do this?

• Do people treat each other with respect and dignity nowadays? Or has than been lost through
the years?

• Do you think it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills? How do you
propose protecting people’s privacy more?

6
  In your own words

a. In pairs, use your phones or a computer connected to the internet to find a video similar to
those described in the article. It can be a prank, a random act of kindness, or a video that
went viral.

b. Share your video with your classmates and say why you think it went viral. Can this video be
described as “innocent fun” or can it be described as “harrasment”?

D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA

Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.

M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC

Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS

T
O
H
AN
•P
C
 Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills
Level 3: Advanced – Teacher’s notes
Key:
Article summary: The article discusses how 1. thrill 11. vape
the use of phones to film people in public has 2. dignity 12. bigoted
become problematic. 3. grace 13. monetizing
4. spontaneous 14. provoked
Time: 60 minutes 5. empowered 15. escalated
6. undesirable 16. defensive
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
7. unworkable 17. bystanders
8. surface 18. incentive
Language focus: Vocabulary: phrasal verbs,
9. homophobic 19. meltdown
compound nouns, idioms & phrases
10. ageist 20. disrespectful
Materials needed: One copy of the
b. Give the class an opportunity to personalise some
worksheet per student
of the vocabulary they have covered in the previous
activity. Remind them that memorizing 20 words
won’t help them unless they know how to use them.
1. Warmer Encourage students to choose the words they think
will be the most useful in their day-to-day lives. Be
a. The purpose of this activity is to introduce the sure to check each student’s work as you walk around
general themes of the lesson. Students should the class. Allow time for feedback, so students can
complete the mind maps on their own. share some of the sentences they have written.

b. Split the class into small groups for students to share 3. Comprehension check
what they know about social media and privacy.
Monitor the groups to help with any vocabulary or a. Students may correct the sentences in different
answer any questions. ways. Suggested answers are provided below.

c. It’s important to give feedback from the previous two
activities to preteach some unfamiliar vocabulary.
You can recreate the two mind maps on a
whiteboard or similar. In terms of social media, ask
students what social media they use (Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc.). Be sure to
cover the term online content to refer to what we see
online. Ask students what types of videos they watch
and direct them to the idea of viral videos – videos
that spread quickly through the internet so that lots of
people watch them.
2. Key words
a. There is a lot of vocabulary in this lesson. Students
can complete the activity in pairs or individually. To
make things more communicative, put students in
groups of four, with each student completing five
of the vocabulary sentences and then sharing their
answers in order.
Key (suggested answers):
1. False. The writer was filmed on public
transport but the video didn’t appear online,
to his knowledge.
2. True – no correction required
3. False. An old man was bullied online for dancing
enthusiastically at a nightclub.
4. False. You don’t have a legally protected right to
privacy in public.
5. False. Pranksters film strangers for videos on
YouTube and Tiktok.
6. False. The writer found the video Kyle Skies
was in funny.
7. False. You do not need a person’s consent to
take videos of them in public.
8. True – no correction required
9. False. There were several reasons for the child
filmed vaping to react the way they did: they
were being filmed and they were provoked
and ridiculed.
10. True – no correction required
D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA

Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.

M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC

Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS

T
O
H
AN
•P
C
 Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills
Level 3: Advanced – Teacher’s notes
4. Key language
a. Phrasal verbs are a tricky area of language for many
learners. You may want to ask them to work in pairs
if they struggle.
Key:
Verb + out: play out, sell out, step out
Verb + up: beef up, lap up, set up
b. In pairs, students should discuss the questions. For
the first question, ask them to find the phrasal verbs
in the article, so they can see them in context.
Key:
1. beef (something) up = add strength or power to
something (paragraph 10)
lap (something) up = respond to something with
lots of enthusiasm or excitement (paragraph 2)
play out = develop or unfold (paragraph 9)
sell out = betray your values for personal gain,
usually financial (paragraph 4)
set up = trick (paragraph 7)
step out = go out (paragraph 4)
2. Possible answers include: step up (increase);
sell up (sell your possessions or business);
play up (mess about or emphasize)
3. “Loved-up” is a slang British English term used
to describe people who are overly romantic.
c. Compound nouns should be a easier for students
to understand than phrasal verbs. However, the
task is quite tricky so make sure you allow time for
students to find the words within the article. You can
link compound nouns to the third question from the
previous activity if you wish to.
Key:
1. global pastime
2. unspoken code
3. malicious intent
4. police brutality
5. public spectacle
6. public interest
d. Students can use phones and dictionaries to find
the definitions.
Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
Key:
global pastime (adjective + noun) = an activity that
the whole world seems to do
unspoken code (adjective + noun) = (sometimes
called an “unwritten rule”) a set of rules that is known
and understood by everyone without having to be
written on paper
malicious intent (adjective + noun) = when someone
does something against another with the intention of
hurting them
police brutality (noun + noun) = describes when law
enforcement are overly aggressive or violent
public spectacle = a surprising event that takes
place in public
public interest = the fact that the public has a right to
know about something because it affects them
e. The last Key language activity explores idioms and
phrases, as the article is written in a fairly informal
style. Students should find the idioms and phrases
in the article to see them in context, and then work
in small groups to discuss what they think each one
means. They should then share their ideas as a
whole class before you clarify any ideas.
Key:
1. a thin line (paragraph 2) – If there is a thin line
between two or more things, they are similar. In
British English, it’s more common to say ‘a fine
line’ and in the writer’s case they are saying that
teasing and harassment are becoming more
similar every day.
2. a ticket to stardom (paragraph 10) = a way of
becoming famous
3. dog-eat-dog (paragraph 8) – Dog-eat-dog is
used to describe a situation where people
will place their own success above others,
particularly if doing this means it will
harm others.
4. mind your own business (paragraph 10) – To
mind your own business means to only be
concerned about your own affairs and not those
of others.
5. stand your ground (paragraph 9) – To stand your
ground means to refuse to be pushed about or
back down in an argument.
D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA
M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC
T
O
H
AN
•P
C
 Why it’s time to stop filming strangers in public for social media thrills
Level 3: Advanced – Teacher’s notes

5. Discussion

a. In the discussion prompts, students are given an

opportunity to summarize the article and discuss
privacy. The third prompt gives students a chance to
state whether they agree with the writer or not.

6. In your own words

a. This task requires students to have access to the

internet. They should spend some time searching for
a video similar to what the writer describes. Be sure
to remind them it needs to be appropriate.

b. Combine pairs so they form small groups. They

should share their videos and discuss whether they
think they are lighthearted, intended for comedy
or entertainment, or there is a more malicious
side to the footage. Lead a short class discussion
afterwards about the line between “innocent fun” and
harrasment and cyber-bullying.

D •
TE E E
SI AD L
EB LO B
W N IA

Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2023.

M W P
O DO O
FR BE OC

Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS

T
O
H
AN
•P
C