For Gen Z, the most popular career that they would most like to pursue is an influencer. After all, why wouldn’t they? To make good money without having to do hard work is everyone’s dream, and add in a lot of attention and praise? Seems perfect. But the pursuit in doing so can push people to do stupid things. After all, you need to stick out to get attention these days.
While not the protagonist of this story, one particular influencer demonstrates that there can be real consequences when you try to be too edgy in order to get engagement. Content creator Johnny Somali is well known for being a professional pest and violating social norms in different countries in order to earn a few bucks. He has since found out that South Korea doesn’t play around when it comes to violating social norms, and he is now facing over a decade in prison there.
That brings us to the topic of our story, Scottsdale resident Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov. He is a YouTuber who wanted what could be seen as one of the holy grails of content: heading to North Sentinel Island, a famously remote island with residents who are completely cut off from the outside world by design.
The residents are so cut off that they have traditionally found any visitors as threats and have routinely killed them with bows and arrows. The result is that the Indian government has made venturing within three miles of the island illegal in an attempt to allow them to live undisturbed.
However, apparently the appeal was too strong for Mr. Polyakov, who visited the island and will now pay the price; he was arrested and now faces up to five years in prison as a result. And frankly, this sentence would be light compared to the consequences that other visitors have found: death.
While Scottsdale has its fair share of people who seek attention, one must always exercise some common sense. Travelers should also pay heed to foreign customs and laws, as what may be seen as standard or normal can be something quite different in a foreign land. Also, American jails can be akin to a resort in comparison to jails in developing nations.
This should serve as a good reminder for the rest of us: if we aren’t engaged by content meant to be shocking, the supply of this content would eventually dry up. Don’t encourage this sort of activity by engaging with it.