Key points

• There are serious concerns about the “flip the camera” social trend.
• This trend is described in the media as a form of bullying and humiliation.
• Bullying and social humiliation carry significant dangers for individuals and society.

There are recent reports of social media-related and broader societal concerns regarding the “flip the camera” trend. In this social media trend, someone from a group hands a smartphone to an unsuspecting bystander and asks them to film the group doing a dance or routine. They then flip the camera to record the bystander who is doing the filming, and then post the video online, often with commentary mocking the person doing the filming. This is being described in the media as a form of bullying and public humiliation (Annabel, 2025; Robinson, 2025; USA Today, 2025).

Research informs that when any form of bullying or social humiliation becomes social or societal entertainment, society risks losing its moral compass. And if this is taking place, then society is a danger to itself (Agustiningsih et al., 2024; Borrego-Ruiz & Fernández, 2024; Kosmyna et al., 2025; López-Mora et al., 2024; Naik et al., 2025; Neumann & Rhodes, 2024; Ray et al., 2024; Van Bavel et al., 2024).

The Research

Psychologists and neuroscientists warn that trends like “flip the camera” exploit others, which is extremely concerning for their physical, mental, emotional, and broader social well-being.

Research has also found that social media use negatively impacts the brain, attention, memory, executive function, and language development in children and young adults. These are the very skills needed for learning, resilience, and moral and ethical decision‑making. As such, it is important to note that neuroscience confirms that the brain does not mature until around age 25 (Agustiningsih et al., 2024; Borrego-Ruiz & Fernández, 2024; Kosmyna et al., 2025; López-Mora et al., 2024; Naik et al., 2025; Neumann & Rhodes, 2024; Ray et al., 2024; Van Bavel et al., 2024).

Furthermore, as the research informs, these types of trends not only have serious negative brain-based impacts, they also have associated personal cognitive, emotional, mental, and broader negative social impacts as well (Arden, 2010; Arrowsmith–Young, 2012; Casey & Jones, 2010; Crone & Dahl, 2012; Doidge, 2010, 2015; Kosmyna et al., 2025; Medina, 2008; Naik et al., 2025; Sherman et al., 2016).

The research now also confirms that these serious personal and social concerns are beginning to affect children from a very young age. This is because, as research now is repeatedly showing, children are no longer engaging as much in physical play or using their imagination as they once did.

Technological gaming is not play. Using the word “play” when involved in a technological process may “look like play,” however, it is not play. Since the dawn of time, physical play and imagination have been the processes that develop the brain and the body for the inevitability of adulthood (Dominey, 2021; Ezmeci, 2023; Gray, 2011; Lauer, 2011; Whitebread et al., 2017;** **Yogman et al., 2018).

Everyday Consequences

In classrooms, play serves as a spark for creativity and focus. Without it, lessons can feel dull, and students might find it hard to handle challenges. In families, play is the bonding glue that strengthens connections. Without those playful moments, social adaptability diminishes, leaving children less prepared for the give-and-take of relationships. When children stop playing, the impacts stretch well beyond the playground and can, as the research indicates, reach into adulthood and the years that follow.

In society, the stakes are equally as high. A generation deprived of play risks becoming less resilient, less autonomous, and more dependent on external aids. Play is not just fun—it is training for all that it means to understand self and society ethically and morally, all of which will eventually lead to adulthood.

However, when social trends replace physical play, the risks may go beyond cognitive, emotional, and physical development. Play is fundamental to humanity. Physical play contributes to all aspects of development, growth, learning, and more, as highlighted by the research of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Erikson. Physical play promotes physical health, enhances mental skills and emotional resilience, and supports ethical and moral development, among other benefits, including the development of motor skills, strength, coordination, and support for healthy sleep cycles.

Mental skills that enhance problem‑solving, creativity, language, and executive function also take place during physical play. Emotional resilience supports the development of coping strategies and helps build self-confidence, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Insights into rules, sharing, and caring, and associated ethical and moral insights are developed during the years of physical play.

Social Media Essential Reads

Social competence also develops during physical play, which involves understading what is meant by cooperation and empathy, and this also eventually develops into what is referred to as the insights of Theory of Mind, connected to the profound importance of family attachment, which, when associated with play, influences ethical and moral development and helps develop insights into personal responsibility, fairness, and moral reasoning, and the understanding that choices always lead to consequences.

Physical play is fundamental to humanity. Humanity evolves through play, especially physical play. As the research is now regularly informing, when social trends (of any kind) replace physical play, the risks extend far beyond cognition, emotion, and health. Play is the crucible in which the brain, body, and moral compass are forged. Play, especially physical play, is not optional, not trivial, and not replaceable by technological gaming. Physical play and imagination have long been understood as part of children’s preparation for the inevitability of adulthood (Christian et al., 2025; Colliver & Veraksa, 2021; Erskine, 2019; Lillard, 2015; Oh, 2024; Yalçin, 2021).

Social media use is not play. Technological gaming is not play. Sharing information via social media is not play. None of this technology use, which, self-evidently, also has immense social power, has been witnessed before by society (Dominey, 2021; Ezmeci, 2023; Gray, 2011; Lauer, 2011; Whitebread et al., 2017; Yogman et al., 2018).

However, we do have power over what we think, do, say, choose, and learn. It is how we choose to use this power—which we own and control—that determines the type of person we become (Purje, 2014).

History Always Informs

History has consistently shown that when any civilization loses its ethical and moral compass, it is lost. These social collapses are not matters of imagination or philosophy; they are observable realities. Each of these civilizations fell because the thinking and behaviors that were required to keep them intact and socially functioning no longer existed. As such, the fact is undeniable: These civilizations are no longer here.

Today Is Here. What About Tomorrow?

We are what we think, do, say, and choose. If history teaches us anything, it is that societies endure when they uphold their ethical and moral compass. Blaming others is not the solution to problems that we create ourselves. Universal truths are simply that—universal and true. Every society and every civilization exists because of the combined collective of this one single individual and the choices made, individually and collectively.

If problems are not recognized and openly discussed, if we act like there’s no problem, there will be associated consequences. Conversely, and self-evidently, when problems are identified and discussed (openly, transparently, with integrity), there will also be consequences. All choices always have consequences (Purje, 2014). Today is here. What about tomorrow?

References

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