The lines between being a witness and a bystander used to be clear: you either helped or you didn’t. But today, new technologies have blurred that line into a grey zone. When we see a crisis, we are caught in a split-second decision between two instincts: the urge to rescue and the urge to record. Both carry immense weight. Both have the power to change a life, or fail it. The challenge is knowing which one to choose in that moment. 

In 1964, Kitty Genovese was brutally murdered. Despite her cries for help, all of her neighbors failed to intervene, leading psychologists Bibb Lantane and John Darley to coin the term “Bystander effect.” According to Psychology Today, the bystander effect is “the phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, the less likely they are to help a person in distress.” Today, in 2026, this phenomenon is still here. In fact, it’s been made worse by social media. Instead of helping out, we reach for our phones. We tell ourselves that recording is a form of capturing evidence, which will benefit the case, but in reality, we are just hiding behind our phones, avoiding the messy reality unfolding in front of us, turning the tragedy into “content” for the internet.

However, there are moments where the phone is a powerful tool to fight for justice.  In 2020, as a junior in high school, Frazier used her phone to record and document the murder of George Floyd. Frazier’s ten-minute and nine-second video became a primary source of evidence. As she later testified, she felt tremendous guilt for “not saving his life” physically, yet her video provided George Floyd with the proof needed for a criminal conviction. Her video contradicted the initial police report, which had misleadingly described the vent as a “medical incident,” and led to the conviction of all four police officers involved. By capturing this event that others might have ignored, Frazier was awarded the Pulitzer Prize special citation. When dealing with systemic issues, like ICE raids or police misconduct, physical intervention can be dangerous and may even be illegal for the bystander. However, the camera can act as a shield, holding authority and those in power accountable. 

Ultimately, the choice to record a rescue depends entirely on the situation of the moment. In my opinion, the danger of 2026 isn’t just that we are bystanders. It’s that we’ve convinced ourselves that hitting record is always an act of heroism. We must still challenge ourselves to break the bystander effect. The next time you see someone in need of assistance, your first instinct should just be to focus on the person in front of you, not whipping out your phone and making sure you have it all captured. Documentation should never take precedence over human life. We must remember that while a video might go viral, a timely intervention may save lives.