Video Of Woman Sitting On Floor Of Metro With Baby Goes Viral: Where Is Our Empathy?

An undated video of a woman sitting on the floor of a metro with a baby on her lap has recently gone viral and has enraged many social media users. Debates have sparked regarding humanity, manners, and sensitivity. Have we forgotten common etiquette like helping out new moms and elderly people? Or is it simply that we have grown oblivious to our surroundings and do not notice what is happening around us, with our eyes glued to our phone screens.

A Twitter user shared the video of the woman sitting on the floor of the metro with a baby in her lap with the caption “Your degree is just a piece of paper if it is not reflected in your behaviour”. The video panned to show that all the seats on the said metro ride were occupied by people, including several women who could have easily offered one to the mother.

Calling other passengers “insensitive and inhuman” many people pointed out that there were several women sitting close by “yet no one offered a seat”. What can one expect from men, when women themselves have no empathy for other women?

Meanwhile, a user claimed that the video was old and that several people had offered the woman a seat but she refused it. The user said she preferred sitting on the floor as it was more comfortable to keep a child on her lap while sitting cross-legged on the ground. “Not everything is as wrong as it is made out to be,” read the tweet

Other users also said they found it hard to believe that nobody offered the woman a seat, and added that one short clip cannot show the entire story. The claim that the video is old seems to be true as we found a ">similar video on YouTube, from 2021.

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Woman Sitting On Floor Of Metro With A Baby: We need more info

First things first, we need more information to be able to pass a judgement in this case. Maybe some of the users are right and the woman was indeed offered a seat and yet chose to sit on the floor. In that case, the onus falls on those who are sharing the video, or the person who shot it, did they ask the woman if she was offered a seat or not?

It has become our tendency to give impulsive verdicts based on half truth and snippets that are presented to us without a wholesome narrative on social media. Thus, we need a constant reminder to check first and judge later.

Having said that, it is entirely possible that the woman was indeed not offered a seat. Some people can clearly be seen peeking into their phones in the video, and that is not uncommon. If you commute via train or any other public transport, you will notice that people barely raise their heads up from their phones during their journey to see what is unfolding around them. Would a person hooked to their phone even notice that a woman is sitting on the floor with a small child, let alone offer her their seat?

While smartphones make our journeys bearable and shorter, they also isolate us from others. Today it is a woman with a child who needed attention and aid. Tomorrow it could be you, me or anyone we loved? If we do not pay attention to others, or show empathy (not just on public transport, mind you) then do we even have the right to expect the same from others? Or criticise those caught on camera not doing the bare minimum? We all need to give that some thought.

Views expressed are the author's own.