In the modern world, things are faster; food comes at a click of a button, questions are answered by Siri, plans are made with a send of a text, and live streaming lets anyone with internet access watch an event in real time while in an entirely different place. However, some argue that the accessibility and speed of the new world isn’t worth it.

On Jan. 3, 2017, four 18 year old african americans kidnapped a white 18 year old with special needs. They live streamed themselves torturing their kidnapped victim by cutting his clothes, cutting his scalp, punching him, racially taunting him and making him kiss the ground, all while he was duct taped. This live stream was available for anyone to view on Facebook Live, a new streaming site introduced April 6, 2016.. With this recent and tragically well-known crime happening on a live streaming service, it raises the question: are live streaming services safe?

Many crimes have been committed on live streaming sites such as UStream, Livestream, YouNow, Periscope and Facebook Live; such crimes include suicides, murders and rapes. One reason for these crimes occurring and people viewing them may be because people enjoy watching scary things, and watching these streams can be viewed as a horror movie in real life. In our culture, some people have become immune to grim acts of violence because it is shown so much in movies, shows and video games.

In many instances, viewers watching streamed crimes don’t intervene or try to help. In 2008, a college student named Abraham Biggs committed suicide by overdosing on pills, and he live streamed the process on Justin.tv, a streaming website that is not in service anymore. No one who viewed the stream contacted the police until 12 hours after Biggs passed. Commenters actually encouraged him to do it just to watch it happen, instead of trying to stop him. An unfortunate fact that follows live streams of crimes is that most commenters encourage the crimes instead of doing something to stop them, which leads to the live streamers wanting to do more.

However, real time sites can be just as helpful as hurtful. Many tutors have live feeds that students can tune into to receive academic help. There are plenty of live sites that are used in class to help students become engaged, such as Kahoot! or Quizlet Live. Many students vow that this helps them review, and some teachers even give incentives for the winners, such as candy or bonus points on previous grades.

Live streaming sites are also used for legal entertainment purposes; many celebrities and YouTube personalities use streaming sites to interact with their fans. In these streams, fans write in questions via email, Twitter or through the site itself ,for the celebrity to answer, so the stream is like a personal interview for the fans.