Bowman’s Travel Brief: Silly Little Trends

Do you remember the planking craze? The Harlem shake meme? Or those weird food challenges like eating cinnamon or drinking a gallon of milk?

People planking in the middle of the aisle on planes was ridiculous, just like it was for the people subjecting themselves to pain for any of the other whacky internet memes that took social media by storm over the last decade.

These silly little trends come and go. Despite the millions and millions of video views they obtain, they eventually get replaced by the next silly little trend.

So, don’t expect the new social media trend of raw-dogging flights to last very long. And no, raw-dogging a flight is not related to the joining the mile-high club like you may have first thought of when hearing the term.

It’s actually about going the entire flight essentially in silence – no using the seat-back screen for entertainment, no using phones, no listening to music, no reading a book, just doing nothing.

Tons of videos flooded the various social media channels with people claiming to do nothing for 5, 10 and even 15 hours on a flight.

I’m not buying it. I don’t believe this many people are actively choosing to spend their entire flight without any form of entertainment.

When you think about it though, taking a video of yourself in your plane seat and then posting it is still some form of entertainment.

People will do just about anything for social media likes and follows, including lying about their time spent on a plane. No doubt you’ve seen someone post about flying first-class or on a private jet and wondered, is that real or fake?

Someone posting about raw-dogging a flight isn’t all that different.

What do you think of the latest silly trend?

Let me know your thoughts and follow me on social media: @EricBowman_