Is It Worth Your LIfe?
“Yes, we're young and want to do what we see online, but you don't get second chances at life. One day you could be on top of a train, but you may not even be able to imagine what happens next.”
Parents and many others have used the MTA as a reliable source to get us to our destinations; however for the past couple of months, this hasn't been the case. The MTA is now being feared by parents and the whole of New York. You may wonder why or perhaps you may already know why. Subway surfing is the answer.
The trend has taken over the curiosity of many teens. Many horrific images of deaths and injuries have circulated all over the news for the past couple of months, with the New York City death toll from subway surfing doubling from 6 in 2023 to 12 up to this point in 2024. According to the websiteChalkBeat, 164 teens have been arrested for subway surfing, with 40 of those being arrested more than once. The article also showed that there has been a 46% increase in teenage arrests from 2023.
Subway surfing is the dangerous act of riding on the top of a moving train. The reason behind doing this is similar to the reasons why teenagers try other new and maybe reckless behaviors: adrenaline or a glimpse of fame throughout social media.
This issue has been trending for these past two years in the community of New York. While the practice has existed beforehand, its resurgence in popularity can largely be connected to social media platforms. For example, many of us have seen teens post videos on Tik Tok or Instagram of themselves jumping or doing any sort of movement on top of a moving train. These videos have been going viral on Tiktok, Instagram, and Youtube. This is where the stunt keeps attracting attention, and where teens keep seeing content glamorizing the practice. Many solutions have been proposed to limit exposure to this type of content. However, the efforts to limit these videos have not been successful.
In response to this, the news has covered many tragedies of parents who have been affected by subway surfing, which you should always take as a sign. Yes, we're young and want to do what we see online, but you don't get second chances at life. One day you could be on top of a train, but you may not even be able to imagine what happens next.
I've had the chance to interview people who surf the subway because I was provided a connection . I chose them because I know they have witnessed and experienced the dangers of subway surfing. They themselves also want the popularity to decrease or die down. I was speaking to them about why they started surfing and continue to do so and one said something that stood out which was, “It's the adrenaline rush you get knowing you're doing something that feels wrong; the view and feeling you get is like something you can't explain but have to experience.”
This stood out to me because, yes, when you think about it, the feeling he's chasing can be cool,but at one point it'll have to come to an end because when you're chasing this feeling, you're also chasing the risk of life and death.
I wanted to know if anything has made them rethink their actions and one said, “Yes, while going through the Whitlock turn, I lost my balance and almost fell off, but luckily I caught myself and was able to lay down,and I told myself I'll quit, but didn't.”
I asked him if he still surfs and he responded, “Not as much because recently someone I knew fell off, and we thought he wasn’t going to make it, but he did and we just stopped because of it. Then one of my other friends was sitting on top and got hit by a tree and was bleeding from his head and this put us into a shock.”
Experiences like these are more than just physical injuries because they can have lasting psychological effects on you. I asked if surfing was worth anything at the end of the day and he responded with: “Back then yeah it was worth it, but doing it more, I saw how it brought nothing except death or getting arrested.”
While subway surfing may continue, I advise you to remain seeing it through a screen rather than seeing it with your own eyes. The dangers you can face are so crucial since it involves illegal trouble and physical harm. If you know anyone who is doing this trend, be a genuine friend and spread awareness, because at any point a small slip can be the reason they aren’t around anymore. Please be smart and double think for yourself and your loved ones. At any given moment you're on top of that train, your story could be the next to be written about on the news and more. This trend has led to many fatalities and I don't want this to be the case for any students in the Comp Sci High community.