Has anyone else heard of the latest craze sweeping the internet known as planking? An Australian man died today doing it – really sad story but you have to wonder what makes people want to do these things.
For those that don’t know – I was one of you until a few hours ago – planning is where you lie down straight on your front in a strange place and then have someone take a picture of it. There are pictures of people “planking” on bikes, cars and all sorts of places. Like many of these types of hobbies though, things start to get competitive and that’s where they get dangerous. Along with planking in funny places people also started to do it in dangerous places as these are the types of photos which get more views.
Apparently the Australian guy climbed onto a balcony of a high rise flat and tried to lie on the outer railing which was only a few centimeters thick. As he climbed over he lost balance and fell to his death.
It’s a terrible tragedy – especially as it could have been so easily avoided. I think it’s easy for people to forget that dangerous stunts can go wrong, especially as we see them so often on the internet. I hope this makes people think twice about doing dangerous planking photos again, although I’m sure he won’t be the last person to be hurt.