‘Flip the camera’ trend exposes a deeper social problem, expert says

A CQUniversity educational neuroscience expert is warning that the viral ‘flip the camera’ trend is far from harmless fun.

Dr Ragnar Purje says the phenomenon is a modern form of bullying that exposes a much deeper societal problem.

The trend typically involves someone pretending to ask a passer-by to film them before abruptly flipping the camera to capture the other person’s startled reaction. It often ends up online as entertainment.

Dr Purje says the laughter masks the harm.

“Flip the camera is designed to catch people off guard and humiliate them for a few seconds of amusement,” he says. “It is deliberate, it is targeted, and it exploits vulnerability for entertainment.”

He says humiliation has always been a cruel act, but social media has given it a new stage and a far larger audience.

“When cruelty becomes content, we erode our moral compass,” he says. “Making humiliation go viral doesn’t neutralise it, it magnifies it.”

Dr Purje says young people are particularly at risk because their brains are still developing.

He notes that attention, memory and executive functioning can be compromised by heavy or uncritical reliance on social media platforms.

He says these cognitive skills are essential for navigating social dilemmas, managing impulses and understanding consequences.

“The brain is not fully mature until around age 25,” he says. “That means young people are more vulnerable to the social pressures and emotional consequences that digital trends can create.”

He says that as online content increasingly replaces imaginative play, cooperation and real-world interactions, the long-term impacts may be profound.

“Play is not just a pastime,” he says. “It is how we learn empathy, resilience and autonomy, and if screen-based trends displace real play, we risk raising a generation that struggles in these areas.”

He says the ‘flip the camera’ trend shows how a seemingly small piece of digital behaviour can reflect broader issues in society.

He believes parents and carers have a crucial role to play by encouraging children to question trends, understand consent and practise empathy.

He says educators also need to embed media literacy into learning so young people can recognise the real-world effects of their online behaviour.

“This is not about policing fun,” he says. “It is about deciding who we want to be as a society.”