■ I’VE NOTICED

stories recently highlighting the backlash against social media stars performing ‘random’ acts of kindness to unwitting strangers, then posting the footage on their social media channels. one woman, who was filmed being given flowers by a stranger, spoke out afterwards about how she felt humiliated and ‘dehumanised’. She assumed she was singled out because she looked sad and lonely when, in fact, she was just enjoying a quiet coffee while out shopping. I loathe this trend. these are not acts of kindness. nor are they random. People are picked to elicit sympathy based on tired, patronising tropes of the deserving poor, or those who are deemed to appear down on their luck. It’s exploitation with the sole intention of getting likes and follows, and sums up the vacuous self-promotion that has infected social media.