Stop Recording. Start Running.

Every time I scroll through social media, I see another fight. 

Not an argument. Not a shouting match. A fight.

And almost every time, the video starts the same way. Someone pulls out a phone. Then another person pulls out a phone. Then five more people pull out phones.

Before long, you've got a crowd of amateur cinematographers standing three feet away from two people throwing punches as if they're covering a heavyweight championship fight for ESPN.

Then it happens.

A gun appears.

The crowd scatters.

The video cuts off.

And somewhere in the comments, people are writing "I can't believe this happened."

Really? Because I can.

What I can't believe is how we've somehow taught an entire generation that the first response to danger is to hit Record instead of running.

I remember being in shady nightclubs as a 20-something and if a fight broke out, your survival instincts kicked in. You got away from the situation. You didn't move closer to get a better look. You didn't stand around hoping to capture the perfect punch. You certainly didn't stay long enough to find out whether somebody had a weapon. 

You left.

Because common sense told you that if two people are willing to fight in public, there's no telling what happens next. 

And there were numerous times my homies and I felt the vibe of the place shift and got out of there before the fight even started. If we saw two guys posturing up and planting that back foot, we knew a punch was going to be thrown soon. Or the tell-tell sign of trouble was someone walking out of the club after a disagreement (because you knew that he was going to his vehicle to retrieve a weapon).

Today's social media culture has flipped that instinct upside down. Everything is content. Every moment is an opportunity for views.

The problem is that real life isn't content. Real life has consequences. A fistfight can become a shooting in seconds. A crowd can become a crime scene in seconds.

And the people filming often become victims simply because they stayed around longer than they should have.

What's especially troubling is that many young people have never been taught a simple rule:

If violence starts, create distance.

Immediately.

Not after you get a few seconds of footage. Not after you post it to your story. Not after you see who wins.

Immediately.

Schools spend time teaching fire drills. They teach lockdown drills. They teach severe weather procedures. Maybe we also need to teach situational awareness. Maybe we need to teach kids that their phone is not more important than their safety. Maybe we need to teach them that nobody has ever regretted leaving a dangerous situation too early.

Every tragic video that circulates online carries the same silent lesson. Most people watching the footage are focused on what happened during the fight.

I'm focused on the people standing around it. Because many of them had a chance to leave. Not because they were trapped but because they were filming.

I'm not suggesting that recording incidents never has value. There are situations where documentation matters. But a random fight in a parking lot, school hallway, gas station, or street corner isn't a documentary project.

Your first responsibility is your own safety. The phone can wait. The likes can wait. The views can wait.

Your life can't.

Parents, please teach your children this.