In the late 1800s, a man named James Wide worked as a railway signalman for Cape Town’s Port Elizabeth Railway Station. He was known fondly as “Jumper” because he had the habit of jumping between railcars even when the trains were moving. One day he took an inaccurate jump, which cuased him to fall beneath a moving train. Although he survived the accident, both of his legs were completely crushed. He needed to hire someone to assist him in his job. So, he hired an assistant who was anything but an ordinary employee. He was a baboon.
Image Source: 14th February 1959: A league of trainspotters young and old crowd the number 10 platform at London's King's Cross Station. (Photo by Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Getty Images)
Jack the Chacma baboon served the railways under Wide in South Africa for nine years. And on top of that, he never made a single mistake. Wide had first come across Jack at a local market in 1881, where he spotted the baboon leading an oxen cart. And there one the spot, he made up his mind. Wide reached out to the animal’s owner and discovered that Jack was trained to obey many basic commands such as pushing or pulling weights. So, Wide bought Jack to train him as his assistant.
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Felix T bone
Wide trained him for several tasks of varying levels of difficulty—from pushing his wheelchair between his home and the signal box to grabbing a key from a locked box and delivering it to the train drivers. Jack quickly grasped it all. He also learned the audio signals that the train drivers gave with their whistles and toots.
However, after one person filed a complaint about a baboon operating the railway service, Jack and Wide were fired from the job. With the support of some of his colleagues, Wide appealed to the department to give him and his assistant a chance to prove their capabilities.
Image Source: A British Railway's Standard 4 Class 4-6-0, one of several allocated to Tebay for banking duties, on the 1 in 75 climb up Shap Fell. Scout Green signal box is in the background. Wednesday 27th September 1967. (Photo by Rail Photo/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images)
After observing Jack’s abilities, the railways decided to officially employ the baboon. He was offered a salary of twenty cents a day, with a weekend bonus of half a bottle of beer along with a supply of snacks each week. Soon, Jack gained celebrity status among tourists and commuters. Sometimes, he could even be seen doing the gardening work at the station.
In 1890, the primate took his last breath as he passed away from tuberculosis. At present, his skull is displayed in the collection of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown. Jack’s story was originally published in the Nature Journal’s July 24, 1890 issue, per the Vintage News. This amazing story has also resurfaced on the internet.
It has been re-shared on various social media platforms, including a subreddit titled r/todayilearned. People shared some hilarious takes on this story, wondering over the scenario of a baboon working in railways. Many joked about what he did with his money; and how many paychecks he received at the end of his job. u/Lilpu55yberekt69 commented, “I feel there are a great many jobs that could realistically be replaced by a well-trained monkey. Why is everyone working on AI when we could just hire monkeys?” A song has also been composed based on the story of the baboon and the signalman.
Image Source: Reddit | u/Indefinite_forest_
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Why do some folks use social media but don't engage?
Psychologist says people who never comment on social media share these 5 positive traits
For over 20 years, social media has developed into a staple in many people’s day-to-day lives. Whether it’s to keep in communication with friends and family, following the thoughts of celebrities, or watching cat videos while sipping your morning coffee, there seem to be two types of social media users: commenters and lurkers.
The term “lurker” sounds equally mysterious and insidious, with some social media users writing them off as non-participants at best or voyeurs at worst. However, mindfulness expert Lachlan Brown believes these non-commenters have some very psychologically positive and healthy traits. Let’s take a look at how each one of these traits could be beneficial and see how fruitful lurking might be even though it can drive content creators crazy.
1. Cautious about vulnerability
Consciously or not, making a post online or commenting on one puts you and your words out there. It’s a statement that everyone can see, even if it’s as simple as clicking “like.” Doing so opens yourself up to judgment, with all the good, bad, and potential misinterpretation that comes with it. Non-commenters would rather not open themselves up to that.
These silent users are connected to a concept of self-protection by simply not engaging. By just scrolling past posts or just reading/watching them without commentary, they’re preventing themselves from any downsides of sharing an opinion such as rejection, misunderstanding, or embarrassment. They also have more control on how much of themselves they’re willing to reveal to the general public, and tend to be more open face-to-face or during one-on-one/one-on-few private chats or DMs. This can be seen as a healthy boundary and prevents unnecessary exposure.
Considering many comment sections, especially involving political topics, are meant to stir negative emotional responses to increase engagement, being extra mindful about where, when, and what you comment might not be a bad idea. They might not even take the engagement bait at all. Or if they see a friend of theirs post something vulnerable, they feel more motivated to engage with them personally one-on-one rather than use social media to publicly check in on them.
2. Analytical and reflective mindset
How many times have you gone onto Reddit, YouTube, or any other site and just skimmed past comments that are just different versions of “yes, and,” “no, but,” or “yes, but”? Or the ever insightful, formerly popular comment “First!” in a thread? These silent browsers lean against adding to such noise unless they have some valid and thoughtful contribution (if they bother to comment period).
These non-posters are likely wired on reflective thinking rather than their initial intuition. Not to say that all those who comment aren’t thoughtful, but many tend to react quickly and comment based on their initial feelings rather than absorbing the information, thinking it over, researching or testing their belief, and then posting it. For "lurkers," it could by their very nature to just do all of that and not post it at all, or share their thoughts and findings privately with a friend. All in all, it’s a preference of substance over speed.
3. High sense of self-awareness
Carried over from the first two listed traits, these silent social media users incorporate their concern over their vulnerability and their reflective mindset into digital self-awareness. They know what triggers responses out of them and what causes them to engage in impulsive behavior. It could be that they have engaged with a troll in the past and felt foolish. Or that they just felt sad after a post or got into an unnecessary argument that impacted them offline. By knowing themselves and seeing what’s being discussed, they choose to weigh their words carefully or just not participate at all. It’s a form of self-preservation through restraint.
4. Prefer to observe rather than perform
Some folks treat social media as information, entertainment, or a mix of both, and commenting can feel like they’re yelling at the TV, clapping alone in a movie theater when the credits roll, or yelling “That’s not true!” to a news anchor that will never hear them. But contrary to that, social media is a place where those yells, claps, and accusations can be seen and get a response. By its design, social media is considered by experts and the media as performative, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. Taking all of the previously mentioned traits into account, one can see why they would prefer to “observe the play” rather than get up on the stage of Facebook or X.
On top of that, these non-commenters could be using social media differently than those who choose to fully engage with it. Using this type of navigation, there may be nothing for them to comment about. Some commenters are even vying for this for their mental health. There are articles about how to better curate your social media feeds and manipulate algorithms to create a better social media experience to avoid unnecessary conflict or mentally tiring debate.
If you go on a blocking spree on all of your accounts and just follow the posters that boost you, it could turn your social media into a nice part of your routine as you mainly engage with others face-to-face or privately. In terms of commenting, if your curated Instagram is just following cute dogs and all you have to offer for a comment is “cute dog,” you might just enjoy the picture and then move on with your day rather than join in the noise. These non-commenters aren’t in the show and they’re fine with it.
5. Less motivated by social validation
The last trait that Brown showcases is that social media users who browse without posting tend to be independent from external validation, at least online. Social media is built to grow through feedback loops such as awarding likes, shares, and reposts of your content along with notifications letting you know that a new person follows you or wants to connect. This can lead many people to connect their activity on social media with their sense of self worth, especially with adolescents who are still figuring out their place in the world and have still-developing brains.
Engaging in social media via likes, shares, comments, and posts rewards our brains by having them release dopamine, which makes us feel good and can easily become addictive. For whatever reason, non-commenters don’t rely on social media as a means to gauge their social capital or self worth. This doesn’t make them better than those who do. While some non-commenters could have healthier ways to boost their self worth or release dopamine into their systems, many get that validation from equally unhealthy sources offline. That said, many non-commenters’ silence could be a display of independence and self confidence.
Whether you frequently comment online or don’t, it’s good to understand why you do or don’t. Analyzing your habits can help you determine whether your online engagement is healthy, or needs to be tweaked. With that information, you can then create a healthy social media experience that works for you.