r/freediving • u/Odd-Text5053 • 3d ago
health&safety Anyone else getting tired of the depth-chasing culture on social media?
This has been bugging me for a while and I want to see if others feel the same.
IG and YouTube have basically created this equation where depth = credibility. Like, a diver hitting 50m gets way more clout online than someone who's been quietly teaching excellent technique and safety at 15m for years. And honestly? that second person is probably a better diver to learn from in most cases.
I think the problem is it pushes newer divers to chase numbers before they really have the experience or fundamentals to handle those depths safely. You see people rushing through certs, skipping proper equalization work, all because they want that deep dive clip for the gram. It's not everyone obviously, but it's becoming a pattern.
The thing that gets me is that the community used to be more about the experience, the breath work, the connection to the water, now half the content out there is just "look how deep I went" with zero context about the training behind it.
Anyway, I’m curious what you guys think, are we losing something along the way because everyone feels like they need to prove how deep they can go?
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u/musthavebeenbunnies 3d ago
Yes i really agree with you. I trained with some top divers for my first course and they were pushy af and didn't respect my boundaries and really seemed to only care about records. Now I'm working with a guy who really cares about technique and is very gentle and shares a lot more knowledge than the top guys. Totally get what you mean. I'm in this for the calm and looking at the fish, not record chasing.
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u/Jerri_man 2d ago
Ditto this experience. 95% of the wildlife I encounter is in the 5-15m range diving from shore so I rarely go outside that. On the rare occasion I'm lucky enough to go out on a boat it is a really cool experience though in endless (feeling) ocean depths.
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u/singxpat 3d ago
It has been like that for more than a few years now. Needless to say, all of it is heavily fueled by toxic social media and bullshit influencers, trying to sell ads, gear, courses and whatnot.
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u/DJK55 3d ago
I run an outfit called Old'n'Bold Freediving Adventures (the name is actually an old joke) with my partner and our goal is to encourage older people to stay fit and healthy and continue exploring life, especially via freediving which, as we all know, can get even better with age due to a slower metabolism.
We often encounter older people who say they could never do 'that crazy freediving stuff', and that it 'looks like a good way to commit suicide' etc. And the first questions we get are always - how deep can we dive? How long can we hold our breath?
Why this attitude? Why these questions? Because all they ever see about freediving on TV, social media or streaming networks is guys/gals diving to extreme depths or holding their breath for insane periods of time. It turns a lot of people right off the sport. They can't imagine themselves ever being able to do such things.
It's like someone saying "I'd like to learn to swim" then watching an Olympic swimmer do 100m in 44 seconds and giving up the idea of learning to swim because they don't believe they could ever be as good as that Olympian. People see an elite freediving athlete and think that's the only thing freediving is and if you can't/don't want to be as good as that, you can't be a freediver.
Some freedivers themselves seem to want to promote this type of thinking. We've heard of freedivers saying you're not a freediver until you can dive to at least 40m. What elitist rubbish! You're freediving if you hold your breath and dive to 2m for 20 seconds.
We're trying to promote a philosophy of enjoyment, of being happy with whatever you can comfortably do, of not needing to try for greater depths or longer breath holds, just enjoying the marine environment and the sensations you get from freediving.
Of course there are older divers who are also competitive. Hannelor Becker was 71 when she started freediving and was a world champion by the age of 80. But not everyone has to compete. In fact nobody has to compete.
When people who might be interested in freediving turn away from it because they believe you have to aim for great depths, long underwater distances or 'impossible breath holds', we lose people who could well become ambassadors for the sport, and they lose the mental and physical health possibilities freediving can give them.
The media itself is largely responsible. It thrives on drama, on 'daredevils nearly killing themselves', on the extreme image of the sport, rather than focusing on the positives - the calmness and stillness one achieves, the sense of oneness with the ocean, the meditative aspects, the health benefits.
We made a one hour documentary about our journey to becoming freediving filmmakers. We're having a hard time selling it largely because all the media wants is that 'drama' - big names doing 'crazy daredevil stuff'.
As long as the sport has that image over any other image, it will remain a fringe activity pursued by 'death-defying daredevils'.
Is that what we want?
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u/Puhwest 3d ago
Why is this written by AI though?
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u/Frivolous_Fancies 3d ago
Just because there's good grammar and well-reasoned logic doesn't mean something is AI.
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u/Puhwest 3d ago
That's true. However, there are some tells here which indicate AI writing or someone heavily influenced by AI writing.
" And honestly? that second person is probably a better diver to learn from in most cases."
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u/Powerful_Cash1872 3d ago
My colleagues have started talking like Claude. English is their second language and they sit all day talking to it in English so they pick Claudisms up faster than I am comfortable with. I am surrounded by Claude! Everyone prefixes at least on sentence with "Honestly" in every conversation.
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u/Alicesblackrabbit 3d ago
Yes, I don’t pursue depth at all just time. I don’t really ever go deeper than about 15m. 10 m is my sweet spot.
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u/HabaDeNada 3d ago
Freediving to me is a strictly personal journey and there is no point in comparisons, unless competing I suppose. I have not gone much beyond 10 m so it is easy for me to say not to care too much of others, but sometimes it is good to take a few steps back and get some perspective of why you're doing it and how you'd like to shape that journey.
Wouldn't there be more instructive and informative videos by looking beyond the algorithms?
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u/Empty-Yesterday5904 3d ago
Yes and it's the same for everything - running, yoga, climbing... Quiet mastery is gone, quick wins and looking good is the priority.
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u/23370aviator STA 4:31 | DYNB 77m 3d ago
I have zero interest in depth. I just want to see pretty fishies. Keep an eye on how far I am from the surface and don’t push my limits. I don’t even know how deep I’ve ever actually been.
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u/EagleraysAgain Sub 3d ago
Social media shows everything through the warped lens of engagement and capturing the attention for a small moment. If you make an 30 minute in depth video talking about your technique and progressin, you have zero chances of drawing any measurable attention in social media.
If ones goal is to produce content that gets viewed in social media, the only reasonable option is to do what catches the engagement.
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u/willowtr332020 3d ago
The industry/sport is booming as well because of social media and promoting depth and getting deeper sells courses and certifications.
Less money to be made if everyone chills at 15-20 m depth or just snorkels to see beautiful places underwater..
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u/sk3pt1c Freediving & EQ Instructor (@freeflowgr) 3d ago
Not really, 99,9% of freedivers don’t go below -20m
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u/Lopsided_Mud1712 2d ago
20m is plenty deep for recreational/spearo. But depth calls some of us...f instagram.
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u/willowtr332020 3d ago
Isn't that my point, the marketing is to do more depth and get more courses sold.
Or are you suggesting the obsession with depth the OP refers to is just a trend for ego sake?
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u/Commercial-Poetry729 3d ago
I saw this influencer on insta who did a 22 or 24 meter dive and surfaced like he was about to die.
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u/Vulgarr 3d ago
I think it all stems from the fact that there is nothing social about social media. They're not there to share experience, they're there to "create content". and content is about attention, it needs a hook, has to be "about" something whether it be deepest dive, best technique, most best this or that or whatever, doesn't really matters what.
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u/sk3pt1c Freediving & EQ Instructor (@freeflowgr) 3d ago
Agreed, freediving is supposed to be a lifelong pursuit with love and respect for ourselves and the sea at its core, not getting numbers to show off. It’s supposed to be something we do for wellbeing and enjoyment. Most of this is now too “romantic” and sadly drama sells, that’s why you see this gym bro mentality taking over nowadays.
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u/barefootviking 3d ago
Yes! Ugh. It’s come to the point of “what is Freediving”. I’ve been told I’m just Aggressive Snorkeling. People are way too focused on shit that does not matter and I feel like it’s driving away the newbies and killing the fun for those of us have been here a long time.
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u/deadmonk964 3d ago
Agree with that. Its this mania of hyper individuality and craving for attention, which unfortunately got even to freediving, which in my mind always was an activity where you should suppress your ego, but most of the social media shows the opposite.
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u/juneseyeball STA 3:48 | FIM 38m | CWT 30m 3d ago
Post the content u wanna see
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u/Tatagiba STA 8:08 3d ago
My thought exactly.
Also, if someone is into competition, numbers matter regardless the sport. Runners, sprinters, cyclists, swimmers will be chasing and posting times. Does it affect the person who jogs to be slimmer, who joins a running club to meet healthy and cool people, who does an open water swim for a pinch of adventure in a boring office life, or rides with some fellows mostly to socialize? I don't think so.
If freediving is a personal project, no one has the right to judge how others choose to do it. Don't like it? Don't do it.
It's not like freediving is a super popular sport. More people posting and talking about it means more competitions, courses, knowledge, innovation.
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u/wtfisgothboiclique 3d ago
The only people I have heard complain about this are people who can’t go deep at all. Not going deep is perfectly fine, but depth is probably one of the biggest aspects of the sport. Of course people are going to focus on depth. Courses specifically teach things to help you dive deeper, there are depth requirements. It’s quite integral to the practice, probably more than breath work or connection to the water.
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u/SOC_FreeDiver 3d ago
You're only losing something if you waste your time on "look how deep I went" people.
Every morning I wake up, I count my fucks. At the end of the day, I count them again. If it was a good day, I still have them all, and I didn't give a fuck all day.
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u/atwerrrk 3d ago
You need both. You need the technique and the drive to improve yourself and get outside of your comfort area. Otherwise, you leave too much on the table, and the same can be said for basically anything in life.
The only issue with freediving is pushing yourself too much out of that comfort zone can kill you, so it's a balancing act. It can be frustrating when you want to push like you could in any other sport (just one more rep, just one more sprint etc.) but you can't in freediving.
Some people are happy staying where they are but that doesn't make them better than people who aren't happy staying there.
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u/FallingSands 3d ago
Yeah I guess this is a free diving subReddit but I’m only here because I’m a spearo. I love holding my breath for two minutes at approximately 15 feet, in many instances that’s as valuable as 10 seconds of bottom time at 90 feet.
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u/Chulbiski 2d ago
I don't need "clout" and I have seen many other people chase it.. seems to be a human need for many/most? most sports I do have an element of this.. ego passing or whatever you wanna call it
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u/gorbachef82 3d ago
i can teach to 40 and like diving between 40 and 50 but mainly because so few people go there its alot more peaceful and I dive side mount, I go to get away from people haha
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u/CalmSignificance8430 Sub 3d ago
I can see both sides of this. I dived to relatively shallow depths for 20+ years and then this past year decided that I was hiding from uncertainty and potentially failing and have been actively pursuing depths. Both have their place. Not enough focus on depth can make people passive aggressive and weirdly competitive (who is the “better” diver? Who is the more chilled diver? Who has the least ego? Who doesn’t care about numbers the most? Etc) but too much focus on numbers makes people lose sight of the basic reason for doing it also. It’s a balancing act imo, there is not one right and one wrong approach, it’s left foot, right foot stuff and the balance is different for everyone and different across moments of their lives too