The Good & The Bad of Social Media

***Disclaimer: the following article talks about cyberbullying, suicide, racism and contains confronting content which may be upsetting to some people***

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Social media can be a wonderful thing. In times like today, it provides us with connections to people we cannot see, our family, our friends, our loved ones. It provides us with connections to strangers too, providing a community in times of need. It is because of social media that we can be #AloneTogether.

However, amongst all of this, there is also a side of social media I cannot fathom, a side that provides a platform for cyberbullying and trolling, and a different type of behaviour around digital citizenship.

Cyberbullying can be defined as “bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets” (stopbullying.gov, 2019), whereas trolling is based around baiting and provoking individuals online (Bishop 2012).

Over the years there has been an inexcusable amount of abuse, harm and deaths because of cyberbullying and trolling. But what troubles me the most is the way we speak about these behaviours.

You may remember Amanda Todd. In September 2012, Todd posted a raw and vulnerable video on YouTube, explaining her story about the bullying, stalking and sexual harassment she endured online. A month later, Todd took her own life. She was only 15 years old. (Penney, 2016)

(Dufour 2012)

And yet despite the constant harassment and stalking she suffered, Todd’s story was simplified to a case of cyberbullying. This is not okay.

Boyd (2014) explains that instead of describing serious criminal acts such as stalking, harassment or abuse by teenagers, news media simplifies it down to bullying. Boyd continues with this statement:

“When both teasing and horrific acts of aggression become "bullying," it becomes difficult for the public to fully understand the significance of any particular bullying claim.” (Boyd 2014, pp. 132).

I believe this idea has a great deal to do with why online behaviour is so poorly governed. Beckett (2017) continues with Boyd’s concept by linking it to law enforcement: “In fact, by linking “trolling” with abusive behaviours that would be met with swift action in the physical world, we have made it easier for law enforcement to respond dismissively.”

However, social media does have its side to justice. In this case, I want to talk about calling out racism. Social media provides a platform where “many thousands of people who would not have otherwise spoken up publicly against racism, have a platform to do so.” (Bishop 2020)

TikTok has also become the latest platform for call-outs such as these, with Sophie Wang sharing her experience with racists on a platform called Omegle. Her video received over 146,000 views on TikTok and almost 2500 comments (Nguyen 2020).

(jackfroot 2020)

I am also both proud to share a post by one of my close friends, but also disappointed and saddened that she had to experience this.

(Loosli 2019)

Social media has its good side. We must remember that. However, we also need to remember that 3.8 billion people are on social media sites (Chaffey 2020), and this needs to be governed in some way.

I will leave you with this thought:

If there is a threat to a sporting event or concert, the police make sure they are there to govern it, to make sure no one is harmed. So why do we allow the internet to be any different?

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Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636

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References:

Beckett, J 2017, ‘The media dangerously misuses the word ‘trolling’’, The Conversation, 3 July, viewed 29 April, <https://theconversation.com/the-media-dangerously-misuses-the-word-trolling-79999>.

Bishop, J 2012, ‘Scope and limitations in the government of wales act 2006 for tackling internet abuses in the form of ‘flame trolling’’, Statute Law Review, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 207-216.

Bishop, R 2020, ‘Digital citizenship 3: Trolling and social media conflict’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Modules via Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, viewed 29 April 2020.

Boyd, D 2014, 'Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?', in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, pp. 128-152.

Chaffey, D 2020, Global social media research summary 2020, Smart Insights, viewed 29 April 2020, <https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/>.

Nguyen, K 2020, ‘Woman Records Racists She’s Met On Omegle During the Pandemic’, NEXTSHARK, 22 April, viewed 29 April, <https://nextshark.com/sophie-wang-omegle-racists/>.

Penney, R 2016, ‘The rhetoric of the mistake in adult narrative of youth sexuality: the case of Amanda Todd’, Feminist Media Studies, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 710-725.

stopbullying.gov 2019, What is Cyberbullying, stopbulling.gov, viewed 29 April 2020, <https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it>.

Images

Dufour, K 2012, ‘Screenshots of Amanda Todd’s Youtube video about her story’ [image], in K Dufour, Amanda Todd case highlights issue of online bullying, The Telegraph, viewed 20 April 2020, <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9612030/Amanda-Todd-case-highlights-issue-of-online-bullying.html>.

jackfroot 2020, Post about TikTok user and her experience of racism on Omegle, 21 April, viewed 29 March 2020, <https://www.instagram.com/p/B_ObQITl6ED/>.

Loosli, R 2019, Post about racism at local McDonalds, 4 March, viewed 29 March 2020.

#mda20009 #socialmedia #tiktok #blogwriting #trolling #cyberbullying