Image from: Garytaxali
Move over school yard thugs, the cyber bully has upped the ante...
Research suggests that cyber attacks are now becoming more prevalent, and at times, more powerful than face-to-face harassment. According to data collected by Lenhart (2007), almost 1/3 of online teenagers have experienced some form of cyber harassment. However, unlike backyard brawls where the victim can slink home to relative safety, I think the real impact of cyber bullying is that the victim can always be attacked.
It's not a case of "what goes up, must come down" when it comes to online posting. Regardless of what Facebook's "DELETE" policy states (Barnett 2011), once something has entered into cyberspace, a permanent record exists. This point is further explored in Generation Republic's Blog: Bruises fade, internet history doesn't.
And it's not just the permanency that makes virtual bullying a real problem, it's the freedom that online networking sites provide for people to post comments yet remain anonymous. The anonymity creates what Hamelink (as quoted in Sarikakis and Thussu 2006, 117) describes as moral distance. And the greater the distance to potential victims, the more readily people will inflict harm they would otherwise refrain from in face-to-face situations.
I think this form of harassment is changing the way we communicate, and not for the better. We no longer have the courage to confront our enemies face-to-face, nor allow the decency of a right to rebuttal in real time...
References:
Barnett, Emma. 2011. "Facebook policy chief admits site needs to improve deletion tools for a minority of users". Accessed March 25, 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8399052/Facebook-policy-chief-admits-site-needs-to-improve-deletion-tools-for-a-minority-of-users.html
Lenhart, Amanda. 2007. "Cyberbullying". Accessed March 25, 2011. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2007/Cyberbullying.aspx
Very true rosie, Due to the fact that social media sites now allow us to basically live our live's on the internet, it is now a lot easier for people to hurt and or harass others online without being caught. The detrimental outcomes which can stem from online bullying can affect people in a huge way. With regards to this aspect of SNS, they have hinderd rather than helped our lives.
ReplyDeleteI like your post on this weeks topic, and I agree with you. I guess the fact that we can be anonymous online is a big reason for why people actually cyber bully others. If we had to link all our activity online to our name, date of birth, adress etc, people would probably not have the guts to post anything that would be considered cyber bullying.
ReplyDelete