Does Social Media promote inappropriate online behaviour?

Everyday we see negative behaviour online…

…such as cyberbullying

Cyberbullying - the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person (as a student) often done anonymously1

There are many detriments to cyberbullying

Effect on Bullies:• Arrests and prosecution• Physical and verbal retaliation by members of the community

Effect on Victims• The need to switch schools• Long-term psychological effects• Suicide and/or attempts

On October 19, 2012, in London, Ontario, 8 teenage girls were arrested due to their alleged cyberbullying exploits on Facebook. These girls were charged with criminal harassment.2

However, this case is unique to many others since it was before a potential suicide or complaints by the parents to authorities. Members of the community were able to see what was coming and reported it.

While that case shows progress, there havebeen 41 suicides from 2003-2012 linked to cyberbullying.3 Which is only counting the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

It is important to note that other suicides may not have been counted due to a lack of information. Also it should be noted that many victims are still suffering in silence.

Sexting is another form of inappropriate online behaviour

Sexting – the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phone.4

While this may be the textbook definition we will use this term to encompass all online posts of explicit photos and videos that are not for commercial gain.

Parents are often satisfied to know that their kids are safe at home. However, parents are now learning that their kids may be behaving very inappropriately from their rooms.

Webcams and camera phones have allowed teens to share pictures of themselves with little to nothing on. They often do this from the comfort of their home but it can reach right around the world.

Legal ramifications

• Sending pictures of another minor around is grounds for child pornography charges5

• Simply possessing the pictures can constitute a child pornography charge which also leads to sex offender registration5

So with so many reasons not too, why is the internet filled with inappropriate behaviour

and material?

For a moment let us examine Road Rage.

Road Rage – a motorist’suncontrolled anger that isusually provoked by another motorist’s irritating act and is expressed in aggressive or violent behaviour6

What this boils down to is inappropriate behaviour in a car, which can often differ from the person’s real life behaviour.

Some causes associated with road rage are:

• Anonymity• Disregard of the law and others• Aggressive behaviour7

Is there a link between road rage and inappropriate online behaviour?

In the unfortunate story of Amanda Todd, a B.C. Canada teen who committed suicide, we can see this.

Anonymity

• she decided to expose parts of her body via a webcam to someone

• She seemed to believe it wouldn’t come back to her and therefore felt safe in doing so

Disregard for the Law

• Amanda was later blackmailed by an unknown person over the pictures

• Multiple threats of violence and death were directed to her as time went on

Aggressive Behaviour

• Threats against her well-being must also be noted as aggressive behaviour and they eventually lead to in person physical and mental abuse

• Since her death, an aggressive backlash against those allegedly involved has also resulted, with hackers posting information on them (another illegal act as the accused is a minor)8

The Online Disinhibition Effect

John Suler, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist that studied inappropriate online behaviour and its causes. He terms it as The Online Disinhibition effect.9

In his study he found many reasons why we behave differently online, including some behaviours that I believe resemble aspects of road rage.

Anonymity

John states that online users feel:

• dissociative anonymity – simply put people don’t know who you are for the most part

• Invisibility – people can’t see you (which is often the cause of fear in public speaking)

Disregard for the Law

John states:• We’re equals – online we are mostly all

equals, which John believes minimizes authority. Perhaps it can be looked at the other way. Instead of authority being minimized, people feel their own authority is maximized. This can lead to a disregard for the law.

Aggressive Behaviour

John also states that:

• Personality variables and people’s true self are at play

• Some people do behave like this in public• It also means that in some cases more

reserved people’s negative attributes can be magnified online9

In the case of road rage and inappropriate online behaviour we see people acting out.

It seems we all have the need to do this once in a while. However, some, are unable to see the long term effects of doing this online.

A recent study even claims that online interactions, through social media, are more addictive than sex and smoking cigarettes. 10

The term gate-way drug refers to a seemingly harmless drug which leads to using much harder drugs later on.

It seems we all crave social interactions as often as possible. However since we can’t do that at all hours of the day, we turn to social media

And when a traditional social media exchange no longer satiates our craving we may need to raise the stakes.

Does social media promote inappropriate online behaviour?

To blame these problems on social media would be unfair. If there were no cars, there would be no drinking and driving but that doesn’t mean drunk drivers can blame automakers for their problems.

We need to realize that the real world rules apply to our online life as well.