Discriminatory Behavior On The Internet

Social Media is a form of communication in which a person shares information, personal ideas, and thoughts online. The foundation of social media began in 1997 when the first social media site Six Degrees was developed. Since 1997, social media has become an iconic name and has become part of this generation's conversation. There are over 100 million people using social media to gain access to the digital world, with over 20 social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram (Milanovic 1). Roughly 80 percent of teens and 20 percent of adults use social media daily and almost half of the users were bullied or criticized for a single comment. Comments that include discrimination, sexism, or political beliefs can be retweeted to thousands in a matter of hours. “Accusations go viral, globally, within hours, and instead of having dozens of angry voices baying for your blood, you have tens of thousands” (Haley 1). Although social media has made it easier to communicate these sites, make it easier to be critical or prejudiced to others online instead of face-to-face.

University of Michigan professor, Lisa Nakamura’s work entitled Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet examines how different races are represented online. The Internet, according to Nakamura, is a place where ‘race happens’ (p.xi), and the stereotypes that are found on/offline define Cybertypes. These Cybertypes lay out the unique ways in which the Internet ‘propagates, disseminates, and commodifies images of race and racism’ (p.3)

Utilizing a virtual world online enables people to become whomever they want. People utilize online social spaces and virtual worlds to escape the reality of our actual world for various reasons. In addition, colorblind racial attitudes are viewed by many as the excuse that is given by members of the majority that suggest that the systematic discrepancies that exist in our society are justifiable. This is mentioned within the article; however, it is not directly tied to the overall relevance of the entire experience, as it should be. The fact that an individual can be prejudice to another individual or group of people without directly exposing it to the world makes the method used to conduct this survey practically insignificant. To support this idea, the author mentions that all of the research on colorblind racial attitudes has relied on self-reported behaviors. Colorblind racial attitudes are extremely hard to replicate in a scenario that doesn’t involve physical interaction amongst people or the explicit statement from an individual themselves stating that they have a colorblind racial attitude. Once more, the ability for a person to use the term “colorblind” to hide the truth that they may be prejudice towards other races is the key flaw of this

In this article, Nicholas Carr attempts to explain how the way information is presented on the Internet has changed our way of thinking. He uses many different methods to do this, playing on the audience’s emotions as he uses anecdotes, research, and his own observations to try and convince the audience that the Internet has been detrimental to our thinking and learning processes. For the most part I believe his argument is ineffective because of his organization, his choice of sources, and his tone.

”Increased communication abilities benefit the whole world and gives everyone a freedom of expression. ”(Citation C, P.4). The internet expands the ability to share and see ideas. With the internet, it made huge advancements in communications. ”This also cuts down the time

In previous research, it was argued that privilege causes a digital divide on the Internet, and, as a consequence, could cause widening inequalities outside of the digital world, as well. The conclusion was that Asian-Americans, white men, and the privileged understood and utilized the internet more, while Latinos, African-Americans and those of a lower-socioeconomic status understood the internet very little and, in turn, do not gain as much benefit from it (Hargittai 2010). However, this is hardly a provocative conclusion because the research methods employed seemed to be chosen in order to coordinate these results without any regard for the interests or motives of the students in question. Therefore, the goal of this study

Kolbert refers to research that shows that when bigoted students associate with bigots they become “more bigoted” and when tolerant students associate with other tolerant students they become “more tolerant”(Kolbert). The internet is an expansive place where one can find enough people that believe the same crazy idea that they do and use that to justify their belief to themselves. When right and left wing extremists read enough radical rhetoric they become more and more liberal or conservative. They do not necessarily base their political ideology on what they believe, but on what radical politicians want them to believe. Group polarization leads to political hatred and prejudice instead of intelligent discussion about issues. The internet is a key contributor to the advancement of group and political

Although some might argue the internet helps us better understand the world around us, Charles Seife and Danah Boyd and , I think that the internet has narrowed people’s opinions and has divided/polarized us. In their works “The Loneliness of the interconnected” and “inequality” Seife and Boyd explain the problem with the media and how it has changed people drastically.

It is difficult to find someone among the Internet users who do not have the profile in multiple social networks. The article by Gene Demby “On Social Media, As in Life, White People Are Way Less Likely To Talk About Race” draw the public attention to the issue of race factor in social media. Demby is an African-American and, the lead blogger for NPR's Code Switch team. The relevance of the studied subjects is regarded to the Internet functions as a powerful and comprehensive informational field, which presents a part of the informational sphere. Almost two-thirds of the world population today is active members of the social and global network society, which has impacts on racial issue.

In his “Before I Forget”, Leonard Pitts suggests that modern communication technology affected human behavior in a significant way. The author lists examples of gay people killing themselves under the pressure of harsh harassments about their homosexuality from the Internet. Then he goes on and says similar harassments may still take place although targets of those harassments are not homosexual. Leonard Pitts also offers an instance in which a video about an intern’s inappropriate behavior spreads quickly through the Internet. In the end Leonard Pitts argues that under influence of Internet, people are getting cruel because they forget how to interact with others.

Two Internet experiments conducted in 2013 by Willer Feinberg and Wetts, demonstrate a racial status reaction. In the first study, Feinberg and Wetts told all participants that the white population was rapidly declining and would soon be the

People think that racism and discrimination doesn’t exist anymore, but surprisingly they do; both existed throughout human history. Discrimination may be defined as a negative, harmful behaviour toward people based on their group membership. Whereas prejudice which is an opinion rather than a fact; is a negative attitude toward members of a group, that is often very strongly held. Stereotypes are individuals' beliefs that members of a group share particular attributes; someone might think that Arabs are terrorists, or doctors are intelligent and compassionate.

A story of a Korean student who refused to pick up after her dog then appears in the article. The story reveals that the student was harassed to the extent that she dropped out of college. Bennet then tells the story of how a Lewis and Clark University student was accused of rape on Facebook but what was not given a chance to properly represent themselves. The history of social stigma then gets touched on in the article. She then discusses how people publicly shamed each other in Ancient Rome and in colonial times. Jim Cohen an ethicist is then cited. Cohen’s quote reveals the internet lacks the law process of the United States, and anyone can fire at anyone without justified ground to stand on. Bennet further describes the internet as a place where people cannot be stopped. The article ends with the repercussions of internet videos. The number of lawsuits filed from different people are brought up along with how Raza needed therapy due to his shame. The article ends with a universal truth that what happens on the internet sticks with a person

Prejudice behavior has been an issue within this country and world ever since multiple cultures have been introduced to each other. Within the United States, Prejudice behavior has been brought to the media's attention recently due to equal rights and social justice becoming more well-known among its citizens. The expansion of social networking also is allowing the direct voice of the people to become more prevalent to the world. I believe it is our Social Responsibility as a human-being to acknowledge these acts against our peers, no matter their background, citizenship or any other difference that they may possess. It is also our responsibility to take action against these heinous crimes of judgement by becoming united as well as demanding

In the digital age, it is important for us as the perpetrators of technology into the modern era to be cognizant of what it is that we create and display for humanity’s benefit in a technological sense. Areas such as gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity and culture in particular should be addressed with inclusivity as opposed to the unfortunately common exclusivity within this digitality —of course, such subjects should be addressed with a progressive awareness in all areas; however, it is in the rapidly evolving environment of technology since the start of the information age that these issues need to be approached in an especially conscious setting. In a more specific sense: gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity and culture ought to progress as rapidly as our technology does. Technology today does attempt to address the concerns of these certain communities; however, there is always room for a more inclusive internet society.