Internet Harassment: The Flip Side of Internet Fame

Sanders was right. At the time of his writing social media was just beginning to take root in our society, Facebook was in it’s infancy, and twitter had been founded year prior. As the two social media giants engrossed us all, like perfect dancers, we danced to the megaphone’s noise. This spread gave us all a megaphone and Jon Ronson’s book So You’ve been Publicly Shamed explores just how we have been using it. But while Saunders was right that we would abuse this megaphone and dumb down our society, the hatred and vitriol it has spread in our society is something that he never could have guessed. The book explores public shaming, evens where many individuals attacked a person for trivial reasons, ruining their lives, hurting their future, and scarring them until the day they die. An avalanche of hatred covers and suffocates this person, but not single one of those snowflakes feels responsible, no one of those snowflakes ever thinks how their actions might are hurting the person, nonetheless, the person dies; a life ruined, and not a person to blame. The megaphone and the distraction it causes allows some to excuses their actions and do things that would be otherwise reprehensible.

The internet and the people on it can be very crucial. Social media allows people to express themselves in ways they feel can’t in the actual world. They express their feelings, their open to their own opinions, and so forth. However, the internet also consists of people who give unnecessary, mean, and hateful opinions to other people for reasons that no one truly understands. The podcast “Act One. Ask Not For Whom The Bell Trolls; It Trolls for Thee” by Lindsey West, is about a female who was constantly getting backlashed over the internet by whom she referred to as “trolls.” The internet is usually where people go to voice their opinions over what they feel is right or wrong; with Lindsey West, she had voiced her opinion and what she felt was wrong about male comedians using the rape term too often and using carelessly. A result of West voicing her opinion

In the article, "The Dark Side of Web Fame" by Jessica Bennett, posted online at http://www.newsweek.com/dark-side-web-fame-93505 and published on February 21, 2008, the author recounts multiple stories of when the power of the internet had not benefitted people, but had actually harmed their reputation. Bennett starts the essay by giving an example of a high school boy who made an unfortunately embarrassing video, that was never meant to be published. Sadly, another student found the video and released it online, where the video became a viral sensation and the teen was humiliated not only on a local level, but a global level too. Throughout the article Bennett gives other examples to show the reader that people, using the tool of the

In Stephen Marche’s blog, The Epidemic of Facelessness the idea that “everyone in the digital space is, at one point or another, exposed to online monstrosity, one of the consequences of the uniquely contemporary condition of facelessness” (Marche, 2015) is portrayed. The purpose of this blog is to show how new forms of communication are creating a “dissonance between the world of faces and the world without faces” (Marche, 2015). The faceless forms of communication Marche writes about include nonverbal communication through social media, and online trolls. Marche says, “the faceless communication social media creates, the linked distances between people, both provokes and mitigates the inherent capacity for monstrocity” (March 2015) meaning

According to the Pew Research Center, “41% of social media-users have experienced at least one negative outcome as a result of using a social networking site.” In this article, Norton uses logos, pathos, and ethos to explain his standpoint to his audience. Logos are used when Norton brings up the legal issues of social media such as privacy concerns. Bringing the reader into Norton’s own personal experiences of abuse and name-calling uses pathos. Finally, ethos are used indirectly in the article due to the fact that Norton is a writer and has experience with social networking and the negative impact it can have. Norton uses logos, pathos, and ethos by establishing evidence and logical points in his article to persuade his audience against using social networking.

Virtually all of us believe that we are in control of our lives but unconsciously the internet has managed to signification influence our actions, thoughts and beliefs. It has allowed us to think it’s normal to share our daily movements with our alleged followers, sharing our inner and deepest secrets; we are trying to make a lasting impression to the world while trying to seek external validation. Sometimes we compare our own lives to those of who we follow and become obsessed that our life doesn't live up to others, allowing us to create doubt in ourselves. Is it right that “girls seek comfort on social media when they are worried” rather than talking to her parents? No, it’s not! We as millions of us regularly seek external validation we leave the flood gates wide open for people to manipulate some vulnerable states of mind. The modern term associated with people that abuse the social network is – troll. “A troll in internet slang, is somebody who deliberately upsets others be starting arguments or posting inflammatory messages on blogs, chartrooms or forums” Therefore, the “anonymity of the internet is the perfect playground” for trolls, but we shouldn't let them prey on our vulnerability, we shouldn't succumb to the exploit they are trying to achieve. Trolls are experts on detecting your negativity and will play on that, knowing that you are anxious to

In “The Problem with Public Shaming,” an essay that first appeared in the Nation, Stryker argues against the form of public shaming promoted by online networks and how people have figured out a way to deal with crimes but not with social media. Stryker introduced the essay’s subject matter through social media examples, while reflecting on past experiences and stating important details that reinforce the subject of public shaming as well as “dox” and discusses this term throughout the essay. Stryker helps define the term “dox” by listing the common traits and information “doxxers” try to gather, which include—name, phone number, address, social security and financial

People started realizing the benefactors of bulling over the internet. The cyberbully method became an outbreak and now, it is one of the most common ways public shaming and humiliation start. Corresponding to influential decisions, politics associate in the persuasion of this concept. As many representatives or future candidates of the United States mock one’s opponent, it sends a message to everyone watching; its acceptable to publicly humiliate and shame someone to put oneself ahead of another. Women also relate to either being publicly shamed or publicly shaming one another. As the different period of times show the relation with public shaming, it seems to still be a reoccurring problem around the world. Social media, politics, and the different arguments about women are some of the vast contributions of the influences to public shaming and

Ronson also talks about how Google plays a role in the continuation of public shaming. Ronson quotes Jared Higgins, who says “What the first page looks like determines what people think of you” (Higgins 265). Through this quote, Ronson shows how public shaming ruins an individual for years to come. The results of their shaming incidents will always be at the top of Google’s search engine.

The first is the stigmatisation of sexual assault victims,. In the documentary we see how Audrie Pott was sexually assaulted, and how pictures of the crime were were circulated on social media. She committed suicide after being harassed, and even blamed for her own assault. Victim-blaming is shockingly common in modern society and its impacts are exacerbated by the capabilities of social media. Within our piece we explore this through a video of Sierra being raped being circulated online, receiving over 100,000 views on Facebook. Comments on the video also depict a culture of character assassination by viewers, ‘look at this slut, she’s probably got an STD’. One audience member reflected on the portrayal of social media within our piece, ‘it was amusing at times and also realistic, especially the victim-blaming comments.’ Overall, we were happy with how the social media scene reflected the realities of stigmatisation, however we also reflected on how to

Social media is often praised for its ability to connect people worldwide, but in reality, it is forcing us further apart; we are no longer individuals but are instead creating for ourselves a fake social identity. Nicholas Carr, author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” focuses on how reading on the Internet has made it almost impossible for us to do “deep reading.” In “Just Between You, Me, and My 622 BFF’S,” Peggy Orenstein looks at how social media has stolen younger girl’s identities, and formed their sexual identity. Chuck Klosterman in his article “Electric Funeral” sees the Internet as a breeding ground for “villains” who feed off our primitive impulses to draw attention and fame to ourselves. These three authors have powerful

Furthermore, prosecuting individuals for statements made on the internet would squander taxpayers’ money. As “The Dangers of Cyber bullying” noted, “Congresswoman Linda Sanchez is sponsoring the Megan Meier Cyber Bullying Prevention Act.” Although some may say that financing the court system for the prosecution of “social media bullies” is necessary, it is proven that will also waste money and time. Surely, individuals should not be penalized for statements made on the internet.

In the article, “When Rape Goes Viral,” Ann Friedman, a columnist for New York magazine’s website and the Columbia Journalism Review, argues that in this time period that sexual assaults are becoming more aware of and tackled due to social media. People are viewing these assaults by videos, picture, and postings from different social media pages, claims Friedman. Friedman reports that the postings of these pictures and videos have helped in multiple cases of sexual assaults. If there were no photos or videos of evidence from the cases then some of the convictions that have been made throughout time might not have ever happened, argues Friedman. She insists that the post with the most attention leave the victims in traumatic circumstances that

The emergence of the Internet in the 21st century has dramatically changed how we communicate. It has opened a new avenue for facilitating human interaction. Information that would otherwise take hours or even days to be made public, now take seconds with a click of a button. Is this good or bad? What are the consequences of rapid-fire quick communication style that we have adopted? In articles “How Black Lives Matter Uses Social Media to Fight The Power,” and “The Attorney Fighting Revenge Porn,” authors Bijan Stephen and Margaret Talbot, discuss the pros and cons. Stephen discusses new mass mobilization structures social media has provided for social activists, while Talbot reflects on a new type of sexual harassment as a consequence of the

Many cyber chats, although good for online communication however also has the potentials to cause emotional distress. Insults, profanity, humiliation and much more are some of the causes of which resulted many people to depression, suicide to ‘get out of this misery’. Through social networking, online reputations are being humiliated through verbal communications or offensive images that are being posted up onto social networking sites, such as Facebook. Chanelle Rae, a 14-year-old former student at Geelong’s Western Heights College, took her life on Friday the 17th of July 2009 in another cyber bullying incident, of which Chanelle’s mother, Karen reported to 3AW radio on the 21st of July 2009. Her mother reported, ‘she wanted to die because of the message that was given to her that night.,’ This highlights the fact that lives can also be lost while having the benefits of social networking on Facebook, Bebo, Twitter and much more. Thus shows that social networking can have a severe impact on many of our lives through what we say or post online.