Social media is like teen sex . . . everyone wants to do it. No one actually knows how. – Caroline McCarthy
Facebook is one of the most popular websites that offer social networking today, with more than 500 million users around the world. Online social networking is similar to how like-minded people come together for some activities and form groups, have discussions and share photographs.
It was just meant for students to contact one another and to track who is new in college (Buzzle.com). Like Bill Gates, its inventor Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of the stress of school, and today they are probably the most important digital gurus in the world.
According to Caroline Ghoissi, “as a global service connecting millions around the world, Facebook is accredited for building and extending communities across the global marketplace”. As with any community, the benefits of bringing people together are also accompanied by negatives and issues that cause people to wonder whether the cons outweigh the pros.
Inappropriate and unacceptable conduct by some users of Facebook has raised concern about the abuse of the social media.
Digital abuse, as it is also called, has created its own share of interest with a number of websites concerning themselves with the causes and prevention of such abuse. Among them is Wiredsafety.org’s Teenangels that preoccupies itself with spotting digital abuse and giving tips on how to break the cycle.
The abuse of social media is defined as the use of digital technology, including cellphones, instant messaging, social networks and email to hurt someone, even if it is not always intentional. This abuse in cyberspace includes high-risk digital activities like “sexting”, which is the practice of sending sexually explicit messages.
What is emerging is a new kind of recklessness that sees individuals being harassed with text messages, the demand of availability at all times; the sending of threatening messages and the posting of mean pictures.
In addition, any group that gangs up on someone online, or hacks into other people’s account with the intention to hurt or deprive them in any form, also constitutes the abuse of the social network. Still others take over other people’s profiles by changing their passwords.
Digital abuse involves the virtual, but it has very serious real world consequences that can be very heart-rending and far-reaching. Many activities that begin in the realm of jest can end up badly. What starts out as an act of curiosity can often end up as criminal privacy intrusions, as there is a very thin line between sarcastic messages and wounded feelings.
A study conducted by the Associated Press (AP) and MTV pretty much confirms what many Internet safety experts have been saying for the past several months: young people are far more likely to experience problems online from their peers or from their own indiscretions than from adult predators.
But that’s hardly to say that there’s no need for concern. The AP/MTV study found that 50 per cent of 14- to 24-year-olds have experienced some type of digital abuse. The study also found that 30 per cent of young people had either sent or received nude pictures on their cellphones or online.
The study interviewed 1 247 teens and young adults in what the authors call an “online panel that is representative of the entire US population” (Larry Magid).
How can we stay on the right of the line in terms of the ethics of the digital technology? Who is to guard the guards? Who will set the parameters but in such a way that censorship does not cramp our right to freedom of expression and immobilize the dynamics and vibrancy of the social media?
Each of us must decide on the kind of digital citizen we want to be. How does our virtual persona in cyberspace relate to who we are in reality? How can we avoid being caught in the digital abuse net either as abuser or victim? www.athinline.org cites strategies for avoiding the sins of cyberspace.
Keep your password private as password abuse is at the root of all cyberevils. Hit delete instead of forwarding when it comes to “sexting” messaging. Think twice of the consequences your digital infelicities might have today, next week or years from now when it might come back to haunt.
Unless we report digital abuse, we become accomplices in cybercrime, and one day we might be called upon to give account of our excesses within our “cybercitizenship”.
