The Dark Side Of Social Media

In days long past a high school student could walk into a new school and pick the bullies within their first day.  The big kid poking fun at students two years younger than himself, or the group of girls looking down their noses at everyone they consider beneath themselves, which is usually… everyone.

However in today’s school yard much of the bullying takes place online, which mean…

1. It’s less visible to teachers or other authorities.

2. It doesn’t end when the bell rings.

3. It is stored forever and can be seen by a much wider audience.

Now, not to belittle what goes on at schools, because we all know the effect this cyber-bullying can and has had on young adults, but when you take this mentality out of the school yard to actual adults it’s possible to end up with something like the London street riots.

Social media played a major part in this uprising, as a mob mentality gripped the streets of London (Olenski 2011).  What set this apart from many other uprisings was that a lull in what was happening in the streets did not necessarily mean the mob had lost interest or moved on.  It had temporarily moved online where anger was redirected into more rioting.

Beyond the mob mentality, extremest groups use the internet to communicate and cause havoc, both online and offline.  With the ease and immediacy of online communication, these groups are able to run negative campaigns or to quickly organise illegal actions before authorities are able to get a wind of what is going on.  However at present it seems there is no active recruitment efforts by these groups and children are not being targeted (Ray & Marsh 2001).  It seems individuals generally make contact with these groups through forums and chat sites when contact is made through the internet.  

With all this going on, why don’t governments attempt to control it?  The problem is to control, or censor these incidents you need to censer the entire internet.  And without disregarding the magnitude of that undertaking, the other problem is this takes away an individuals online freedom.  Instead awareness needs to continue to be raised.  Websites such as StopCuberBullying are helping students to understand the realities they face and the potential issues with a large online footprint.

Individuals need to be aware allowing a free flow of information can provide huge benefits, but the same mediums that made Kony famous, or raised over $700 000 for a bullied Greek bus driver can also be used to harass fellow students and co-workers or spark mob mentality behaviour.

Olenski, S 2011, ‘The Dark Side Of Social Media’, Social Media Today, 15 August, viewed 11 February 2013, <http://socialmediatoday.com/steve-olenski/336775/dark-side-social-media>.

Ray, B & Marsh, G 2001, Recruitment By Extremest Groups On The Internet, First Monday, Vol 6, No 2, 5 February, viewed 11 February 2013, <http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/834/743>.