Discrimination is more accessible for people with technology, social media allows people to receive no repercussions for the hateful words that is said online. In the study Part 5: Witnessing Harassment Online, Pew Research Internet Project by Maeve Duggan.(Source www.pewinternet.org) Survey was also conducted recently in October 22, 2014.
Nearly three quarters of Internet users 73% have witnessed online harassment. Offensive name-calling and purposeful embarrassment were the most common types of harassment people witnessed.
- 60% of Internet users said they had witnessed someone being called offensive names
- 53% said they witnessed efforts to purposefully embarrass someone
- 25% said they witnessed someone being harassed for sustained period of time
- 24% said they witnessed someone being physically threatened
- 19% said they witnessed someone being sexually harassed
- 18% said they witnessed someone being stalked
The Internet was created in 1973, and the year now is 2014. Since the creation on the Internet 41 years ago people have adjusted to putting their lives online by using social media. Most popular source of Social Media today is Facebook an online social networking service headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Facebook was founded on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students. Besides Facebook social media is spreads into multiple forms that are popular with young people such as Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and Youtube.
"Young People are the most likely demographic group to witness online harassment. Young people, those ages 18-29, are the most likely of any demographic group to witness harassment online. Fully 92% have witnessed some kind of harassment online."
"Respondents were asked to give their own description of the most recent incident of online harassment they witnessed. The themes and frustrations described were similar to the stories documented through this report of those experienced harassment. Many respondents noted anonymity was behind much of the harassment they witnessed and gave people license to behave badly."
"Some people lose all sense of decency when they think actions on the Internet are anonymous."
"Behavior and language that would never be done in person."
"Comments sections of websites can be a racial and/or misogynistic free for all. People hide behind their anonymity to say the most foul, racist and sexist things. They say things that they would never say face to face. In the past I have called some of these people out, and lectured them on their behavior. However, you can't always rationalize with a sick or stupid mind."
"People lose their moral compass online. You can be cruel as you want behind a screen because no one is immediately responding and you don't have to face what you say/do."
"A lot of these things happen anonymously. They become less frequent when a person's identity is known, but is still seen."
"Twitter, Facebook, email, all allow anonymous people to write the most hateful harmful things about and to people. It should be allowed to say what they want, but the recipient should know who the author of the comment is. Too many people get online and feel empowered to reach out and strike at strangers with a vengeance because nobody knows who they are. Five years from now we'll wonder why we let people get away with so long. It will be changed."
"Anonymous people calling other people names and questioning their character."
"I have seen people being called racist things like the n-word or s**t or gay slurs. I have seen other people being called dumb or stupid. Mostly on tumblr. They use the anonymous setting and just rip people apart."
"Social networking allowing someone to be anonymous, thus allowing them to say anything about multiple people."
"Facebook, and Twitter usually... people using anonymity to verbally attack people or embarrass them with their beliefs."
"People regularly insult others on the Internet far more freely than in personal situations because of the anonymity involved. People wouldn't regularly insult others for such minor things, but on the Internet there are seldom consequences, and people take advantage of this."
"In comments on a Facebook post, many times people will harshly and indecently harass other people leaving comments. They call them terrible names, use terrible language, say ugly things about them although they do not know them, and will argue for a long time."
"In general, whether anonymity is a factor or not, people feel entitled to be brutal in their conduct with people they don't know."
"People just say names, ask for nudes, and tell people they suck at life."
"People talking s**t about others publicly rather one-on-one."
Many people observe harassment online surrounding political or religious differences or public figures.
Comment sections on websites were also noted for hosting antagonistic conversations between contributors. These were often new sites.
Other spaces online where harassment was frequently witnessed included social medial sites, blogs, videos sites, and discussion boards.
"On Youtube and Reddit, rude or harassing behavior are common. This is especially true when it comes to comments and content related to controversial topics like politics, race, relations, and religion, but occasionally this nastiness spills over into topics that are supposed to be more light-hearted like sports or pop culture."
"People treating others with disrespect via social media."
Embarrassing photos and videos were often used as examples.
Many observed very personal attacks---"airing dirty laundry" of family drama.
Others said the harassment they witness involved colleagues or other work related situations.
Others witnessed sexual harassment and derogatory comments toward women.
"Anytime a person gets into an argument online these days you see threats, cursing, offensive language and other disturbing characteristics. Young women especially when posting pictures of themselves deal with sexist remarks about their bodies, the sad part is that some of them, though uncomfortable with how to respond, don't even really understand how disrespectful it is."
"Everyday sexism and harassment of women."
"Lots of misogyny, racism, sexism, gender policing, body shaming and anti-intellectualism."
"Misogynistic language and rap threats in comments sections of new articles on feminist topics."
"Seen people purposely mock others' comments. See men go after women who make comments that are feminist. I have felt fearful myself because of the response I would get."
"Strong younger women seem to get targeted. It looks pretty awful. Rape threats, death threats."
Physical threats and stalking were observed by some.
Online games and sports discussions were also noted as environment where name-calling and cruelty occurred. Sometimes it was considered just the nature of the game.
Some people in the gamer community are advocating to stop people's stubborn and intolerance of other people's beliefs.
Although some younger generations often in middle school start to use the word without care. We should teach children what is right from wrong.
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