Social media is constantly abuzz with what’s new, what’s hot, and what can distract you for thirty seconds as you scroll down your timeline. In the past month alone there’s been the mannequin challenge, the grey sweatpants challenge, and torrential memes with everything from smug babies to sorrowful dogs in Halloween costumes. There have been legendary trends such as the much maligned Harlem Shake and ‘Damn Daniel’, as well as a legion of virulent activities that sprang from the platform Vine – soon to be shut down. Yes, as it turns out the laughs we received from ‘smack cams’ and the condom challenge were short-lived. Snapchat has become one of our latest fixes and is very much a staple of qualifying ones’ self worth, after all If you didn’t Snap it, did it even happen? Soon Twitter and to a lesser degree, Facebook, will be all that remains to us as we seek to spread word of whatever nonsensical thing Donald Trump will tweet next.
Trends travel quickly over the internet, and with the intervention of social media they now catch like sparks to dry kindling. Shockingly, the newest and hippest social media trend that has probably escaped your notice isn’t that Instagram now notifies you when someone screenshots your photo, nor is it that the 2007 animated film Bee Movie has inexplicably reached peak meme status – it’s something far more niche and bizarre.
It’s Politeness
Yes, that ill-fated and flighty habit that seems to exist only sporadically in the real world, and barely at all in the virtual one. Maybe it’s the US election that alerted everyone to just how awful Twitter eggs with four followers can be, but I have a feeling everyone already knew that. It doesn’t take a lot of guts to type out a racist, sexist or just plain ignorant diatribe in 140 characters and send it, mostly because the person behind the screen knows they won’t necessarily be held accountable for what they say.
“Getting Away With It”… Online
Aside from there being unrealistic beauty standards set for women offline, there is also of course an abundance of suffering in the online world and often any controversial opinion or display of contention can result in rape and death threats, along with a lot of gender-specific insults. Journalists are prime targets, in particular, but it certainly isn’t profession-exclusive, as this litany of examples of harassment – collated by The Atlantic writer Adrienne LaFrance – proves. Even in cases where there are real, physical threats posed from strangers online, they are rarely taken seriously by police, who have no gauge for this type of assault. Even one look at the chronically offensive and misogynistic ‘Gamergate’ basically lays everything out on the table – what some men think they can get away with online, and what people in general tend to think of women who are in technological fields of work.
The Strategists Solution
A study was carried out by Pew Research Centre to determine which web users typically suffer the most in an online environment, and the results were overwhelming, but for many women, unsurprising. Sexual harassment and stalking rated much higher for women aged 18-24, the demographic that seems to get the brunt of the internet’s aggression. However, as in real life, on the internet victim blaming is a thriving practise. The white supremacist publication run by President-elect Trump’s proposed chief strategist, Steve Bannon, recently put out an article stating the solution to online harassment was “women logging off”. With people such as this not only having an outlet to spread their sexist views, but also being normalised and accepted by one of the most powerful people in the world, things don’t seem to be looking up anytime soon.
Bucking The Trend
With Brexit and the US election, it’s the unfortunate reality that a lot of bigots have drawn up the courage to scuttle out from the shadows to flaunt their beliefs aloud, social media included. Challenging them must be encouraged, lest we fall back into an era of ignorance and prejudice without even realising it’s happened – however I have to quote one Michelle Obama on this when I urge “when they go low, we go high”. Tossing insults back and forth doesn’t accomplish much, as any toddler can attest. Engaging in genuine debates where the aim is to address what’s wrong and why it went wrong for us is absolutely crucial if we are to survive this time of resentment and suspicion. There’s a time for impulsive rebukes and a time for bluntly educating people who insist on backwards views, but there’s definitely no situation that requires name-calling, unless of course you’re a petulant teenager, or… the next President of the United States.
It’s a trend that’s slow on the rise, I will admit. If you still haven’t found the motivation to try and help right these wrongs, check out these Real Life Wonder Women for some real inspiration.
Comments are closed.
Social media is constantly abuzz with what’s new, what’s hot, and what can distract you for thirty seconds as you scroll down your timeline. In the past month alone there’s been the mannequin challenge, the grey sweatpants challenge, and torrential memes with everything from smug babies to sorrowful dogs in Halloween costumes. There have been legendary trends such as the much maligned Harlem Shake and ‘Damn Daniel’, as well as a legion of virulent activities that sprang from the platform Vine – soon to be shut down. Yes, as it turns out the laughs we received from ‘smack cams’ and the condom challenge were short-lived. Snapchat has become one of our latest fixes and is very much a staple of qualifying ones’ self worth, after all If you didn’t Snap it, did it even happen? Soon Twitter and to a lesser degree, Facebook, will be all that remains to us as we seek to spread word of whatever nonsensical thing Donald Trump will tweet next.
Trends travel quickly over the internet, and with the intervention of social media they now catch like sparks to dry kindling. Shockingly, the newest and hippest social media trend that has probably escaped your notice isn’t that Instagram now notifies you when someone screenshots your photo, nor is it that the 2007 animated film Bee Movie has inexplicably reached peak meme status – it’s something far more niche and bizarre.
It’s Politeness
Yes, that ill-fated and flighty habit that seems to exist only sporadically in the real world, and barely at all in the virtual one. Maybe it’s the US election that alerted everyone to just how awful Twitter eggs with four followers can be, but I have a feeling everyone already knew that. It doesn’t take a lot of guts to type out a racist, sexist or just plain ignorant diatribe in 140 characters and send it, mostly because the person behind the screen knows they won’t necessarily be held accountable for what they say.
“Getting Away With It”… Online
Aside from there being unrealistic beauty standards set for women offline, there is also of course an abundance of suffering in the online world and often any controversial opinion or display of contention can result in rape and death threats, along with a lot of gender-specific insults. Journalists are prime targets, in particular, but it certainly isn’t profession-exclusive, as this litany of examples of harassment – collated by The Atlantic writer Adrienne LaFrance – proves. Even in cases where there are real, physical threats posed from strangers online, they are rarely taken seriously by police, who have no gauge for this type of assault. Even one look at the chronically offensive and misogynistic ‘Gamergate’ basically lays everything out on the table – what some men think they can get away with online, and what people in general tend to think of women who are in technological fields of work.
The Strategists Solution
A study was carried out by Pew Research Centre to determine which web users typically suffer the most in an online environment, and the results were overwhelming, but for many women, unsurprising. Sexual harassment and stalking rated much higher for women aged 18-24, the demographic that seems to get the brunt of the internet’s aggression. However, as in real life, on the internet victim blaming is a thriving practise. The white supremacist publication run by President-elect Trump’s proposed chief strategist, Steve Bannon, recently put out an article stating the solution to online harassment was “women logging off”. With people such as this not only having an outlet to spread their sexist views, but also being normalised and accepted by one of the most powerful people in the world, things don’t seem to be looking up anytime soon.
Bucking The Trend
With Brexit and the US election, it’s the unfortunate reality that a lot of bigots have drawn up the courage to scuttle out from the shadows to flaunt their beliefs aloud, social media included. Challenging them must be encouraged, lest we fall back into an era of ignorance and prejudice without even realising it’s happened – however I have to quote one Michelle Obama on this when I urge “when they go low, we go high”. Tossing insults back and forth doesn’t accomplish much, as any toddler can attest. Engaging in genuine debates where the aim is to address what’s wrong and why it went wrong for us is absolutely crucial if we are to survive this time of resentment and suspicion. There’s a time for impulsive rebukes and a time for bluntly educating people who insist on backwards views, but there’s definitely no situation that requires name-calling, unless of course you’re a petulant teenager, or… the next President of the United States.
It’s a trend that’s slow on the rise, I will admit. If you still haven’t found the motivation to try and help right these wrongs, check out these Real Life Wonder Women for some real inspiration.
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Comments are closed.