While reading Misunderstanding the Internet by James Curran, one thing particularly stuck out to me. His section about anonymity along with hatred on the internet. Now, I know none of us are strangers to this topic. Curran states that "the world is divided by bitter conflicts of value, belief, and interest" (Curran 10). He then goes into discussion about race-centralized hatred on the internet and websites. Curran also makes a point to mention the Klan, one of the worlds most popular hate groups.
Now, when I mention the website FormSpring, what do you immediately think of? I think about the anonymous threats and hatred I received in high school. I think of how people at my school could hide behind a wall while telling me to kill myself. I'm sure you think about similar things, and hopefully not about any hatred that you sent to anyone. Now I can't be 100 percent positive, but I think as long as people have interacted with each other, there has been hatred between groups. No matter the color of your skin, the language your people spoke, or how you dressed, there were always going to be people that didn't get along.
I took this topic and related back to the fact he mentioned that not everyone on the internet speaks English, which is something I constantly have to remember. The websites I visit are SUCH a small fraction of what is really out there; and the only time I see other languages [prior to Google Chrome asking me if I want to translate it] is when I'm trying to find yet another link to watch Frozen online illegally. The language barrier of the internet is definitely something I need to remember more often, seeing as I'm online every day.
Continuing on this notion of barriers online, I've noticed a growing trend in the last few years of certain members only dating sites. J-Date, Farmers Only, Christian Mingle, and Black Singles have exploded in member numbers. When I did my research project about Pew and its internet research on online dating, I noticed that when some sites dwindled, more group-specific sites bloomed.
Curran reminds us that we're not alone, and keeping an open mind with only enhance our internet experience.
Curran reminds us that we're not alone, and keeping an open mind with only enhance our internet experience.
HI Elle, it is brave of you to come forward about being bullied. I'm so sorry that you had such a terrible hatred directed at you. That sort of energy always hurts, no matter how thick your skin.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading both your blog and the comment by Dr. Woodstock something kind of surfaced for me. In many ways, formspring was a site that elevated bullying and allowed for bullying to be extremely accessible. I, too, had a formspring and experienced that type of hatred. What makes me think is that I saw this as something other than bullying. I really saw this as an outlet for people to be idiots and say stuff they aren't brave enough to say in person. There is certainly no doubt that this was a site that had bullying written all over it, but I wonder why I say this as something different even if it is so clear. The internet, in my opinion, can do that. Your perception can be deceiving because it is intangible. I never had any bullying in real life but I guess my formspring was the center of my bullied experience. I dont know if you have any similar thoughts but I am sure you can attest to the tangible bullying differing from online bullying.
ReplyDeleteI found it really fascinating the idea of a language barrier. Ive never thought about this. This worries me that I have never even thought about language over the internet, since it is worldwide. What worries me the most is that I have a very small view of the world. I do not like to think I am close minded, but this made me realize aspects I have never thought about which unknowingly makes me less open and small minded. This also scares me because I wonder how many others have not even thought about this either, preventing people from keeping an open mind and accepting of others' differences.
ReplyDeleteElle this was a really nice post. I'm glad you brought up such an interesting topic because I totally forgot about Formspring and how it was a hit for a few weeks. I was always too afraid to get one because I never knew what people would say. I agree with what you said how it's just another thing people can remain anonymous on to start drama. Formspring is such a risky site to use because you never know what questions or comments you will receive. It's a really interesting concept to think about that there is a website out there where you can anonymously post messages to people. It can either be really positive or really negative. I loved your line about the language barriers because I never realized this either until you brought it up, very good point. I liked what you said about these websites being minuscule in the grand scheme of things. It's true because I was just thinking how much I use social media but these sites are so insignificant to me. I need to start evaluating my social media use and realize what it actually does for me because I think I spend too much time on it.
ReplyDeleteI'm in group C but I just had to comment. Like Dr. W, I'm incredibly proud of you for writing this post. I've never heard of FormSpring but I've also experienced online bullying on sites such as MySpace. I think that you're right about how there has always been hatred between groups. Not everyone is going to get along but the internet has allowed people to be horrible to each other anonymously. Also, I agree with Briana in that I too I liked what you said about these websites being minuscule in the grand scheme of things.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for the comments, they're all very good discussion points! @Chris- Your idea about the tangibility of bullying is super interesting, I'm sure plenty of people would want to discuss the difference between online and in-life bullying. @Eden- I agree, our small view of the world can be really scary! Whenever I think about the diversity and hugeness of the world, I get super overwhelmed and its hard to think about. @Bri- I definitely think we need to look into how much time we spend online, and relate to those in other countries to see how they use the internet. I'd love to do a skype session with someone from a non-english speaking country to see how they manage being online since my experience is all in english.
ReplyDelete@Caroline- thank you for the comment
@Dr. W- Thank you for the comment