Dane Hollar
Christopher Werry
May 15, 2015
RWS 200
Online Civility Classes
Harassment, discrimination, intimidation
. . . there are countless ways people attempt to bully others. And why do they
do it? For the sheer enjoyment of making someone feel worse than they do.
Bullies are fueled by disrupting the social norm and creating havoc amongst
their peers. They get a distinct sense of joy when they ruin a conversation, or
say something that can hurt another’s feelings. Before the age of the Internet
and global connectivity, bullies did their work with others in person,
face-to-face if you will. There was more room for disciplinary action, for example
if a fight started, the law keepers, such as principals and deans of schools or
police, would intervene. But the bully’s
“game” has escalated to a whole new level. With social media, blogs,
online gaming, ect., bullies are able to disturb the social norm on a whole new
level. Bullying online has turned into terms such as cyber-bulling and
trolling. People can be exploited and harassed by cyber-bullies and trolls
because online, the law keepers do not have nearly as much control over them. There
are many instances that involve cyber-bulling and trolling that lead to the
victims becoming extremely depressed and committing suicide. For example, in
2009, 7th grader Sarah Lynn Butler from Hardy Arkansas was actively
using her MySpace page and had been getting cruel messages sent to her. The
messages varied from calling her a slut to “you are a stupid naive girl and nobody
would miss you” ("Sarah Lynn Butler 1997-2009"). These messages lead
her to leave a note to her family saying that she could not take everyone’s
cruel messages before hanging herself. This is just one of many extreme
examples of cyber bullying taking the lives of innocent people. The Stand for
the Silent foundation, a anti-bullying organization dedicated to spreading the
awareness of cyber-bullying, had recorded that “over 55,000 children that have
taken their lives in the last seven years due to being bullied. To break that
down . . . that is 8,000 per year, or 22 per day” ("End Bullying With
Stand For The Silent"). There are thousands of adults that commit suicide
due to online harassments as well. Cyber-bulling and trolling must be stopped
at a young age. That is why I believe that schools should implement online
civility classes so that children can learn at a young age how to use the
Internet and socialize on it in a respectful manner. Others believe that the
best solutions consist of banning anonymity, creating smarter algorithms, or
having flagging/reporting features on sites. These solutions work well in some
instances, but I do not think it should stop there. Throughout this paper, I
will present expert’s solutions on the issue as well as present my own argument
on why online civility classes would help with cyber-bullying.
There have
been many attempts at diminishing the number of cyber-bullies and trolls from
sabotaging the Internet, but I feel that more can be done. Some of the
solutions that have been attempted include banning anonymity, creating smarter
algorithms, and flagging/reporting. Banning anonymity discourages people from
saying things that may offend others or disrupt conversations because these
cyber-bullies do not want to get caught or called out on what they do. If the
anonymity feature is active, it allows trolls and cyber-bullies to repeatedly
present condescending remarks upon a conversation without anybody knowing who
they are. Sites such as Reuter, a business and news social media site, recently
“announced that it would start to block anonymous comments and require users to
register with their names and e-mail addresses in an effort to curb ‘uncivil
behavior’” (Zhuo). This solution only works for a limited amount of sites and many
cyber-bullies and trolls can maneuver around this feature. To help make it
harder for cyber-bullies and trolls to find loopholes around features, such as
being non-anonymous, smarter algorithms are a great solution.
Most algorithms control what the users
can and cannot say, the number of characters they can use, the anonymity
factor, and many more limitations. Natasha Lomas, a writer for techcrunch.com
says: “the technology industry needs far smarter
algorithms that do more than take a crude measure of volume to determine which
content floats to the top . . . making it harder for trolls to mobilize to
subvert platforms for their own fringe ends.”
These smarter algorithms would help to bring balance to the online
civility and create a safer environment for social media site’s users. This
solution seems promising, but there is no guarantee that by creating smarter
algorithms, the cyber-bullies and trolls do not become smarter and figure out
new ways to work around them. This is where the online users get to have some
control over what others say.
Flagging/reporting allows
users to report what others are saying, if offensive or disrupting content, and
is submitted to the websites moderators who can discipline those that are
reported or even kick them off of the site. Blogger frandellfarmer says, “when you see bad behavior, don’t reply.
It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and
wastes everyone’s time. Just flag it. If enough flags accrue, action
will be taken, either automatically or by moderator intervention”
(Frandallfarmer). This solution works for a lot of the bigger
sites that can afford to pay for moderators, but for the smaller sites, it is
seen as an unnecessary way to spend money on their site. Also, this feature
could be over used by people who disagree with something someone else says,
even if they are not a troll or cyber-bully. I believe these solutions
present reliable short-term solutions, but the best long-term solution is to
stop the problem at a young age by having classes teach online civility.
The three attempts to limiting
cyber-bullying and trolling are great solutions, but I would like to further
extend the argument. I claim that teaching online civility in schools would get
rid of many of the current and future cyber-bullies and trolls that may
frequent the Internet. Teaching online civility is no easy task. The Internet
presents a whole new world of freedom for young generations and most desire to
exploit it. But stopcyberbullying.org and Harvard Education Letter believe that
teaching children and young teens how to go about socializing on the Internet
can help to prevent many catastrophic cyber-bullying events. Elizabeth Kandel Englander,
author of “Five Things Teachers Should Tell Students About Socializing Online”
from the Harvard Education Letter, writes about how teachers need to guide
their students in the direction of good online discourse. Her first principle
she talks of is that “communicating online is different than talking to someone
face-to-face” (Englander). Englander further explains how it is important for
teachers to emphasize this by saying:
The lack of a
real in-person encounter may turn a connection-building comment into a piece of
gossip; just something to pass on to others. The technology makes it so easy,
too. Face to face, there is no larger audience (most of the time). But in a
digital environment, it’s easy for the sender to forget about the larger
audience, even when the recipient doesn’t. (Englander)
This is very important for students to know for when people
are online, they typically become more opinionated for nobody is there to judge
what they say in that moment. People are more inclined to say disrespectful and
antagonizing things when they have a screen between them rather than being
face-to-face. One of Englander’s other principles is “[t]exting or posting back and forth about a feeling can cause that
feeling to escalate and can make the situation worse” (Englander). Students need to realize that when they and
many others are able to read a provoking comment multiple times online,
it can only make people more irritated and angry. When consulting someone in person,
these comments are only said once and heard by only the people near the occurrence.
Students need to be aware that what they say online can have a more devastating
effect to their peers than they might think. Another approach is by having
schools “also educate the students on cyberethics and the law” ("STOP
Cyberbullying: What Is the School's Role in This?"). This would be very
beneficial to ending cyber-bullying because by informing students of the
consequences with the law and getting caught, it could intimidate them into
refraining from getting involved in cyber-bullying. Many kids feel threatened
when the law becomes involved and would rather not participate in cyber-bullying
actions than have to deal with getting in serious trouble. Teaching students in
the classroom about online civility and the consequences of their actions
online would be the best solution to solving the cyber-bullying and bully
problem. These classes could be similar to permit classes before getting your
license. In those classes they show videos of what happens when you text or
drink and drive. Those videos are brutal and extreme, but intimidating. If
students were informed about what happens to many students that are the victims
of cyber-bullying, especially the extreme cases, many students would realize
what harm they can do to others. There are many other approaches to teaching
online civility, but this is just one effective approach.
Cyber-bullying
and trolling have only been an issue for about a decade, but has escalated into
an increase in suicides, especially in teens. I claim that cyber-bullying and
trolling occurrences can be decreased with informative classes on how to go
about socializing on the Internet. It is no doubt that the Internet is shaping
the way people interact with one another. With these interactions comes the
need to maintain civility in the online world. By having mandatory classes for
young students on how to be civil while socializing and warn them of the
effects cyber-bullying and trolling has on other students/people, I believe
that teen depression and suicide would decrease. There would be less young
students, like Sarah Lynn Butler, that would be committing suicide or even
contemplating suicide due to being bullied over social media. It is important for future generations to
learn how to use the Internet and not abuse sites and their fellow Internet
users. Learning from mistakes is vital to humanity and civility, which is why
we need to teach young students to not partake in the mistake of cyber-bullying
and trolling.
Works Cited
"End Bullying With Stand
For The Silent." End Bullying With
Stand For The Silent. Stand For the Silent, 2010. Web. 12 May 2015.
<http://standforthesilent.org/?gclid=CjwKEAjwjpeqBRCDiKqliK2aiicSJAAgKD2FnlUZbXqcl58uh17MRYl19jhq6xJkMNktXg0XfGcmHRoC3r_w_wcB>.
ENGLANDER, ELIZABETH K.
"Five Things Teachers Should Tell Students About Socializing Online."
Harvard Education Publishing Group.
Harvard Graduate School of Education, Sept.-Oct. 2013. Web. 12 May 2015.
<http://hepg.org/hel-home/issues/29_5/helarticle/five-things-teachers-should-tell-students-about-so#homeO>.
Frandallfarmer.
"Blog." Atom.
Discourse.org, 10 Mar. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
<http://blog.discourse.org/2013/03/the-universal-rules-of-civilized-discourse/>.
Lomas, Natasha.
"#Gamergate Shows Tech Needs Far Better Algorithms." TechCrunch. AOL Inc., 2015. Web. 14 Apr.
2015. <http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/18/gamergate-tactics/>.
"Sarah Lynn Butler
1997-2009." Sarah Lynn Butler.
PureSight, 2010. Web. 12 May 2015.
<http://www.puresight.com/Real-Life-Stories/sarah-lynn-butler.html>.
"STOP Cyberbullying:
What Is the School's Role in This?" STOP
Cyberbullying: What Is the School's Role in This? WiredSafety.org, n.d.
Web. 12 May 2015. <http://stopcyberbullying.org/prevention/schools_role.html>.
Zhuo, Julie. "Where
Anonymity Breeds Contempt." The New
York Times. The New York Times, 29 Nov. 2010. Web. 14 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/opinion/30zhuo.html>.
