Online Civility Solutions

The online world is changing the way we communicate as a race. Whether it be in a cruel, nice, informative, ect. way, it has become an important component to todays society. Between the three articles, The Atlantic, Oxford Human Rights Hub, and Tech Crunch, they have attempted to come up with solutions concerning the online issue of trolling, cyber-bullying, and mainly human civility within the online culture.

            One of the solutions they discuss is forbidding anonymity. People become more confident when they feel they can project their opinion without anyone knowing it was them. It is like talking negatively about someone before a fight behind a brick wall where they cannot be reached or seen, just heard. Some people are scared to voice their opinion for they do not want to be judged or discriminated for what they have to say. With this being said, people that are intimidated by others and want to be on the other side of the argument can anonymously be the negative voice on the Internet without anyone knowing who they are. It makes them feel safe while they are saying hurtful things on the world wide web. If anonymity is taken away from these users, it is proposed that the negativity will decline and less hurtful things will be said online. (Page 3)

            Another solution is for someone to be the bigger person in a given argument or situation on the Internet. It was described on page four and five by relating it to a relationship situation. “If you and your spouse have an argument and you are only 2% in the wrong and the spouse is responsible for 98%, your job is to apologize/fix/take responsibility for your 2% . . . If you do, you find that your spouse is much more likely to do the same with his/her 98%” (Page 4-5). This solution would only work in certain situations and most people are too stubborn. This would cause those that were “responsible for 98%” to feel like they were right all along. This would not solve anything; it would make the “2%” feel worse about not being able to defend their opinion.

            A solution that I came up with was similar to that on the global app that is rapidly expanding called “Clash of Clans”, by Supercell. They have supplied their users with the ability to communicate through a social window within the app. They have the choice to communicate with friends or globally. With this ability comes with some precautions, such as being able to report users for their intolerable behavior. Supercell is able to filter the language being used and gives them warning before not allowing them to communicate or use the app. I think this rule is a great solution for solving human civility in the online world. If filters are used and controlled on websites, people will be careful as to what they have to say for their desire to remain on a certain website or program.