The Next Step

Prior to enrolling in the “Social Media in Social Change” course I had a rather negative view of social media. For sure, I do have my own share of social media accounts. Everyone does, and I think it is fair to say that today you almost can’t navigate the world without one. However, some of the seemingly positive attributes aren’t enough for me to see our current social media world as a positive force. When I think of social media today, I think of cyberbullying and its consequences, possible privacy violation issues, and just uncontrolled seeming behavior. Too many people think that because they are not showing an in person face that they can do and get away with anything with no form of consequence. Admittedly, there is small evidence that these issues have been being worked on, but I think more should be done to solve them.

I think it is safe to say that I think social media should tighten its regulations. Considering the wide variety of people who use social platforms, there should certainly be more regulation over the content people are allowed to post, or, at the very least, who can view them. And, yes, I realize that this is a rather difficult and touchy subject to handle, but can we at the very least realize that severely underage kids are active on these platforms and can view this content. This is where kids can possibly misinterpret that things like blood and gore, racism, violence, sexism, and the like are acceptable forms of behavior. There is possibility that they could be traumatized by something they have seen, and that is something that goes for any other user as well.

A lot of the time, just seeing from my own experiences, there isn’t even any sort of content warning, and the offensive content just sits there untouched by media moderators. So, to start, I think there should be a little bit more effort toward blocking and removing offensive content, whether it be images, language, or whatever it may be. I also think that people who have been purposefully posting this sort of content to hurt or offend specific individuals should receive more of an actual punishment. Very evidently, we have all seen those people quickly evolve to repeat offenders. Wouldn’t it be better to destroy the problem while it is still small? Of course it would be. The companies behind the platform should take more responsibility to remove these people. The problem causing trolls who, for the most part, run around carefree, hurting and offending whoever they please should get more than a simple small suspension period, especially with knowledge of them being repeat offenders.

They say “treat people the way you’d like to be treated”. So if these people are going to go around and act immaturely on social media because “they can’t see me”, then I suppose they must be treated like immature children. We don’t let our children continue to do things we don’t like, yet these adult sized children go around possibly hurting actual children and disturbing many others and get away with the act. I mean, I have seen children’s online games handle this type of situation far more effectively, albeit the problems are far less significant. Perhaps even something like a more effective “three strike” rule could be beneficial. There would be three warnings with short suspensions before getting banned from a platform, depending on the severity of the offense.

Now. That is not to say that I do not like anything about social media. There are good things that come to mind when I think about social media too. It provides a way to stay connected within your various communities, which is especially helpful during times like our large scale, long 2020 quarantine. Social media also provides us with ways to spread information. Positive or beneficial or truthful or important information can be found on probably any platform one chooses to utilize. Many platforms are a great way to pick up support for any individuals or social movements to help provide a greater good, and I support that. There are just far too many people and groups who combat the potential benefits, and I think they should be better dealt with.