Is social media really antisocial?

A friend of mine received a death threat from a fellow member of a Facebook group who didn't like her post - a death threat which included her home address. The group? Maine Birds. Maine Birds?!?! Aren't bird-watchers usually a pretty gentle and genteel bunch? Despite urging by me and many others to report it to the group admin, to Facebook, and to the police, she didn't because she feared further retribution. She's no longer on Facebook.

One of the stars of the new Ghostbusters movie (a remake with all four Ghostbusters played by women this time) was violently harassed on Twitter. Her offense? Being a black woman playing one of the original Ghostbusters. Despite overwhelming support for her in the face of the abuse in the form of a deluge of hashtags and positive tweets, she's no longer on Twitter.

An owner of two area restaurants posted on social media that open-carry gun users were no longer welcome in her restaurants. The Yelp sites for these two restaurants were overwhelmed with pro-gun posts from all over the country giving her one-star reviews. Presumably none of them had ever eaten there. But they weren't commenting about the food. They just wanted to drive her out of business. They didn't succeed.

Facebook does nothing about outrageous, harassing, or even criminal comments. Facebook has a vested interest in having as many visits and clicks as possible to bring in advertising revenue.

Twitter will disable an account that is disruptive, but only after much damage has been done.
UPDATE: About an hour and a half after I uploaded this post, I discovered an article published that morning on this very topic on the Washington Post site. It references the case of the Ghostbusters actor cited above (not using her name because the poor woman has gotten enough attention over this). https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/07/21/what-it-takes-to-get-banned-from-twitter/?tid=pm_lifestyle_pop_b

Yelp, however, responded with a protocol called "Active Cleanup." This is a practice that started at Yelp last fall. When a business is in the news and people flock to Yelp to post a positive or negative review that has nothing to do with the quality of the product or service but is just taking a stand on the issue, Yelp will delete those reviews.

Social media had great potential to bring people together. But sites like Facebook and Twitter have been taken over by puerile loudmouths whose only interest is in harassing people because they find it amusing. Both sites host an abundance of fake profiles whose sole purpose is harassment. Anyone who stands up to the bullies online becomes a target of abuse as well, and the harassers proceed with utter impunity.

The solution is for sites to exercise some social responsibility like Yelp has and push back. Reviews that only seek to harm the business are deleted. I would like to see Yelp delete the accounts as well, as those individuals are clearly abusing the terms of the site.

Another negative consequence of the proliferation of social media is the unfortunate consequence to news coverage. Users go for the quick take on the "trending topics." In-depth coverage takes second place. Thoughtful reflective posts receive the dismissive comment "tl;dr" which stands for "too long; didn't read." Discussion of issues is reduced to memes which are often juvenile in execution and expression. The goal of memes is to make their subjects look foolish or to stir up anger or hatred. The result is polarization and a lack of nuance in discussions of complex issues. In the online world, there are no complex gray areas; everything is black and white, short and not so sweet.

Finally, people spend significant amounts of time curating their personal social media accounts. I refer not to businesses for whom online advertising has become necessary to be successful, but to individuals and their Facebook, their Twitter, their Instagram, their Snapchat. Everyone with access to one's account is a "friend." Lines get blurred between close friends, acquaintances, and strangers. Superficiality is the standard. People live for likes.

Long ago, a mentor told me that if I pointed out a problem, it was incumbent upon me to suggest a solution. So here goes.

The first issue, online harassment, must be addressed by the sites that host it and by the law. Users must demand a level of civility and must protest when it is breached. The sites must delete the accounts and permanently block the e-mail addresses associated with those accounts, and must prosecute cases of criminal threatening.

The second issue, in-depth news coverage taking a back seat to tweets and memes, should be addressed in the schools. Starting in middle school and continuing through university, students should be required in English and social studies classes to research issues, to read material critically, to identify bias, to articulate a position on an issue, and to defend it with evidence. As a high school teacher, I know that some of that is already going on in some schools and some grade levels. I would like to see all of that become part of the curriculum in all schools. And I would like to see one further step: I would like to see students be taught to respond respectfully and thoughtfully to opinions they disagree with. Making respectful discourse part of the curriculum has great potential to reverse the tide of ever-increasing superficiality and meanness both online and offline.

As for the third issue, the impact of social media on personal lives and relationships, I am going to make that a topic of research starting immediately. Usually, I end these blog posts with "Questions for Discussion." This time, those questions are coming in a survey. If you wish to participate or to read the results, and I haven't been in touch with you by another channel, please comment below. And if anything in this post has struck a chord with you, please comment on that too. I would love to see this post in particular and my blog in general become a source of the respectful and thoughtful discourse that we desperately need to encourage in American society. Looking forward to reading what you share!