One thing about the growth of mobile phones, the Internet, and associated content is that new avenues for bullying and harassment were opened up. While both the Internet and mobile phones are full of benefits, there are also downsides. Bullying and other such negative aspects are particularly noticeable in the teenage age range, as that is a particularly vulnerable age group. Part of this is because during this time in life many teenagers are trying to figure out who they are and what their “identity” is, and thus are doing a lot of experimentation.
When I was doing research for last week’s Facebook entry, I was very surprised to come across articles detailing “Facebook murders”—though, judging from what has occurred across the Internet in general, I suppose I shouldn’t have been so taken aback. Last May, for instance, a teenager in Sydney, Australia was murdered after meeting up with someone she had met on Facebook. Unlike many of the other suspect meetings one hears about, the girl, Nora Belomesoff, was not expecting to meet any sort of romantic interest. Rather, the man claimed to be a part of an animal welfare group, and had a potential job offer for her, but meeting up with him to go search for injured animals in the bush was something she apparently had to do before getting the job. Facebook makes it very easy for anyone to create a profile or a page of a seemingly legitimate organization, which is what this man did. In general, Facebook seems to be more “reputable” than websites like Craigslist, which has faced its own murder problems, and teenagers need to learn to be careful about whom they “meet” and “friend” on Facebook, as even if something seems relatively innocuous, there may be more to it than its face value.
As scary as the above story is (word to the wise, never go alone when meeting someone from online in person), last December (2009), two friends carried a Facebook argument into the real world, and ultimately one of them ended up dead. I would hope that teenagers, in general, would have enough common sense to be aware of how serious defamation is, whether it occurs online or in the real world. The problem with the online world is that, even though a name might be attached to a comment or an action, there is still a greater aspect of anonymity than a face-to-face interaction. In this particular case, one boy stabbed and killed another after having exchanged insults on Facebook. Additionally, in the current times, it is important to maintain a good online reputation, the loss of which can be incredibly upsetting: case in point with this incident—the boys were only fifteen and eighteen, ages where self-esteem is vulnerable and popularity can be very important.
Another problem with sites like Facebook and MySpace is that not only can people set up pages representing fake organizations, but they can also do the opposite and create fake profiles of real people. A boy got into trouble for having a Facebook account and using it to say inappropriate things… except it wasn’t his account. Someone had made an account, pretending to be him and the boy suffered as a result. Research has shown that social sites like Facebook are responsible for the majority of cyberbullying that goes on (as compared to other types of websites), and the majority of teenagers hold Facebook accounts. Thus, the issue is only becoming bigger, particularly because Facebook privacy has become more limited and there is little Facebook itself can (or will) do to prevent cyberbullying, or to help victims.
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