Millennials are Killing Digital Darwinism

aliesha. uni student. studying social media. just trying to get that HD.

[millennialsarekilling]

Online help & Mental Health

I previously talked about online harassment that comes with being connected online. Social networks and online communities give us the ability to talk with enormous groups of people, and while this can be abused to create harm, it can also be used to give support. People experiencing anxiety and depression will find it harder to go out to get support. If you might need help Lifeline is always a phone call away at 13 11 14  but if the idea of phoning someone can make you nervous they have an online chat support between 7pm and 4am, 7 days a week (x).

Before going into the different ways online communities can help those in need, we need to remember that social media is still a pretty new concept. Professionals have begun using it for the potential it has, however no one can be certain of the success at this time. There are many different campaigns that advocate mental illness and health, some well known organizations include:

-BeyondBlue: multiple campaigns have been shown online from BeyondBlue, covering specific messages like ‘Get to Know Anxiety’ (x), but they’ve also used many social media platforms to spread awareness of the organization. Tim Holmes, the creative director for the adverts, stated the organization “aims to show young people that it’s not them, but their brains that can be strange”(x), and by understanding their target audience, BeyondBlue pushes awareness through cartoon adverts on Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and even XBOX. 

-Share Your Cancer Story (Cancer Council) (x): while the Cancer Council have professionals that can give medical opinions, they also use a peer-to-peer strategy that allows victims of cancer can share their experience. This can also help those who need to find information for themselves as it is easier to connect empathetically.  -#100DeadliestDays (Arkansas Children Hospital) (x): hashtags are a cheap and popular way to spread information. Twitter is the third most popular social media platform, with 320 million users in 2016 (x), more than enough people to spread a message. #100DeadliestDays was created to spread awareness of children emergencies spiking between Memorial Day and Labour Day. Since online channels allow the every day person to spread awareness, there have also been popular campaigns that were started by smaller groups of people, even individuals themselves.

-Movember: started in 1999 by a group of friends in Adelaide (x). The idea is to grow a mustache to spread awareness for men’s health issues, such as prostrate cancer and suicide. Awards, ceremonies and programs are also used to receive funds for charities. -To Write Love On Her Arms (x): The not-for-profit was founded by Jamie Tworkowski, who’s story about an acquaintance who required treatment for addiction and depression went viral (x). The organization aims to help “people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide“ keeps a blog that discusses topics to do with” (x). They do this through events and blogs that discuss relevant topics. 

There’s also personal blogs and online journals written by individuals themselves. There is a strong stigma behind this as posting personal issues is seen as “attention seeking”. It’s important to note that everyone is different and not every reasoning behind posting personal insights is the same, but for those who are asking for attention, whats with the backlash? Social media is commonly used for seeking attention, and while positive posts (selfies, status updates) are mostly seen as a good thing, shouldn’t the negative ones be seen as more important? Shouldn’t they receive more support?

[millennialsarekilling]

Can strangers on the internet help in a crisis?

Web 2.0 has made it easier to get information from the public. This can be done by an online poll or petition. These are prime examples of crowd sourcing, engaging a ‘crowd’ or group for a common goal. This is great for companies to connect with their consumers, or for everyday people to invest in indie projects. But is there a way information can be received from the public in a time of global crisis?

Minimal professional media might be found in a crisis and there are several reasons for this. The crisis could be so sudden people need information then and there, access to the crisis may be near impossible and the area may be too widespread to cover all of it. Twitter is a great platform to look to see the words from victims or emergency services.  Another way the public can share information during a crisis is by crowdmapping. This is a platform that allows anyone to say where an event is occurring. The most well known at the moment is Ushahidi(x), which uses maps, markers and other features to get information from everyday people to everyday people. For example: Ushahidi was originally built to “map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election violence in 2008″(x). This allowed civilians to avoid dangerous areas, and informed the public where to go for first aid and emergency services. Ushahidi has also been used with earthquakes(x), flooding(x), forest fires(x)(x) and criminal activity. However, before depending on crowdmapping we need to understand the negatives. Even a powerful platform such as Ushahidi has some cons with the pros. Since just about everyone has access to this information, that also means “adversarial groups will learn about how to effectively use these same tools for their own ends”(x), as stated by Kimo Quaintance an educator for emerging technology. Public crowdmapping would not be recommended for organising protests or revolts, as authorities can see this and plan accordingly. Likewise, criminals can use crowdmapping to find safe areas such as emergency services and first aid and either avoid them or attack them.

Also there’s the question of whether the information posted is reliable. By keeping this service open to the public, it can be used to spread rumours and scare tactics. Worst still, professional media could consider using successful crowdmapping platforms as a reference, and false rumours could go from a public source to a published source. It could also be used as another method of luring unsuspecting victims to dangerous areas. One idea to deal with this issue is to have verified accounts. These could be companies such as ABC, or account holders that have been loyal to the app. Exactly the same as a verified account on twitter, a symbol could appear next to the username which would quickly show users that the information is from a reliable source. It would a worst decision to stop just anyone posting, as that is what makes the application successful.

[millennialsarekilling]

If there were two guys on the moon

(and one killed the other with a rock would that be fucked up or what?)

You put 100 people in a room and at least one of them is gonna be a jerk. Grab a couple of hundred - couple of jerks. They can shout the loudest and the meanest, and can make harassment look natural. Online bullying and harassment is an unfair dilemma that rocks the modern world, people constantly arguing the ‘best’ methods of working through it. I won’t be looking at the relationship between victim and harasser, unfortunately I don’t have this miracle workaround for when you’re getting told horrible things by mostly strangers online, and I’m truly sorry if it is happening to you.

By limiting what can be said in a space, you can liberate those who -otherwise- would keep quiet. Being free to speak your mind can allow more people to debate and more ideas would be thrown into the mix. Could this really work? Will censorship save us?

There are a lot of downsides with censorship:

“Kids today” are finding ways around their parents by using emojis, people will definitely find a way around a censorship algorithm (see: eggplant and peaches (x) yes I had to look that up because I’m 23 and studying social media and don’t actually know how to use emojis, fail me now). You can avoid a lot of censorship by clicking the s p a c e b a r b e t w e e n t h e l e t t e r s (check: if you have the time to do that go back to your homestuck RPs where you belong). Keeping on top of the ever changing ways around censorship is an almost crazy idea. Only almost because I know nothing about coding but I feel like I know enough to believe that would be insane. The overuse of the reporting feature: in the world where you can’t yell at people you don’t like, report them until they’re kicked out. This can also be used for facebook images or have a conversation removed from a public forum. Everyone has a different view on what is an isn’t harassment. Playing a video game and being told “Go ****ing 🔪 yourself you dumb **** I hope you 💀” is probably starting to look like harassment. However, being told “Man you suck so much please change your character for the love of god” can also be seen as harassment if you’re the right/wrong person. Also check above, a major complaint with facebook reporting is the amount of people that have had their personal photos taken down because someone believes they’re not appropriate. Forget death threats and general abuse, we’re talking about people posting their own bodies and family photos being considered ‘nudity’.

Let’s also be real: is it even cool? And I’m not saying ‘isn’t it just so cool to tell people to die?’ I’m imagining this website where censorship is great and we’ve all agreed on a line and people can’t say everything but they can say almost everyth- aaand most people have moved on to another website.

Some direct censorship should usually be put in place, depending on the type of atmosphere a web developer wants. However, it’s not the best way to avoid online harassment. Some better alternatives have nothing to do with the websites at all, but responsibility should be placed on the harassers. Unfortunately in the case of anonymous harassment, this is still difficult. Even if someone requires an online history to create an account, it is not too difficult to create an email address with a false name. However, some people have begin to think bullying is so normal, they don’t bother with a fake account, and sometimes instead of experiencing consequences, victims are told to ‘get over it’ or that it’s all ‘just a joke’.

[millennialsarekilling]

Joining the Virtual Protest

Social media is a powerful tool for connecting people together. It makes sense that it could also be used for spreading information, whether it’s global news or planning an event. 

A huge criticism of social media’s use for activism is the ability is gives every day people to give little input into a political or social event. Gone are the days you could only have your voice heard by joining a march, or signing a petition on page, or needing to leave your house at all. It’s much easier to share an article, change your profile picture or click on a link. A prime example that people use for slacktivism is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. In 2014, the origin year of the challenge, ALS received $115 million dollars of donations. “But what if everyone who bought bags of ice actually used that money to donate towards ALS?” Well crunching the numbers, by the end of August 2014 there were 2.4 million videos shared on facebook (x)(x). If everyone spent around $10 - $30 on ice, that would be around $24 million - $72 million dollars. I mean in a perfect world we could use the ice money ON TOP of the $115 million and that would be beautiful and great but how would that spread? 

Ok, so the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is possibly the most successful proof of slacktivism, so can we please stop seeing all these articles about how much of a flop it is when we’re trying to Google examples of slacktivism, and move onto everything that ISNT the Ice Bucket Challenge?

Yes, slacktivism is lazy. It requires the least amount of focus from the public, and that’s fantastic. Slacktivism isn’t the act of doing nothing - that’s called “doing nothing”. If social media and sharing wasn’t around, would these people really be outside protesting? There are websites that rescue dogs and feed homeless just because you clicked a button (x)(x). There are people and celebrities who have done actions and given just because it was the trend. It might seem horrific that trends create this enormous audience that disappear by the end of the week/month, but the end of a campaign shouldn’t be compared to the height of itself, it should be compared to other campaigns that never had a trend at all. Jennifer Earl, Professor of Sociology, goes into this and more arguing that we “should stop asking if flash activism matters. We should also stop assuming that offline protest always succeeds. Instead, we should seek out the best ways to achieve specific goals” (x).

This isn’t to say all slacktivism has produced fantastic results, pat yourself on the back you did a great job. The #BringBackOurGirls trend unfortunately did not succeed, and further yet it could be argued that the spread of this strengthened America’s “military legitimacy”(x).

[millennialsarekilling]

Politics vs. The World Wide Web

Politics is a popular conversation topic online, as the decisions made can affect an enormous amount of people. Of course, these types of decisions can uncover public opinion, however it should never be assumed that the public - as a whole - shares the same opinion.

Using Twitter, politicians can spread their reach and communicate with people that may not otherwise have the opportunity. In Australia one of the most notable instances of this, and possibly what made this trend what it is today, is Kevin ‘07. Facebook and twitter were used as part of his campaign to include younger Australian’s in the election, as well as to make Rudd appear more ‘human’. 

A new way for people to keep up with politics is by going on Twitter and searching #AusPol.

While twitter is a fantastic way to keep up to date with news, #AusPol covers a wide variety of things, and anyone can post to it. As such, following a specific concern can be very difficult. But this does open access to the public, as they can find information to research, or follow those with more knowledge that will update their ‘followers’

Some argue that 'memes are the enemy of politics’. I think there is a lot to be discussed on that statement. Political memes could be turning politics into a joke, and causing the public to overlook serious issues. The use of memes from politicians themselves can call attention from a younger audience, without any content for them to understand.

However, sharing political jokes could be opening uninterested minds to the world around them. While many people today understand very little when it comes to politics, should it be blamed on memes? Would those same people know more without memes, or would they know nothing and just ignore political news? 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another concern of social media is it’s use for spreading awareness. Remembering that Facebook is a for-profit company and tumblr is owned by Yahoo! how are we entrusting these websites to teach us about politics?

Tumblr allows you to actively search for tags, but how often is this used for people to have discussions with others who we disagree with (in a constructive manner). Following the same people with the same ideas can give you a bit of confirmation bias and may even cause you to believe “only 1 in a million disagree with me” (hint, the real number may shock you).

Facebook, Flipboard, Google and others go a step further with their Filter Bubble. Tech journalist Sally Adee explains that the Filter bubble is an online algorithm that ensures you’ll see content you’re interested in (x). This is great for entertainment, and keeping up to date with the trends, but it’s also affected political and social opinion (x).

[millennialsarekilling]

I have a blog and it’s called Tumblr

A quick 5 minute google search will show that almost everyone is happy to call Tumblr a blogging or part-blogging platform (lifewire)(businessinsider)(economist). What’s the difference between a social media site (micro-blog), and a blog? No one has ever introduced their facebook page as a blog, so what makes it different from Tumblr? 

Something that ties social media and blogs together are posts. They’re made by us, the owners of our accounts, and generally state an idea to an audience. Ann Gusiff, a google photographer, believes that a blog “creates content that lives on your website” whereas social media “engages with people about content” (x). The idea behind this is the website itself and how the audience interacts with it. The posts in a blog should work together and generally follow the same topic, and usually the author should allow questions and comments from their audience. Whereas social media posts ideas to an already existing audience for the purpose of their response. 

But wait a minute, I can control how my website looks to my audience, but I can also engage with people without it affecting my website. The “dash” or “dashboard” is very important to social media. Young entrepreneur Marc Guberti says it’s a " timeline [that] keeps on updating” (x) which makes competing for a popular discussion very difficult. However, by having a busy dashboard users can stay up to date with their interests. Tumblr users have their own dashboard, but it’s not available to their audience. Facebook and twitter works similarly with users having their own accounts, but again it’s how the user sets up their website.

We’ve talked about blogs and social media, but what needs to happen before a new website category is created? 

A new category is the result of an innovated business idea, and the product can be difficult to describe because of how ‘new’ and ‘different’ it is. College Professor Jesper B.Sørensen lets us know that “consumers make sense of unfamiliar products by mapping them onto categories of things they already understand” (x). A good example he makes is through the Samsung Galaxy Note series, which created the ‘phablet’ range. The first smartphone of its size, the Galaxy Note screen was 5.3 inches, much larger than other smartphones, including Samsung’s flagship S series. How far does a website like Tumblr need to go before it creates a new category?

Do I think Tumblr is a blog? Tumblr gives it’s users full access to their own website, allowing you to edit or create your own code. If the user wants to set up their account as a blog, they can as long as they’re a little more mindful about what they post than those that use it as a social media (micro-blogging) platform. Both types of users can follow as many people as they want, filling their dash with outside content, but it’s up to the user not to ‘reblog’ and post everything they see onto their website.

[millennialsarekilling]

.