Eroding of common sense and decency finds social media home
IF ever proof was needed that we’re living in the age of the obscene and the sublimely ridiculous the events of the past week have borne it out absolutely.
As the Government shutdown in the US finally saw 800,000 workers paid, closer to home our Brexit weary ears were pricked by news that people stopped at a crash scene on the M50, pulled out their phones and video recorded the aftermath of an horrific accident in which a woman lost her life. A few days later an article in the Sunday Times highlighted how RTE presenter and journalist Miriam O’Callaghan is suing Facebook for defamation in a landmark case after alleging the social media giant is promoting fake face cream ads with malicious stories about her in a bid to attract clicks, she alleges.
The word fake is being used increasingly as a byword for social media sites. ‘Fake news!’ screams the leader of the country’s most powerful country ad nauseam anytime he is presented with an uncomfortable fact, but the fact remains that social media websites can be the wild west frontier of human consciousness - unpoliced jungles where he (or she) who shouts loudest and vilest wins.
Goods are bought and sold online. Relationships forged. Bullies satiated. The first recognizable social media site, Six Degrees, was created in 1997. It enabled users to upload a profile and make friends with other users. In 1999, the first blogging sites became popular, creating a social media sensation that’s still popular today. By 2006 Facebook and Twitter were active and growing in popularity at an alarming rate.
A story I read at the weekend outlined in terrifying detail how a 14-year-old English girl saw shocking images of self mutilation online, shortly before she died by suicide. The Sunday Times story highlighted how 30 British families accused technology giants of abetting their children’s suicides in the wake of the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell.
Molly’s father Ian criticised Pinterest and Instagram saying they allowed the hosting of profoundly disturbing content that he believes played a part in Molly’s death.
Graphic images of self-harm are rampant online. The idea that death is a sexy product that lures young people to spend as much time as possible on the sites is sickening and the families are rightly outraged. Instagram expressed its sorrow about Molly’s death but is much really being done to protect social media site users? Facebook Ireland is committing an additional €1m to tackling cyber-bullying this year after it got terrible press last year in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Dr Frankenstein comes to mind!
We don’t have to think too far back to when 13-year-old Donegal girl Erin Gallagher died by suicide in 2012 after a relentless cyberbullying campaign. Her sister Shannon was to also die by suicide two months later. As we come to rely on our smartphones more and more, from paying for our coffees, to booking our holidays, we can’t afford to take our eye off the bigger picture, namely that we are the ones being sold. We’re not in control online!