The Need for Civility in Social Media

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Recommended: Influence of social networking sites on the academic performance of students

Imagine a world where the physically weak have a powerful weapon to fight against the strong. In this kind of world, that mean kid who beats you up, steals your lunch money, and copies your math homework has no power, whereas the weakling who gets his lunch money stolen has all of it. Through the aid of social media, individuals, teens in particular, who are usually quite docile have a chance to fight back at their oppressors, or they might, in the heat of the moment, begin to victimize someone else.
With a few keystrokes, that mean ‘ole bully of yours can be knocked down a peg or two. The best part? The bully can’t fight back with his fists. In this world, it’s a battle of ‘brains’ instead of brawn. In this world, the victim can become the victimizer in a few short seconds. In recent years, as the use of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter have increased, the roles of bullying in schools have flipped among teens who spend a great deal of their time engrossed in social media websites. In this day and age you can’t waltz into a high school and easily separate the bullied from the bullies, because now it isn’t about who has the bigger muscles, it’s about who has the bigger mouth.
At first glance, this new social order might seem ideal, kids won’t come home with black eyes and parents will get to save that steak for later on, but what most people don’t realize is that though physical blows may hurt for a while, the pain caused by mental blows usually hurt much longer and cut much deeper, a fact most adolescents fail to realize in the seconds before posting a negative comment about a fellow classmate, friend, or even sibling.
With 83% of internet using teens in the US alone actively participating on social media websit...

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...ss as they currently are, the future of the human race is destined to be full of misery and despair all for the sake of other’s entertainment.

Works Cited

Bennett, Courtney. "Fan Club Confessions: Teens Underestimate Influence of Celebrity." Psychologytoday.com. Sussex Publishers, 1 Apr. 2005. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
"Bullying, Cyberbullying & Suicide Statistics." Megan Meier Foundation. Megan Meier Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
"Homophily - Why Social Media Has Made You More Polarized." Homophily - Why Social Media Has Made You More Polarized. Science 2.0, 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Pratt, Spencer (spencerpratt). “How is it possible to get breast implants and still not have breasts! Kate H- get ur money back…I gotta guy who will hook you up!”. 26 May 2010, Tweet.
"Social Networking Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

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