In chapter 5 of Danah Boyd’s book, she focuses on the act of “cyber-bullying”. She researches this topic by interviewing several teenagers as well as news reports of famous cyber-bullying cases. She discusses how adults can perceive cyber-bullying as more extreme than it is, but the nuances between friends and classmates must be considered to truly decide whether its pranking or gossip or actual bullying.

Chapter 4 of Danah Boyd’s book focuses on the moral panic of parents regarding adolescent behavior and safety on the Internet. She begins with describing that parents have been concerned with the safety of their children even before the Internet was common in households. In the 1950’s parents worried about their children being exposed to provocative Elvis Presley and rock n’ roll, in the 1980’s and 1990’s people believed that curfew and anti-loitering laws would reduce crime. Looking back at these instances it is much easier for adults to see how misguided this moral panic was, but today the moral panic is extremely real in terms of technology and the Internet.
Boyd uses the television show To Catch a Predator as an example of how the moral panic became widespread. She explained that on To Catch a Predator, the producers would set up fake profiles of young girls and would then see what older men tried to talk to them. When they agreed to meet up in person, the tv show would ambush the older man, instead of being a young girl. This show was popular before I started watching television programs that weren’t on Disney Channel or Nickelodeon, so I never saw it at the peak of its popularity, but it did remind me of a show on MTV called Catfish. This show is a self-proclaimed “docu-series” that helps people in Internet relationships find out if the person they are dating really is who they say they are. I thought this show was interesting when compared to How To Catch a Predator and the moral panic concerning adolescents online because most of the people this show deals with are actually young adults or adults, and not just teens being tricked into these relationships. I thought this was as interesting because just as the Internet is not the only place that adolescents are in danger, adolescents aren’t the only ones that can have trouble with the people they meet online. Boys, girls, men, and women should all be equally aware, but not paranoid on the social websites online.

I’ve always thought the idea of the internet being dangerous for children and teens a little ridiculous. Of course the internet has A LOT of bad things, but I think most teens these days are fully capable of being responsible online. They grew up with the internet and are experts at using it! David Pogue, in his article “How Dangerous is the Internet?” in the NY Times (read it here), agrees. He states that he was told to write an article about the danger of the internet, and when he did his editor was disappointed because it wasn’t “sensational.” He recalls a moment when his son saw a naked version of The Incredibles and how he decided not to make it a big deal (as other parents have..usually freaking out and making it a big deal). With regards to teens and sex/porn/nudity..they see a lot of it in regular shows! Every show nowadays usually has some sort of sex scene, so teens probably don’t think twice about it when they see it online. I don’t think there is a worry regarding meeting strangers online. Like I’ve said before, my sister has met a lot of fellow One Directions fans on twitter. She knows about stranger danger and the negatives of the internet. When meeting someone on twitter, she usually talks (tweets) to them often and slowly become friends on different social media platforms. Before meeting them she usually skypes them, too! And she never goes by herself. There are so many different strategies to use while on the internet. There are far more dangerous things than meeting a creep on the internet. I think we should all remember that young people these days are really intelligent and savvy with the internet. Of course parents should always look after their kids but there are limitations.

I clicked play on the video and immediately opened up two tabs on my browser as the audio played through. One to check the midterm description for this class and one for email. In the first 18 seconds the guy in the video as if speaking to me, dares us to “not open a new tab and let this play in the back ground”, but to sit still and simply watch the video. I clicked back on the tab and quickly scrubbed forward to see if there would be something interesting happen in the little thumbnail but there wasn’t, just his face. So I let the video play. He continues to challenge us to simply watch the video! I hear vibration sound and check my phone, nothing, it was the video. At one point it even freezes for 10 seconds and I checked to make sure the video was working or loaded. That too was part of it. And like that I realized I’m a part of the game and he’s playing me like a puppet.

Our reading this week on Moral Panic tended to emphasis the physical dangers and treats of predators and bullies. But I think another panic that adults have is the concern for immediate gratification and shortening attention span. This is something I have felt about children, however this video made me realize I’m just as guilty. The time-saving tools that we have adopted to make our lives more efficient, are little tricks like checking the progress bar thumbnails on a youtube video for interesting clips, or opening a new tab and simply listening to the video. These same tips I believe are also adopted on social media as a filter and way to validate of certain people and profiles we encounter.

“re-gain control of the one truly un-renewable resource in life, your time.”

But in that same desire we are getting lost. Overall, as a generation we feel that our time is precious and little tricks to squeeze the most into our day is mind-numbingly habitual. But it gets to the point where a 10 second freeze in a video creates stress, because it seems out of our control. I think another very real Moral Panic is the struggle to enjoy the little things in life.

This week I read two articles about how women are harassed on the internet. “High Tech or High Risk: Moral Panics about Girls Online,” by Justine Cassell and Meg Cramer, reminded me of some other articles I’ve read about women and technology and how in the early developments of each technology, from the typewriter to the telephone women’s involvement was stigmatized and their desires such as being able to use the telephone for communication were dismissed as foolish and stupid ideas. In Boyd’s work she mentions that moral panics come with each technological shift, from Victorian romance novels, to comic books to Elvis (112). Cassell and Meg Cramer state that “Because the telegraph was supposed to radically improve business, the effort it took to send every letter of a message was deemed worthwhile to expend only when the message held military or commercial importance, realms that were at that time controlled and dominated by men,” and so women discussing life at home was considered “frivolous (59).” I think the idea of seeing women’s ideas as frivolous is still happening today especially with the hate and discrimination they get, when people don’t understand or like what someone is saying, they try and dismiss it; “when people become famous, they are often objectified, discussed and ridiculed with little consideration for who they are as people” (Boyd, 149). And so women who have a fan base, whether they are actual celebrities or just regular people, such as journalists, often have to deal with aggression more so than men.

From an early age women are taught to fear predators online. But when girls are online they look use the internet for a to look at a wider variety of content and this gives them “metaphoric mobility” which can alarm parents because they lose complete control (Cassell,70). All in all, “the number of young women who have been preyed on by strangers has decreased, both in the online and offline world” (Cassell, 70). Flirtation and sexual harassment online tends to come from people their own age and only 4% of solicitation happened by people over 25 (112).
What I find telling is that even when these girls mature and become successful and use the internet to have a public presence for their career or just for fun, women are still encouraged to leave. The Internet and social media platforms have become a stage where people can listen to anyone, and through harassment and threats, people can encourage someone to “get off the stage.” In “Why Women aren’t Welcome on the Internet” Amanda Hess explains that being in a position of power or simply just voicing ones opinion as a woman can get you into a lot of trouble and that can be draining and time consuming, especially when you have to call the police and go over all the death and rape threats you’ve received. An idea in that article I found interesting was as distinction Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman draws between “tourists” and “vagabonds” in the modern economy:

“Privileged tourists move about the world “on purpose,” to seek “new experience” as “the joys of the familiar wear off.” Disempowered vagabonds relocate because they have to, pushed and pulled through mean streets where they could never hope to settle down. On the Internet, men are tourists and women are vagabonds.” People who threaten to attack women, are usually anonymous and often act like they own the place and feel like they have a right to be there, such as one computer programmer who “enjoys riling people up” and is “infamous for posting creepy photographs of underage women and creating or moderating subcommunities on the site with names like “chokeabitch” and “rapebait.””
I think it’s important that young girls be encouraged you understand technology so they can influence the way it grows and changes in the years to come and so we can all be tourist and welcomed on the internet.

http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/women-arent-welcome-internet-72170

http://time.com/3305466/male-female-harassment-online/

Last Saturday, I hiked up to the Hollywood sign with a group of friends. At the top, with the view of the sign as well as most of Los Angeles in sight, my friend Herman asked me, “What did people use to do at the top of hikes before cameras?” At first, I thought he asked what people did before camera-phones (probably since I have been thinking about the “selfie” so much due to this class). When I realized he just meant cameras in general, I said “just look, I guess…” Why don’t people do that anymore? Why are people not merely satisfied with just looking at the view in that moment? Instead most people feel the need to document it with taking a picture, especially with themselves in it.

This reminds me of the case study we read this week on the “infamous Auschwitz selfie.” I remember when social networking got all stirred up about it, but I kinda just turned away because even the thought of “selfie” and “concentration camp” is quite appalling. After reading the article about why the girl did it, my opinion has not really changed at all, although it does provide some insight why exactly people feel the need to take pictures, and now selfies, at famous monuments or at the top of a hike. Her intentions for the selfie were for self-documentation and as a remembrance for her father. As the writer of the article stated, these intentions do not authorize her actions as “okay.” Her selfie still, as the writer put it, minimizes what happened there into an inappropriate “personal narrative,” which reminds me of Elie Wiesel’s critique of Schindler’s List as kitsch.

When thinking back about the hike on Saturday and how nearly everyone was taking a picture of others or a selfie, I can see that it is a way of saying “I did it,” but why does that need to be shared in the “super public” that Danah Boyd coined? Why is there a need to celebrate when so many other people have accomplished the same fact? Obviously, it is more appropriate than taking a selfie at a concentration camp, but there remains a sense of minimizing in the act.

In this weeks’ reading, danah boyd attempts to define the new concept of “super publics.” In her argument, she discusses how digital media has “screwed with the notion of public, removing traditional situationism that connects strangers.” The notion of a “public act”—which is defined as “one that is visible to an audience of strangers, connected by exposure to that act (a.k.a. a public)” and is explicitly limited in scope—has transformed into a larger audience of strangers because of the internet.

That being said, I saw this as true, as there has been a recent trend at my internship where celebrities announce pregnancies and other exciting news in a new way. The traditional way of announcing them via news outlets, magazines, and other traditional ways of media has been replaced with announcements via Instagram. Justin Timberlake was the last one I encountered this week, where it was revealed that he and wife? Jessica Biel announced that they’re expecting via his Instagram account (although the media had already long speculated Jessica’s pregnancy due to numerous photos purporting a new “bump”).

Thank you EVERYONE for the Bday wishes! This year, I'm getting the GREATEST GIFT EVER. CAN'T WAIT. #BoyOrGirl #YouNeverKnow #WeDontEvenKnow #WeAreTakingBets

A post shared by Justin Timberlake (@justintimberlake) on Jan 31, 2015 at 3:29pm PST

I think it’s interesting that celebrities like JT are starting to utilized social media moreso than traditional forms of media for these types of stories. You can actually see a shift in the style of writing in these tabloids; they went from simply reporting news received from publicisits to now reporting news from what they see on the celebs social media. Now, tabloids are beginning to stretch even further to expose these celebrities’ secrets before they are revealed on social media. The digital sphere has changed the audience of celebrities from domestic magazine readers to now worldwide followers—somewhat parallel with boyd’s argument of a superpublic.

Superpublics are still a concept even boyd is hashing out, but I see the correlation in my world today.