Social Networking, A Danger To Us All!
These days, the internet is such an integral part of our lives that most people would struggle to manage without it. I know most people especially would not be able to live without social networking sites such as Facebook, as a means of keeping in touch and communicating. Of course, there is a downside to this obsession with information and instant communication, and the darker side of social networking is beginning to reveal itself.
In a world obsessed with the idea of celebrity, thanks to a constant update of news and pictures via the internet, we can keep up to date on gossip and scandal for our own entertainment. There is nothing wrong with this. Some would say that this intrusion is the price celebrities pay for putting themselves in the spotlight, that their privacy is jeopardised willingly when they step into the limelight and put themselves forward for public attention. It is not so much the celebrity obsession that is the problem but the idea that this craving for gossip and scandal has mapped itself on to normal people too, via the internet and certainly through social networks.
There are constant updates of what people are doing, new pictures and events and you feel like you are witnessing people’s lives unfold through the news feed as you would if they were laid out on the pages of a magazine. There are of course privacy controls, and people more often than not only include the information and pictures that they want to share with the world, and there are privacy controls to ensure the user has control over their own profile. But what if this control was taken away? What if you had no say over the pictures of yourself or the information which was printed about you online, whether true or not? This, for many, would be a scary prospect, making you vulnerable to lies and abuse, like we have witnessed countless celebrities suffer at the hands of the media. Sadly, this idea of being powerless to how you are portrayed online is not a scare theory, it is a reality.
There is a growing trend in sites which are more harmful than useful. Sites such as The Dirty, for example, a so-called ‘reality blogging’ site, which allows users to post pictures and comments of others onto the site for viewers to comment on and rate. There is no control once your picture is on the site and the owner of the site, far from keeping order, instead leaves by far the harshest comments on the pictures, fuelling the fire for more abuse. This reveals how little control we have over how we are portrayed by others and to others online. When sites like this offer people up as victims for the entertainment of others, picking out their flaws and supposed indiscretions in front of a worldwide audience it is tantamount to bullying, but on a massive scale.
Cyber bullying is at an all time high, and sites like this can only add to the problem, as those who post pictures on to the site are anonymous and so can go further than they would if their identity were at stake and their reputation in jeopardy. It is this double standard, guaranteeing anonymity for the culprit, while the victims are named and shamed, which encourages more people to join, some no doubt seeing it as entertainment and harmless fun. It is far from harmless, even though it could be argued that it is easier to deal with judgement online as you can just switch it off and not have to look at it. How many people would easily be able to forget reading such shocking information about themselves, knowing a huge audience of strangers has witnessed their shame?
It is important that the dangers of sites such as The Dirty are made clear to people, and the more people that view the site and see the content for themselves, the better. You only have to look at the amount of hits this site gets and see how people become members, allowing them even more access to the scandal, to see that there is a demand for this kind of entertainment, and that is worrying. In a time when reality TV has taken over and everyone seems to crave their own fifteen minutes of fame, is it surprising that a site such as this is so popular? In today’s society, it is said that we love to build people up to knock them down, and that is exactly what this site does. Its users often submit ‘dirt’ on people who they feel think too much of themselves, and the site’s users dutifully abuse that person’s picture, no doubt chipping away at the victim’s self confidence in the process. It is really just a form of bullying for a new generation, as our celebrity obsessed society spreads out of control.
My main concern is that a site like The Dirty will grow in popularity and spread, like a disease, branching out into different websites around the world. The content may seem funny from a safe distance, as it is based in America, but would it seem so entertaining if it was a British site and there was a chance that the next time you logged on to laugh at others, you might see yourself on there? It’s something which has to be addressed, as the problem can only get worse. It is obvious sites such as this will always exist in one form or another, as there will always be people who love the guilty pleasure of mocking others and repairing their own insecurities by anonymously picking out the perceived flaws in others. It is definitely an issue to think about, as you never know, you might be seeing yourself on a site such as this in the very near future.
NATALIE CARLIN
