Week 10: Digital Citizenship and Conflict

“She is so ugly”, “wear some makeup”, “he is so cringe”, “👎🏻🤢🤮💩”- this is just a glimpse of what online bullying looks like. It has become pretty normal now a days which is concerning. People leave such nasty and derogatory comment on other people’s social accounts with whom they have absolutely no relation and as a matter of fact are complete strangers.

According to a 2022 survey conducted by Pew Research Center in the U.S revealed that 46% of teenagers have experienced online harassment and bullying based specially on their appearances. Offensive name calling, physical threats, receiving unwanted explicit images and circulation of false rumours about them. Pew Research says that men and women both experience sexual harassment online, women, particularly young women (Vogels, 2022).

Online sexual harassment can be described consisting of three components: female victims, the harassment is aimed specifically at females and the abuse often includes sexually threatening and in a degrading way. Online harassment is purposely used to silence or discipline women within male dominated online spaces. Sexual threat against women has become normal to the extent that perpetrators think rape and death threats is an ideal way of disciplining and correcting women. Some women have found social media highly toxic that they have lowered or completely shut their engagement online, some may change their online names or become selective about the sites they visit. Women disengaging willingly is fine but some educational campaigns that were run in UK, Canada and Australia were criticised for suggesting that women SHOULD detach themselves from online platforms if they want to avoid being harassed. Instead of targeting online abusers and holding them accountable for their actions, these campaigns suggested women not to have an active online presence (Vitis & Gilmour, 2017).

Some logical and appropriate solutions to avoid online harassment can be: don’t engage in harassment because that is exactly what the abuser wants, never stoop down to their level. It’s best to report and block abuser’s account and report the incident to the police and social media platform (Morrison, 2023). Some women also use comedy as a tool to resist sexual harassment that can actually serve as an opportunity to challenge sexism in two ways; first, it challenges sexist and harassing discussions and second, it is a way to go against the strong perception of women being unfunny (Vitis & Gilmour, 2017).

References

Morrison, S 2023, How to Handle Social Media Harassment, businessnewsdaily.com, viewed 10 May 2023, https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2475-handle-social-media-harassment.html

Vitis, L & Gilmour, F 2017, ‘Dick pics on blast: A woman’s resistance to online sexual harassment using humour, art and Instagram’, Crime Media Culture, Vol.13, p.336-344.

Vogels, E 2022, Teens and Cyberbullying 2022, pewresearch.org, viewed 10 May 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/12/15/teens-and-cyberbullying-2022/

Week 9: Gaming & More

I am not an avid gamer, but it definitely took me by surprise that gaming is now more than just sitting around and playing a bunch of games on your computer. Every year, the Victorian government hosts Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW). MIGW is a bookended event in which diverse range of video games related activities take place. It is an affair where Australian developers and international publishers present upcoming games to the public (Keogh, 2021, p.210).

When talking about the history of gaming, it all started in 1940, when Dr. Edward Uhler Codon first presented game machine at the New York World’s Fair. The game was based on ancient mathematical game Nim and was played by around 50,000 people during the first six months it was on display. From physical board and arcade games to fast forward to today’s modern age of gaming i.e online games. Online games have become a major part in people’s lives specially gamers. According to ESA Computer and Video Games industry report of 2015 revealed that at least 1.5 billion people who have internet access play video games (Chikhani, 2015).

I never heard of an app called Twitch until now, Twitch is an online broadcast platform dedicated to gaming, entertainment, sports and music. As per Twitch 2017 report, the site gathered 2.2 million unique broadcasters per month along with 1,10,000 content producers that even earn revenue from their streams, moreover, the site has more than 10 million daily active users. Not just Twitch, but gamers can also broadcast their live streams on Facebook and YouTube (Taylor, 2018, p.4-5).

Unarguably, gaming has developed significantly in the past few decades, but there are still some stereotypes attached to gaming which can impact the gaming community. People have this false perception of gamers that they are teenagers or young adults, socially awkward or loners, lazy and spend all their time on playing games with no future goals. According to a LifeCourse online survey conducted in the US, gamers lead more social life than the non-gamers, gamers are more goal oriented and they are also optimistic (The New Face of Gamers, 2014). Another belief that gaming is meant for men only. According to a study done by the Entertainment Software Association in 2014 revealed that 52% of men and 48% of women play video games making an almost equal participation and investment by men and women (Lavandier, 2016).

When I say I’m not fond of gaming that does not mean I’ve never played games as a kid. I did enjoy games like Candy Crush Saga, Super Mario and Subway Surf (not to mention half of the population have played those games because these are so common and popular). While I was doing research for this post, I was really fascinated to see how the gaming has evolved and became an important part in today’s culture. Also, debunking a couple of stereotypes about gamers.

References

Chikhani, R 2015, The History of Gaming: An Evolving Community, techcrunch.com, viewed 7 May 2023, https://techcrunch.com/2015/10/31/the-history-of-gaming-an-evolving-community/

Keogh, B 2021, ‘The Melbourne indie game scenes: value regimes in localised game development’ Ch.13, Independent Video games: Cultures, Networks, Techniques and Politics, Routledge, pp.210.

Lavandier, AM 2016, Debunked: The “Gamer” Stereotype, medium.com, viewed 7 May 2023, https://medium.com/the-nerd-castle/debunked-the-gamer-stereotype-69be0e4ee0d7

Taylor, TL 2018, ‘Broadcasting ourselves’ (chapter 1), Watch Me Play: Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming, Princeton University Press, pp.4-5.

The New Face of Gamers, 2014, lifecourse.com, viewed 7 May 2023, https://www.lifecourse.com/assets/files/The%20New%20Face%20of%20Gamers_June_2014.pdf

WEEK 8: Filters vs Reality

It all started in 2015, when Snapchat was launched and introduced various engaging and fun filters. Their dog filter was a game changer and made Snapchat so popular that even Facebook wanted to buy it at one point. Since then, Snapchat kept growing and even today it frequently releases new filters. Another platform that popularised filters was Instagram. In 2018, Instagram released augmented reality filters. Initially, it was not open for everyone but a year later they allowed access to everybody on Instagram. This was a huge step in the world of augmented reality on social media (the history of social media filters, 2020). According to Sergio and Carlos, “Augmented reality “filters” are digitally based responsive interactions applied to the user's face or surroundings to extend or change what is being viewed in the actual environment”. A recent report by Deloitte revealed that 2.2 billion people are regular AR users on social media and over 4.5 billion AR photos or videos are shot everyday by Snapchat users (Ibáñez-Sánchez, Orús & Flavián, 2022). Over the past few years, augmented reality has become mainstream in the world of social media filters. Studies have shown that virtually modifying appearances can trigger anxiety, body dysmorphia and brainwash people to seek cosmetic surgery. Use of AR tools can shift people’s perception about themselves, leading to a phenomenon called “augmented self” – that is, a self image that has been formed due to influence of AR. Augmented self has a negative impact on one’s physical and mental health, it leads people to focus on enhancing their appearance through make up, new outfits and extreme solutions such as plastic surgery (Javornik, Marder, Pizzetti & Warlop, 2021). Instagram has gained popularity as well as criticism for offering plastic surgery filters. A filter that alters your facial features and makes the nose looks small, big eyes, clear skin and big lips. This aesthetic relies on categories of AR effects called “deformation” and “face distortion”. There are thousands of distortion filters available across many social media platforms. In 2019, Facebook banned distortion effects that sparked criticism for encouraging plastic surgery. But a few months later, the effects were re released with some changes in the policy that stated banning of filters that explicitly promoted cosmetic surgery (Ryan-Mosley, 2021).

It is high time now that people realise AR beauty filters might enhance your face but think of the consequences attached to it. Once people start using AR filters on their selfies, then there is no going back. It will create a habit of editing your every photo until it is matched up to the level of unrealistic beauty standards. It is important to create awareness regarding this issue and let people know that social media world is fake and true beauty truly means being natural and having flaws.

References

Ibáñez-Sánchez, S, Orús, S & Flavián, C 2022, Augmented reality filters on social media, onlinelibrary.wiley.com, viewed 30 April 2023, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.21639

Javornik, A, Marder, B, Pizzetti, M & Warlop, L 2021, Research: How AR Filters Impact People’s Self-Image, Harvard Business Review, viewed 29 April 2023, https://hbr.org/2021/12/research-how-ar-filters-impact-peoples-self-image

Ryan-Mosley, T 2021, beauty filters are changing the way young girls see themselves, technologyreview.com, viewed 30 April 2023, https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/04/02/1021635/beauty-filters-young-girls-augmented-reality-social-media/

The history of social media filters 2020, filterious.com, viewed 30 April 2023, https://filterious.com/short-history-of-social-media-filters/

WEEK 7: Body Modification

Have you ever wished to look like a celebrity based on their social media posts? If yes, you are not alone. Who doesn’t want flawless skin, perfect body and a pretty face just like the celebrities seem to have. But have you ever wondered if this is really true? Do they actually look like this in real life? Absolutely not! Many celebrities have received backlash for using apps like photoshop to alter their physical appearances and adding tons of beauty filters to their photos. Many celebrities like the Kardashians, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé have been called out for setting unrealistic beauty standards by heavily photoshopping their photos.

This social media trend has brainwashed so many teenage girls to the extent that they ended up developing Snapchat dysmorphia. Snapchat dysmorphia is a term coined by British physician known for performing cosmetic procedures after he noticed an increase in number of patients who were bringing heavily edited selfies to their cosmetic doctors hoping to look like these in reality (Wigmore, 2019). According to statistics from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery showed that 42% of surgeons reported that their patient are wanting aesthetic surgeries to improve their appearances on Instagram, TikTok and other social media platforms. Instagram has become a prominent platform for business marketing to young adults and its usage in plastic surgery continues to increase. As of 2016, Instagram reported over 400 million monthly active users with more than 80 million photos uploaded on this platform per day (Dorfman, Vaca, Mahmood, Fine & Schierle, 2018). This brings us to another topic that was covered in this week is micro celebrity. Terri Senft coined the term micro celebrity in her book Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in the Age of Social Networks to explain the practices and methods used by celebrities to increase their popularity and fandom among viewers by using technology like webcam, blogs and social networks. They label their viewers as fans and strategically reveal their everyday life through posts, videos and using aesthetic templates like poses, accessories and enhancing features like lips, waist and glutes in a way to attract more views and fan following (Graham, 2017).

Ever since the rise of influence of social media specially on teenagers has created insecurities. Young girls are insecure not only about their looks but physical appearance too. This insecurity led to the development of body dysmorphia among young adults both male and female. Body dysmorphia disorder is a psychiatric illness characterised by the obsessive thoughts about one’s body being flawed followed by constant comparison and mirror gazing. According to a study done in 2019 revealed that BDD affects about 2.4% of the population and usually starts in adolescent age groups (Himanshu, Kaur, Singla & Kaur, 2020).

Keeping a handful benefits of social media aside, too much exposure of social media specially by teenagers is a matter of concern and some initiatives should be taken. Instead of sharing and glorifying plastic surgeries of patients on social media platforms, plastic surgeons should taken into consideration of educating their viewers and can opt for marketing at the same time when done tactfully. Social media influencers can also play an essential role in controlling the spread of unhealthy body image and unattainable beauty standards. A change in perception can lead to positive behaviour and attitude.

References

Dorfman, R.G., Vaca, E.E., Mahmood, E, Fine, A & Schierle, C.F 2018, Plastic Surgery - Related Hashtag Utilisation on Instagram: Implications for Education and Marketing, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, Volume 38, viewed 19 April 2023.

Graham, S 2017, The Age of Micro-Celebrity Fiction: The Impact and Influence of YouTube Celebrity Authors on the 21st Century British Publishing Trade, The Journal of Publishing Culture, viewed 19 April 2023, https://journalpublishingculture.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/8/4/16842954/graham_1.pdf

Himanshu, J, Kaur, A, Kaur, A & Singla, G 2020, Rising dysmorphia among adolescents: A cause for concern, National Library of Medicine, viewed 19 April 2023, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7114025/

Wigmore, I 2019, Snapchat Dysmorphia, techtarget.com, viewed 19 April 2023, https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/Snapchat-dysmorphia

WEEK 6: Slow Fashion Movement and Social Media Influencers

About 20 years ago, clothes shopping used to be done on an infrequently basis, something that occurred only during seasonal change or around holidays. Fast forward to today, the scenario has completely changed. Clothes shopping has become a very frequent hobby, since the clothes are now cheaper and trend cycles sped up (Rauturier, 2022). ‘Fast Fashion’ is the term to describe today’s fashion industries. Fast fashion refers to cheap, stylish and mass produced clothes that are highly harmful for the environment. Because of the cheap prices and new trends and styles emerging every other day, people have started dumping their old clothes just so they can buy clothes from different brand’s latest collections. In addition to environmental issues, fast fashion industries are also responsible for their unethical behaviour like providing unsafe work environment for workers whose wages are below the poverty line and are exposed to harmful chemicals used in textile production. Common fast fashion brands include Zara, H&M, Mango, Shein, UNIQLO, Victoria’s Secret and many other (DiLonardo, 2022). In 2013, the world finally came across the bitter truth of fast fashion industries when the Rana Plaza clothing manufacturing complex in Bangladesh collapsed and killed over 1,000 workers (Rauturier, 2022). Incidents like these made people question the worth of fast fashion products. People are now showing concern regarding the environment and thus started a Slow Fashion Movement. It represents the urgent need to opt for sustainable methods, changes in the ethical values in the fashion industry and to focus on more durable products. A study developed in Finland in 2009 revealed that people who truly support slow fashion place higher values to ethics and planet earth instead of physical appearance and ongoing trends (Domingos, Vale & Faria, 2022).

I have been following fashion influencer Marina Testino for a very long time, she is very active on her Instagram to bring light to the issue of fast fashion and providing solutions. She is not just a model or a fashion influencer but is one of the most popular sustainable fashion advocates. She is trying to normalise repeating outfits and spread awareness that same outfits can be worn many times and in many seasons. She has also undertaken a project where every Friday she shares sustainable fashion brands on her social media. Fast fashion might have become a trend in the past few years, but now people are becoming more aware and informed about sustainability. There has been a shift from fast fashion to slow fashion brands which forced some brands in fast fashion industries to take effective steps in order to be more sustainable and environmental friendly. Although, a few brands haven’t been completely sustainable as they claim to be. As per the reports, 59% of green claims by European and UK fashion brands are misleading and higher chances of greenwashing (Rauturier, 2022). To support sustainability and slow fashion movement, a change in mindset is required since fashion brands cannot be totally trusted.

References

DiLonardo, M 2022, What is Fast Fashion - and Why Is It a Problem?, treehugger.com, viewed 12 April 2023, https://www.treehugger.com/fast-fashion-environmental-ethical-issues-4869800

Domingos, M, Vale V & Faria, S 2022, Slow Fashion Consumer Behaviour: A Literature Review, viewed 12 April 2023, file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/22/02/2A5432B4-4E7B-49BA-85E4-91322EC16DF1/Domingos+Slow+Fashion+literature+review.pdf

Rauturier, S 2022, Greenwashing Examples: 8 Notorious Fast Fashion Claims and Campaigns, goodonyou.eco, viewed 12 April 2023, https://goodonyou.eco/greenwashing-examples/

Rauturier, S 2022, What Is Fast Fashion and Why Is It So Bad?, goodonyou.eco, viewed 12 April 2023, https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/

WEEK 5: Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship refers to the ability to carefully and responsibly use digital technologies, along with being an active and respectful citizen of society, both online and offline. Similarly, a digital citizen is a person who is skilled and knowledgeable enough to effectively access the internet and other digital technologies. They are also responsible to use these technologies in appropriate and responsible ways in order to engage in society and politics (Fran, 2021). Digital citizenship consists of various activities such as creating, consuming, sharing, socialising, investigating and communicating. Competent digital citizens know how to be responsible in terms of having ethical online interactions, participating actively and positively, have cultural understanding and giving space for minorities and under privileged communities to participate openly (Richardson & Milovidov, 2022). Social media platforms have become a popular arena for civic and political participation. Digital media tools have changed drastically in the last 20 years, there has been a switch from communicating on platforms like email, web and blogs to discussing on social network platforms and microblogging (Theocharis, Boulianne, Michalska & Bimber, 2023). Although, there is no evidence that social media has replaced traditional political communications like rallies, TV debates, advertising and conferences; these activities are still highly prioritised by political candidates. Yet, these are impacted in some way by social media – regularly documented, debated and mentioned on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Social media has become an important and prominent communication platform for US campaign since 2008. For instance, the 2016 Hilary Clinton campaign regularly posted videos as part of their social media message. She also launched her presidential candidacy by tweeting, “I’m running for president”. Instead of organising a press conference, Clinton’s campaign staff chose Twitter to present this information (Enli, 2017). Political discussion is not the only prominent topic on social media, but, debates and raising awareness on social issues are also highlighted on different digital platforms. In 2020, a 46 year old African-American George Floyd was brutally killed by Minneapolis police officer. The crime was recorded by a 17 year old witness and the video went viral on Facebook by the name Black Lives Matter movement, millions of infuriated online users used social media platform as a source to raise their voice and demand justice for the victim. Users were even able to initiate protests through social networking sites generating the largest protest movement in US history in terms of intensity and geographic scope (Black Lives Matter: The Power of Activism & Citizen Journalism, 2021). It can be concluded that digital citizenship is an essential topic in the modern world. We are on the verge of becoming a society, where digital citizens are connected now, more than ever before and are very well aware of their duties and skills to navigate their own digital lives.

References Black Lives Matter: The Power of Activism & Citizen Journalism 2021, telesurv.net, viewed 29 March 2023, https://www.telesurtv.net/news/Black-Lives-Matter-The-Power-Of-Activism--Citizen-Journalism-20211217-0001.html

Enli, G 2017, ‘Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election’, European Journal of Communication, vol 32, pp.50-61, https://swinburne.instructure.com/courses/49643/files/22204314?verifier=LEz1zLhe8QzYcZ8v4uOwYutzy3EswkSorJdwQFle&wrap=1

Fran 2021, What is digital citizenship?- A guide for teachers, futurelearn.com, viewed 30 March 2023, https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/what-is-digital-citizenship-teacher-guide

Richardson, J & Milovidov, E 2022, Digital Citizenship Education Handbook, viewed 30 March 2023, https://rm.coe.int/prems-003222-gbr-2511-handbook-for-schools-16x24-2022-web-bat-1-/1680a67cab

Theocharis, Y, Boulianne, S, Michalska, K & Bimber, B 2023, Platform affordances and political participation: how social media reshape political engagement, West European Politics, viewed 30 March 2023, https://swinburne.instructure.com/courses/49643/files/23271437?verifier=ocQw3Oxc1KWE5cGbbvYIWXbsfdmiz4d2Iha44UbU&wrap=1

WEEK 4: Reality TV

According to some stats, social scientists and even fans, reality TV shows are not really respected and liked. This could be true because of several reasons like; people think reality shows are fake and scripted, it’s filled with unnecessary and never ending drama, some series portray nudity, violence, drug and alcohol use which have bad social consequences (Rungta, 2018). Despite all these reasons reality TV shows are considered one of the most watched genres and have never failed to grab the attention of the audiences. Reality TV has radically changed the lives of celebrities. It has made many people extremely rich; Kim Kardashian has a net worth of $1.8 billion (Berman, 2022).

Undoubtedly, all social media platforms contain reality TV content, with Twitter being one of the most popular platforms where TV viewers exchange tweets and discuss their interests and opinions on reality shows. It is expected that reality TV participants will already have a social media presence before a show begins, and they often create hype about the show they are starring in just to increase their fandom which will help and support them throughout their journey on the show. If participants are not allowed to access their social media due to a particular show’s policy like of Big Brother, they often hand over account to their friend or family so that they can keep their social presence active and alive. For participants, social media can also become a source of their income generation (Deller, 2019). Big Brother and Love Island have been some of the most successful for offering participants a springboard into other media careers. For instance: last year Love Island winner, Ekin-Su, left the villa with more than a million Instagram followers and various branding deals (Wood, 2022).

Reality TV shows still continue to be highly watched helping the shows to earn tons of money and participants gain stardom and fandom, despite how people react to it. Reality TV may not be liked by everyone, but it’s most definitely here to stay.

References

Berman, J 2022, Reality TV Has Reshaped Our World, Whether We Like It or Not, time.com, viewed 27 March 2023, https://time.com/collection/reality-tv-most-influential-seasons/6199108/reality-tv-influence-on-world/

Deller, R 2019, Reality television : The tv phenomenon that changed the world, viewed 27 March 2023, https://swinburne.instructure.com/courses/49643/files/23269591?verifier=XGCDJWlrAbaO7vNWxhcJZIr54owFPqmaSutDjyar&wrap=1

Rungta, S 2018, Why People Hate Reality TV, steemit.com, viewed 27 March 2023, https://steemit.com/life/@sauravrungta/why-people-hate-reality-tv

Wood, H 2022, Big Brother is coming back – the reality TV landscape today will demand a more caring show, theconversation.com, viewed 28 March 2023, http://theconversation.com/big-brother-is-coming-back-the-reality-tv-landscape-today-will-demand-a-more-caring-show-188313

WEEK 3: Digital Communities and Tumblr

Tumblr might not be as popular as Facebook and Instagram but it has some unique features that makes it different from the rest. Tumblr is primarily a blogging platform that allows users to create and share their content online. Unlike Facebook and Instagram, it’s main aim is not to connect or make friends but places a strong emphasis on creativity, interests and ideas that are shared by different users. Although, it does have a feature of following and re blogging. There is a vast range of topics that users like to blog on Tumblr including empowering feminism, anime, architecture, and marginalised communities like LGBTQ. Tumblr was known as a site of “emotional authenticity”, the platform turned out to be advantageous for marginalised communities and addressing social issues like negative body image. Tumblr had a lot of potential until 2018 on the idea of beauty standards and #bodypositive and to empower women to enhance their inner beauty (Reif, Miller & Taddicken, 2022). Amanda Brennan is Tumblr’s internet librarian and has been at Tumblr since 2013 and currently leads the content and social teams. She believes that Tumblr has empowered people whose voices and opinions are often neglected and has given them a platform where they can find their community and build their own kind of world (McCracken, 2017). The self identified network of black users who refer to themselves as Black Tumblr is not a particular group of users, but an unofficial group within a public sphere. Black Tumblr users address issues that still persist in Black community including racism, education inequalities, police brutality, media representation and ideas of beauty. These users also initiate dialogues about undebated issues by providing factual information that many Black people may be unaware of (Calhoun, 2020). In conclusion, Tumblr has proved to be a valuable platform specially for marginalised communities like people of colour, LGBTQ and people with disabilities to represent themselves and spread awareness which in turn helped in better understanding and acceptance of these communities by the society. Tumblr has allowed users to create different communities based on shared interests, ideas and experiences. Tumblr has also been a great platform for social and political activism where users can freely talk about issues like social injustice, climate change, patriarchy and gender inequality.

References

Calhoun, K 2020, ‘Blackout, Black Excellence, Black PowerStrategies of Everyday Online Activism on Black Tumblr’, a Tumblr book: platform and cultures, p. 48-63, viewed 22 March 2023.

McCracken, A 2017, ‘Going Down the Rabbit Hole: An Interview with Amanda Brennan, Head of Content Insights and Social, Tumblr’, a Tumblr book: platform and cultures, p. 37-48, viewed 22 March 2023.

Reif, A, Miller, I & Taddicken, M 2022, “Love the Skin You‘re In”: An Analysis of Women’s Self-Presentation and User Reactions to Selfies Using the Tumblr Hashtag #bodypositive, Mass Communication and Society, p.1-25, viewed 22 March 2023.