The theory birds of a feather flock together could not hold more true for online social media networks and other interactive sites. With raging debates and hashtag wars like #BlackLivesMatter Vs. #AllLivesMatter, social media websites have turned into battlefields where you can simply “unfriend” your opponents if the fight gets too heated. Creating technological platforms that encourages like-minded people to connect through blogs, groups, and forums fosters a safe haven for extremist ideas to multiple. In Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld’s essay “The Influencing Machines”, they elucidate on how the internet has the potential to stimulate the creation of so-called “virtually impermeable echo chambers" were its members believe their word is fact and reject all others.…
Every person possesses opinions or beliefs which shape and mold his or her political ideology. In today’s American society, political ideologies have split into a rift unlike any other in 21st Century America. While most Americans still identify as politically moderate, the divide between the far left and center and the far right and center continue to expand. The groups at each end of the spectrum have developed into radical factions, much to the dismay of the Americans in the middle of the spectrum. In the past few decades alone, a group based on the ideas of white nationalism has emerged on the far right side of the political spectrum: the alt-right.…
Julie Zhuo’s essay, Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt, does not effectively reach content providers because of Zhuo’s lack of consideration to the provider’s own experiences on the topic of trolling. Throughout her essay she argues that content providers need to take control over trolling by not allowing anonymous commenters, watching over comments, and asking users to report trolls. By following these steps, Zhuo believes that trolling will decrease. Trolling is when someone makes hateful or rude comments online- usually anonymously. Zhuo’s essay was published in November of 2010 during a time when Facebook and Twitter were the most popular social media sites.…
Is the Internet a Mob Without Consequence? (Source C), the article explains how people on the internet can say whatever they want and not have any consequences. Public Shame impacts an individual in a negative way…
The internet is another world; websites such a social media bring many kinds of new communications, drama, opinions, news, and much more. Social networking has become very detrimental to modern society. Two-time jeopardy winner, author Jacob Silverman, wrote “Terms of Service”, and he argues while the internet and social media keeps users connected, it’s nearly impossible for users to disconnect themselves in the 21st century, Social media and technology has become somewhat an addiction to user ,and he presents genuine solutions how to be smarter and aware users. Silverman begins establishing his credibility in the chapter, “The Social Rebellion” using legitimate sources and convincing language, then continues to successfully employing emotional…
D’Addario uses a variety of definitions and examples of trolling to help the reader understand how the word “trolling” has changed over time. Though it is not so much the change in meaning of trolling that troubles him as much as how it has influenced the way we view publications and how it impacts the millions of conversations that take place on the Internet. Being a journalist himself, D’Addario knows that this change could affect his career and the freedom of thought that he benefits from. However, he does not directly show or state his worries in his essay but instead structures his essay in a way that indirectly shows his fear of the word and what is has come to mean.…
Research on the Debunker After reading the article “Internet Troll” by blogger Lisa Selin Davis. I started to wonder about internet trolls. While anyone can write a blog. They are more commonly used by writers who want to reach out to a certain audience about a specific topic. In Ms. Davis case, she writes about real estates.…
There was a time when the internet wasn’t a thing. Back in the old days, if a person wanted to bully someone would have to do it in person. Since we have the internet now, a person could bully someone with their mind and social media. Schools should limit students’ online speech because students are cyberbullied, cyberbullying causes harassment, and teachers and staff and be affected by cyberbullying too. One reason why schools should limit students online speech is that students can hurt other students’ feelings.…
The article discusses the topic of trolling and how there is no accountability on the internet for people who lie or make threatening remarks to others. Her target audience was internet content providers and she wanted them to redesign their comment sections in order to keep trolls off of the internet. In order for Zhuo to reach her audience, she used rhetorical techniques like ethos, pathos, and logos. In Zhuo's essay “Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt” she uses ethos effectively to establish…
Pranks are often thought of as interesting and joyous activities between friends. Usually the definition holds true among friends, where pranks are commonplace and not particularly remarkable most of the time. However, even within these social circles, pranks signify some concerning issues, such as power imbalance. Furthermore, the advent of new media exposes pranking to a wider audience than ever before. Particularly, video streaming sites such as Youtube allow for the widespread publication and broadcast of pranks between people, leading to various potentially dangerous and emotionally tormenting scenarios for those caught inside pranks.…
How to Handle a Troll Trolls a new way to express negative feelings and thoughts through social media. Everyday users post thousands of thoughts, a dark side exists, where people/trolls instigate hate between followers. Many internet users as minorities have experienced something drastically. Which is known as trolls today are just people reflecting their feelings against followers. Showing impulses of madness against life.…
The bitter world of the Internet has corrupted honest people’s minds and given them an easy, accessible way to manipulate others. A simplistic disappointing recognition, a cynical comment, or unveiling of news that was tough to hear can ruin a day for any…
People have the ability to create an entirely separate life on the Internet, one that highlights, or even exaggerates, the positives, and disguises or ignores the negatives. A positive affordance of a social network like Reddit is that there is no censorship, so users are allowed to freely express their ideas and opinions without worry of being banned or removed. Another positive affordance is the ability to create throwaway accounts, or accounts that are not used as a main account and created for the sole purpose of participating in a specific conversation or to converse about specific topics only. In this way, social media has provided a platform where users can communicate anonymously, allowing them to not worry about how something they say would be taken. On the flipside, this can be seen as a negative affordance, by allowing people to say cruel or hurtful things or even potential dangerous things without any way to hold somebody accountable for it.…
Hunter McDonald Mr. Sawatzki Thinking Skills / Period 5 15 November 2017 Deconstruction Essay #2 - How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet ”... the internet’s personality has changed,” writes Joel Stein in the article How Trolls are Ruining the Internet published in Time. Stein goes so far to describe the current state of the internet as “a sociopath with Asperger’s.” The article goes through examples and explanations of so-called “trolling” on the internet, as well as one study and two personal anecdotes, and comes to the conclusion that attention-seeking, often politically motivated individuals (usually right-wing, often dubbed “alt-right” by Stein) who post/send hurtful comments to/harass people (usually left-wing activists) are ruining the internet.…
Blogs are very interactive for those creating them, reading, or simply commentating. Some choose to make a living off of it while others participate for enjoyment or to partake in a hobby. Throughout the years, websites bloggers have opted to close the doors on commentators and their open comments policies. Websites like YouTube continue to allow users to communicate openly however, since 2013 popular sites like Popular Science, The Chicago Sun-Times, and CNN have seen a decline or have closed their doors to the comment features. Comment boxes allow online users to interconnect, but today are problematic because they require continuous monitoring for hostile message and attacks.…