As someone that was born at the tail end of the Gen X generation I have a different perspective regarding the rise of social media. I grew up in the early 80s and saw the rise of the personal computer, and the birth of modern socially centered online connectivity.
Those of my generation remember the soothing sound of a dial up modem connecting to either a local BBS, where you could find new programs to play, or the less soothing “You’ve got mail” sound from AOL, or the equivalent from CompuServe or prodigy.
Regular broadband connectivity came later, and ushered in the age of modern social media, no longer just for the geeks connecting to an. ICQ chat, a BBS, or sites such as 4chan, we saw the birth, and oddly quick demise of MySpace. Personally I don’t miss the glittery personal pages. The rise of Facebook seemed as sudden as the demise of Myspace. In both scenarios though, it was people seeking to keep in contact with friend and family that they had known for years that fueled the growth of social media.
Sites such as Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and yes even TikTok changed that formula. Suddenly younger people were connecting for brief tidbits of information, videos and pictures. In many scenarios they organized and used social media for immense good.
But with the good came the bad. People became obsessed with follower count, interactions and views, and a new type of star was born, those of social media influencers.
During the Covid Pandemic such platforms became a place to distract, educate, or argue in new ways. Influencers could do amazing good, in quickly spreading relevant information, or just entertaining people who were quickly experiencing anxiety and depression born from social isolation.
Many people began to participate in “call out” culture, massing their large number of followers to call out people spreading misinformation, hate speech, or equally in order to spread misinformation and hate speech.
For many people new to the platforms, it became easy to be drawn into the drama. Finding a “creator” that seemed to be doing noble work, but the sudden illusion of popularity easily corrupted others. The need to get “views” to maintain their status led to more extreme actions.
In the 3 years of the pandemic I, sadly, witnessed the negative side of this newfound cultural phenomenon. Parasocial relationships (one-sided relationships, where one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other party, the persona, is completely unaware of the other’s existence) can lead to mob like mentality that can harm others. I personally built several friendships, based upon the “truths” I saw some creators portray. In some cases I felt the sting of betrayal when realizing that the other person had lied extensively about who they are. My usual caution when interacting with others was thrown out during the pandemic as I personally felt the onset of anxiety because of isolation.
While those feelings of betrayal stung, they were not as bad as the situations I found myself at the end of the pandemic. I, as well as dozens of other people, have been the target of ongoing harassment that has been relentless and potentially dangerous.
A disturbed individual, obsessed with the illusion of gaining fame, has subjected us to over a year of targeted harassment on multiple social media platforms. In my case my employer was contacted with false accusations against me. I’ve had friends and neighbors written to, making accusations of me being violent, or dangerous. I’ve had local law enforcement called trying to tie me to criminal activities. In all of these cases, this troubled individual, T (for the sake of this story), is someone that I have never met, never interacted with on any level, and has just decided that I am part of a criminal conspiracy against her. She has called licensing board, employers, police, and CPS on others. In one extreme case she has called every potential employer for one of her victims, in an effort to destroy him and his livelihood. Because T targets people that live out of state, there is little that state or local law enforcement can, or are willing, to do. Federal agencies are overwhelmed by the number of similar reports, and are unable to address the situation. Civil recourse is limited, time consuming, and extremely expensive.
Essentially there is no way to hold T accountable, or to compel T to stop the targeted harassment. These same tactics are the tactics used by people on another site to target LGBTQ individuals, and in many cases it leads to physical or emotional harm.
This is the world that we must all start navigating. Legal protections must be improved for those being harassed online. The power of these tactics make them something that is being quickly adopted. The tactics, besides public calls to harass an individual also include the use of private communication channels to make coordinated harassment easier. These include the use of apps such as Telegram, Signal, Discord, etc.
As an organizer that has used social media for years to reach out to others, so much so that I have been one of the subjects of a book on activism in the age of social media, I know well how powerful social media can be. As someone that has expertise in cybersecurity I know how dangerous it can be as well.
