The INTERNET & the Online Battlefield

Mindful Discussions
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I think we’ve all been taught (at least I have) “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all,” but the issue of online abuse, particularly cyberbullying, is increasingly becoming a significant problem, with a variety of studies highlighting its prevalence and impacts.
I recently came upon this article, which I found very interesting:

This is the link to the original survey:

Although this is a serious issue nowadays, with very wide-ranging consequences, part of me thinks that if you put yourself out there (on social media) it just comes with the territory. I grew up in the 90s and before all this social media chaos, so perhaps my view of this is a bit biased. (Feel free to stop me if you’ve had a different experience)
Back in the late 90s & VERY early 2000s, when more & more people were venturing to the Internet, and all kinds of different sites were popping up- there was a site called Hotornot.com- It came out in 2000 & it allowed people to upload their pictures for strangers to rate their attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10.
The comments were brutal and the ratings even harsher. It was superficial, crass, and VERY offensive. However, PEOPLE chose to put their pix up on that platform. Yes, there were instances where someone was caught posting pix which were not their own- but that was quickly dealt with. I think platform was revolutionary at the time, because it helped to shape the way we interact online today, including the concept of a public profile and dating apps. Like it or not, it did have a significant influence on current online platforms.

Understanding the platform’s history is vital in understanding the evolution of our online identities and interactions. The platform’s core concept of people rating others still resonates in today’s social media with likes, shares, and comments playing a similar role.

However, I think, since this behavior has gone unchecked for over 20 years, it just gets worse & worse. Part of me thinks that it’s just human nature to judge & criticize, and the more hidden we are (online cloak), the more likely we are to do it & the harsher the criticize is.
On the other hand, the, I have a feeling that we somehow, in some weird way, we’ve brought this up on ourselves.

What do you guys think about it? How has your experience online been through the years? Those of you who stay off social media (I know there’s many) can you tell us why you decided to leave, or never join in the first place?

I would love to know your thoughts on this.

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I closed my accounts at various social-media sites because of their speech-censoring behavior. I kept visiting Twitter without an account until last Friday evening, when Twitter started blocking my anonymous access through my VPN.

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I’m also seeing this on various levels, especially on YouTube. A while ago there was a VERY interesting climate documentary “The Planet of The Humans,” on YouTube, but the message wasn’t really in line with what we’ve been used to seeing, in terms of the climate message, so it was censored. The funny thing is, it was a documentary by Michael Moore & it was posted from his channel- so it wasn’t a copyright violation. However, the message was quite inconvenient, and not in line with the status quo, so it was censored.

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At least according to Wikipedia The Planet of The Humans does not really appear to have been censored.

On May 25, 2020, the film was temporarily removed from YouTube due to a copyright infringement claim by British environmental photographer Toby Smith over a 4-second segment Gibbs considered fair-use content.[25] The controversial video had more than 8 million YouTube views at the time. Moore and Gibbs called the move a “blatant act of censorship” and disputed the claim with YouTube. The producers made the video available for free streaming on the competing Vimeo platform.[26]

On November 18, 2020, Moore took it down from his “rumble” YouTube channel where it was available for free and instead made it available on Amazon, Apple and Google’s rental channels.[14] As of 2023 the documentary is available on Micheal Moore’s official youtube channel.[27]

But it’s a tricky balance for these companies. They exist to make money, generally by advertising. The recommendation algorithm of YouTube is optimized to maximize the time people keep watching so that they can be served more and more ads. That leads to users getting recommendations for gradually more and more extreme content.

But if a platform goes too far out and gets dominated by raving extremist loonies, mainstream companies will no longer want to advertise there and that’s buh-bye then. Looks like that’s what happened with Twitter; they’ve reportedly stopped paying their Google Cloud bills and it’s hard to see how anything good could come out of that.

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@harri Social Media companies, whether it’s YouTube or all the other platforms, like FB/INSTA etc, are all private companies, and YES they’re all about the bottom line. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. It’s capitalism.
However, I would love to see them be more upfront about it.
The fact that the film was heavily criticized by climate scientists and environmental activists, who accused it of being misleading and containing inaccuracies , AND some called for its removal due to the fact that they didn’t like its portrayal of renewable energy and the environmental movement - that’s something that’s been widely publicized:

So, instead of just saying: “We don’t like it how you’re portraying this subject- we will remove this video, because it does not align with our values” they hide behind a 4-sec clip that technically was covered under the fair-use law.

That’s the way I see this.

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Speaking of the devil:

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I agree that if you engage with anything in public nowadays, whether it be online or not, you are agreeing to relinquish a certain degree of anonymity. You are exposing yourself to the good, the bad and everything in between. It’s like love - if you open your heart to love, you open your heart to loss and grief and all of everything in between.

With a history of paying attention to fine detail and knowing what I’m engaging with, I read terms and conditions, instruction manuals, fine print etc. I didn’t have apps on my ‘smart’ phone because I didn’t agree to the terms and conditions - mostly to do with privacy. “You agree that xxx can add, modify or delete data on your device.”
The easiest way I’ve found to get around this is just to not use the app - something my Pure makes very easy for me.

I have also read my country’s government Privacy Act and other documents relating to privacy and data security and to be honest - it is scary what they have allowed themselves to do ‘legally’ through the invention of these documents, without the user’s knowledge - like getting a warrant, coming into your home, uploading spyware to your device, leaving your home and monitoring your use, then coming back into your home and removing data from your device using their spyware… ALL WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE. They can do this if there is suspicion of ‘illegal’ internet activity… my point in sharing this is not to scaremonger but to give an example that just because it’s a law doesn’t mean it’s right.
In a similar way, just because it’s in a ‘terms of use’ type agreement doesn’t mean it’s okay.
I don’t use social media platforms for several reasons. The main ones are that I don’t agree with their violations of users - censorship, exploitation, privacy issues etc. Also I don’t value their ‘contribution’ to society and don’t wish to align my energy with them.
There is always pressure from others in society ‘why aren’t you on xx?’ or ‘you should sell your stuff on xx’ or ‘connect with me on xx’ to which I gladly say ‘No thankyou, I don’t engage with xx. Is there some other way to connect?’
The latest technological fad in my area is a card reader which allows people at farmers / artisan markets to pay for their goods using their ‘smart’ phone. I’ve no idea how it works but can sense it is heading for BIG trouble if hacked!
As @urszula said,

If you engage with something you expose yourself to ALL the possibilities it presents - not just that which you choose - after all, life isn’t all fluffy unicorns and rainbows :wink:

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The title of this thread is “The Internet and the Online Battlefield”. On a battlefield there is a defense strategy - sometimes passive, sometimes an advancement/engagement and everything in between.
Is a defense required and what is that for people who wish to take some empowered action?

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I recently came across an article discussing this issue, and it really struck a chord with me. It’s a reminder that while the internet has brought so many benefits and opportunities, it has also created a platform for negative behaviors that can have serious consequences.

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