cyberbuylling

[cyberbuylling]

Impersonating crisis in the Cyberculture space

Cyber culture comprises of a set of technologies, material and intellectual, practice, attitudes modes of thought and values developed along with growth of cyberspace. A non-place where people from different cultures, values and all sorts of habits communicate. (Golson J, 2012). In today’s society many individuals like to communicate their views and thoughts on the online platforms such as social media, blogs and websites which allows others to interact with them. However, in the virtual space, even though there are advantages in using these platforms, there are also disadvantages which could lead to serious consequences. One phenomena that happens in cyberspace is impersonation or what some people love to call “catfish”. Catfish is when someone engages in a criminal act which he or she impersonates another person to obtain some benefits out of the situation.

 These individuals will create a fake profile online to be someone else. This act is very common in cyberspace which many individuals are still unaware of. They can use someone’s profile by simply fabricating a false reality of themselves. Sometimes, in these instances these individuals suffer from low self-esteem or they have a lack of confidence. They may consider themselves not good enough to be themselves so they use someone else’s image to consider themselves worthy.  With this, they sometimes do criminal acts which leads to identity theft, scamming, money laundering and many more. In Jamaica Senator Matthew Samuda was a victim of someone impersonating him on social media.  According to the Jamaica Observer, he stated that there are illegal attempts to impersonate him on Facebook. He got telephones calls pointing him to Facebook messenger saying his name is being used to obtain funds from government projects. He however, dismissed the claims because he doesn’t use Facebook to conduct business. This proves that individuals can go on social media to impersonate and steal from celebrities, politicians, social media influencers and many more. This means they do not care who you are or where you come from, once they can benefit from the situation they are satisfied.

 In another scenario, people impersonate others because they are seeking revenge.  Sometimes they do it to their partners, their friends or sometimes even their families. People will do this to their partners to hurt them emotionally by fabricating their identities to lure that person thinking they are someone else. This is because in some instances, they were cheating, or that person was abused emotionally or physically, so to get back at them they will act like someone else online. Sometimes, people would create a fake profile to damage that person’s reputation. Revenge porn is also evident in these situations. Sometimes, men will create a false profile to target vulnerable women and in most cases it is because of revenge. They will blackmail women to send them compromising pictures or else they will hurt the person. This act is very common in the cyber space because of relationships that never ended properly.

 Moreover, harassment will happen online. Some people set up profiles online because they want to overwhelm the victim online by creating a fake profile to hurt that person. Social media influencers and celebrities can be a target as a result. In most cases, people are scared to use their regular profiles to bully someone online, so they want to create the impression that they are tough by creating a fake profile so no one else can target them. This can be tied to people who have mental illness or low self-esteem. If people aren’t happy with themselves they will sometimes bully someone who they think looks better than them because it will reflect on their insecurities.

 Impersonating someone can destroy individuals mental health especially if they find out that the “catfish” could be a friend or a romantic partner, someone who they romantically invested themselves in. I believe that in this digital era and being in a pandemic a lot individuals are unemployed and they are doing school online. This can increase the act of a catfishing because it can be based out of boredom. They will find it amusing to destroy someone else reputation because sometimes they simply suffer with mental issues or low self-esteem. However, with more people seeing and reporting the issue it can happen less in the cyberspace. 

 Sources 

Langmia, K. (n.d.). Cyberculture and Identity. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311786728_Cyberculture_and_Identity

The Observer ( 2020, February) Illegal attempts to impersonate on social media to solicit funds. Retrieved November 7,2021  

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/illegal_attempts_to_impersonate_me_on_social_media_

Bell, D. (2001). An introduction to cybercultures. London: Routledge.

[cyberbuylling]

The Issue Of Cyberbullying in the Cyber Culture

A cyber culture issue in the Caribbean is Cyberbullying. We live in a technological era where a lot of individuals have access to social media, especially our young people. This can lead to the dreadful act of cyberbullying. The impact of cyberbullying on individuals is similar to those of traditional bullying. (Li, Smith Gross 2012). About 37% of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have been bullied online and 30% of them had it happen more than once, (Cyber bullying statistics, 2015). Many may question why so many people are being bullied online. And what do they get out of it? In the world of social media many teens and young adults like the idea of fitting in and some may suffer from low self-esteem problems, so talking down on another person online makes them feel superior than talking down to them face to face. Also, bullying online is easier to conduct than the traditional means of bullying especially due to the speed of technological functions.

In the Jamaica Gleaner, it said that technology is pushing the bounds of possibly changing the face of human interaction. (The Gleaner, 2021). With the information provided it is evident that smartphones and social media have increased rapidly which can increase the effect of cyberbullying. It is like our new reality: 23% of teens reported that they’ve said or done something cruel to another person online and 27% reported that they’ve experienced the same with someone else. (Cyber bullying statistics, 2015). When these predicaments happen on social media less people are likely to report it because it is easily normalized. It is actually easier for people to do this because they don’t have to confront the other person face to face also, it takes nothing to say hurtful words over the internet.

One of the many social media platforms where bullying occurs are Instagram and the new social media platform Tiktok where bullies easily target people on. People tend to normalize bullying on these platforms. A famous act of cyberbullying is harassment and spreading of rumors on someone over the internet. Harassment causes people, especially teens to spread harmful or threatening online messages to someone. In Jamaica, it is famous for individuals to spread rumors which can harm someone else's reputation. This is called defamation of character and this usually happens to famous people like social media influencers, entertainers and many more. These people are usually targeted. When writing or telling news it must be newsworthy and the truth but what person’s do to keep the topic interesting and worth spreading is that they send lies online to tarnish that person's reputation which can cause serious repercussions. In another instance popular influencer ‘Chiney k’ was a victim of cyberbullying. There were Instagram users that dragged her name saying they are tired of seeing her on their feed because she was using a fake American accent and it annoys them. They also claimed that she is always everywhere on social media and she does not deserve it.

      Another form of cyberbullying is ‘outing’. Outing is the public display or forwarding of unique personal and private information of someone such as pictures and videos as well as conversations such as text messages, emails or instant messages. In most cases it involves sexual information about the victims which may result in psychological damage. (Smith-Ross et al, 2014). This seems normal these days. Many have been victims to this and it has been observed to result in embarrassment. Sometimes certain messages are leaked and it has been circulated by others which can affect someone mentally especially women. In these instances   sexting was involved. Sexting is sending sexually explicit messages, videos and photos through a digital device. Sometimes this act can lead to many disadvantages. According to UNICEF cyberbullying can affect a person in many ways. It can be mentally, emotionally and physically. The feeling of embarrassment and loss of interest can be shown in these situations especially through teenagers and young people. For teenagers parents should properly monitor their teens not to be a victim of cyberbullying. Also, they should be mindful of the friends they keep as peer pressure can cause these problems around them.

Sources

The Gleaner (2017,September 15). Bullied to death's door. Retrieved October 9,2021, fromhttps://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20170917/bullied-deaths-door-teenager-attempts-suicide-escape-peer-abuse

Cyber Bullying Statistics. (2015, July 07). Retrieved October9, 2021, from http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html

Hellsten, L. (2017, March 23). An introduction to Cyberbullying. Retrieved October 9,2021 from https://docenti.unimc.it/alessandra.fermani/teaching/2016/15583/files/slide-2-seminario-prof.ssa-hellsten