2.5: Societal Issues and the Internet
In this subunit, we introduce a number of societal issues and problematic online behaviors that have emerged in the digital world. Our list is not comprehensive and does not provide a thorough examination of the issues. Here, we encourage you to choose an issue for further investigation.
You will choose one societal issue or antisocial behavior associated with the Internet that you would like to investigate further and publish as an editorial in your course blog. You will base your focus on your reading of open access resources you find online. Your blog post will also help you build your online identity.
Upon successful completion of this subunit you will be able to:
- explain the true cost of free websites and net neutrality;
- choose one of the following societal issues or problematic online behaviors for further investigation:
- online impersonation,
- Internet trolling,
- online harassment,
- psychological issues,
- digital redlining,
- equity and inclusion; and
- publish an editorial on a societal issue or antisocial behavior of your choice, thereby contributing to your online identity as a digital citizen.
To test your knowledge of concepts associated with problematic online behaviors, we provide a short orientation quiz below. Once you have submitted your first answer, click on the options to discover more about the concept if you are unfamiliar or unsure about the alternatives.
Mini Challenge Summary
Summary: Reflect on the hidden costs of using free website services. Time: 45 minutes.
The Internet was originally designed to provide universal access to a universe of documents. To achieve universal access, the original designers of the Internet felt it was critical to design the web as an open system, without a central locus of control. However, the Internet includes an increasing number of “walled gardens” that aim to control user’s access to content and services. In this section we explore the concept of net neutrality and reflect on the risks associated with universal access to online information.
Online impersonation refers to the act of creating an online presence in someone else’s name. This is a complex issue since some social media sites permit parody accounts or accounts that are not intended to represent real individuals. It is not necessarily illegal to impersonate someone per se, for example in comedy, but online impersonation is a growing problem. Many social media sites have anti-impersonation policies, but this does not provide a sufficient guarantee or protection against the risks of online impersonation.
It is estimated that that the Internet has about 3.17 billion users, almost half the population of the world (Smith 2016[1]). With the growing number of internet and social media users, we witness an increase in antisocial behavior online. In this section, we explore the phenomenon of internet trolling and strategies for managing this disruptive online behavior taking the communication context into account.
Many associate online harassment with extreme cases, such cyberbullying and teenage suicide, or cyberstalking leading to physical sexual harassment. Antisocial behaviors associated with all forms of online harassment are more pervasive than most people realize. In this section, we review research on the state of online harassment and consider how leading social media sites attempt to manage the challenge.
The internet, social media, and mobile devices introduce new psychological issues, such as the phantom ringing syndrome, nomophobia, cybersickness, and internet addiction disorder. In this section, we identify selected psychological issues which learners may choose to research further in the learning challenge for this pathway.
Redlining refers to the discriminatory practice of denying services, directly or by raising prices to residents in certain areas, based on their racial or ethnic composition. The term redlining comes from the red lines bankers, real estate agents, mortgage lenders, and insurance agents drew on maps to designate the targeted areas where they refused to provide housing and business loans and other services.
While redlining is illegal in many communities, this type of geographic discrimination still occurs in many forms. In the digital environment, many rural and urban communities often receive limited or no access to affordable Internet resources, high-end computers, broadband internet access, and higher educational opportunities.
Inclusion refers to a sense of belonging irrespective of national origin, age, race, ethnicity, belief, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status. Equity is a proactive commitment to equal opportunity and practices that ensure inclusion without intentional (or unintentional) discrimination. In this section, we investigate examples of gender discrimination in a digital world, recognizing that equity and inclusion are not restricted to gender alone.
In this section, you choose a topic of interest relating to societal issues or problematic behaviors on the Internet for further investigation. You can select one of the topics introduced in this subunit, or an alternate issue you find more interesting. Your task is to search for reliable resources on your chosen topic and to share these links on the course resource bank.
Mini Challenge Summary
Summary: Editorial on societal issue or problematic behaviour associated with the Internet. Time: 1.5 hours.
