"Social Media for Strategic Communication" Ch. 2

As much as social media has its positives, there are negatives that go along with it. Social media can bring out the ugly side of people in the form of bullying, and starting flame wars with others. A flame war is a heated argument between two individuals, that results in those involved posting personal attacks on each other during or instead of debating the topic at hand. These examples are just a few of the "new deadly sins of social media" discussed in our social media textbook. When it comes to bullying, it's easy to say "treat others how you would like to be treated," but when there's a screen in between the bully and bullied decency goes out the window. 

When it comes to bullying, I feel it is most prominent with teens and college students, rather than adults. Here are some facts about bullying, one of those facts being, "4 out of 5 students (81%) say they would be more likely to intervene in instances of cyber bullying if they could do it anonymously." It's interesting that they would be more likely to intervene if it was anonymous. It's almost as if they are embarrassed to stand up for someone being bullied, and aren't embarrassed of being a bully. 

In a perfect world social media would only be used for spreading positive information and funny cat memes. Unfortunately, we have to deal with bullies, and people who start flame wars. In the end, if all else fails, don't hesitate to report, block, and delete all bullies from your social media.