A one-size-fits-all approach will not help handling online harassment, survey outcomes recommend.
If you've been harassed online and the social system eliminates the upseting post, is that completion of the tale? Scientists say "not so fast."
Present ways of handling online harassment mirror the bad guy justice system by penalizing the criminal, but they do not address justice and justness for the individual that has been wronged, says Sarita Schoenebeck, partner teacher at the College of Michigan Institution of Information.
In a study of 573 US social media users released in the journal New Media & Culture, Schoenebeck and associates looked for to understand what individuals that are harassed would certainly want social media websites to do to better support them. They found that while most individuals wanted some kind of activity that really felt simply or reasonable, no one approach would certainly work.
For instance, many individuals suched as the idea of social media websites requiring a public apology from the harasser. Such an apology could recognize damages to the individual being harassed. It could also provide a public declaration that the website believes the harassment isn't alright.
"We regularly anticipate children to apologize if they are imply to another child," Schoenebeck says. "However, grownups regularly make bad choices and treat each various other awfully online, and we do not see individuals apologizing very often. Sometimes, an apology can be an appropriate and effective way to amend those bad choices."
Not all individuals wanted this remedy, however. For instance, transgender individuals and Hispanic or Latino participants suched as the idea of the apology much less compared to various other teams typically, perhaps because a non-genuine apology could magnify discrimination those teams experience.
The study found some individuals also suched as the idea of openly shaming those that dedicate online harassment.
"This may be because social media websites presently cannot support harassment targets in any significant way, so individuals want to take issues right into their own hands," Schoenebeck says.
However, Schoenebeck and associates care that public shaming online can quickly fail.
"Most individuals are not trained to determine proportionate punishments, and large teams of individuals online may not produce excellent courts and judges," she says.
