Instagram

In any conversation about youth and the internet, the issue of cyberbullying through social networking sites rears its head. For years now, we have the proof screaming in our faces, that onlineharassment causes real-life damage to young adults, without much more information about how to prevent these incidents or explanations of why they happen in the first place. Less commonly commented on is the internet's overall themes of apathy and hate and how these pop culture mores play a part in the online persona of young people, ultimately leading to things like online bullying. It is not the internet itself which contributes to youth's obsession with excess and intolerance of opinion, but out culture is simply magnified. Our consumer culture has paved the way for this behavior, with or without social networking, young adults would still be bullying each other and making bad decisions. The internet has regurgitated, made famous, and reinforced these ideals. Too often the conversation stops at internet etiquette and parental oversight of       online harassment and bad behavior. Instead, our pop culture values and consumer driven morals should be the object of scrutiny.

 

Instagram is a popular online photography program. Users can set up web pages, which host thousands of pictures, free of charge and use the easy artistic photo manipulation technology across a variety of sites. What once required professional photography skills to enact, now only takes moments, as any picture can be rendered beautifully aged, ochre-toned, and painfully hip with the press of one button. Celebrities may hire whole teams of professionals to achieve these looks, but kids on the internet can use instagram to ape the stylized looks of their role-models, and thus, believe they have done something important or artistic. Recently, a blog called “The Rich Kids of Instagram” has become popular for bringing together images of the shallow, excessive consumerist bent that young adults display through this social medium. While the connection between cyberbullying and TRKOI may not be apparent right away, the bad decision making inherent in each stems from an overall ignorance pertaining to how to conduct oneself online, a lack of empathy or ability to see the world outside oneself, and a rejection of subjective views about right/wrong.

These attitudes about life epitomized online reach far beyond rich kids showing off. Take, for example, the recent photographs which caused an uproar world-wide, young Israeli soldiers posing happily before supposedly going into battle with Palestine. They've tagged themselves with words like #armytime and #boring and captioned the photos saying, "ready for war" and "we're coming for you Gaza", while tensions in the Gaza strip build to a horrendous reality for many.

Technology has changed the way we interact with the world around us (as well as how we interact with others, certainly) but technologies have also changed how we are intrinsically. With the advent of the motion picture, humans were challenged to change the way we think about sequences of events. On a daily basis, we suspend disbelief in order to enjoy our favorite TV shows and movies, and this is a learned behavior. While we gained the ability to accept what we saw on-screen, we also began "accepting the premise that mere sequence was rational including the idea that whatever is, is acceptable." (Weinbrenner, 654).

There are certainly those in the millennial generation using their comfort with the internet for amazingly selfless and courageous purposes. Social networking sites were integral to the Arab Spring and some authors have suggested that young people's use of the internet will usher in a true democracy for America. Until our values change intrinsically and young people are encouraged and rewarded for their exhibitions of empathy and sensitivity, young white men wearing “Help me I'm poor” t-shirts and posing next to their Porsches will be the daily rigmarole we are all sadly subjected to online.

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