Is Civility Even Possible On The Internet?

I was pursuing the local news today and I saw an article on CBS New York about a surge in COVID cases in Monmouth County New Jersey. Because I live in Monmouth County the story caught my eye. So I decided to share it to the Facebook group that was established for those of us who live and work in Middletown New Jersey.

I thought I was potentially helping my neighbors by posting the article, which quoted the county health department reminding us to continue maintaining social distancing and to be vigilant about wearing masks. But it turned into a heated debate on the 28,000 member page about the veracity of such information.

People argued about whether or not the COVID is really as serious as we are being told by public health officials and the news media. And whether it was made up by Democrats to scare us to vote against Donald Trump.

It went on and on and on. To suggest that it became vitriolic would be a nice way of describing things.

It wasn’t until tonight that I logged back on to read the comments. Frankly I found what people said and how they addressed one another to be unhelpful and hurtful. Somehow the article’s posting served as an emotional trigger for many people. So I added a comment apologizing for sharing the article because it spurred so many personal attacks.

We know this kind of behavior isn’t particularly unusual on the internet. I was recently invited to join the “newest next best thing” in social media, Clubhouse. Clubhouse is trying its best to discourage trolling.

Clubhouse is an audio only platform where moderators have control of their rooms or auditoriums (I’m so new to it I’m not quite sure how they label these gatherings). More importantly they make it clear in their FAQs how important it is to the platform for discourse to be polite and respectful.

It’s a slow rollout and so far, it seems to be attracting folks who agree with this goal. But even on Clubhouse there can be issues.

I popped into a room where Asian people had gathered to discuss the hatred toward their community. And someone tried to shame a Caucasian woman who adopted an Asian child because she’d broken down crying on the microphone. She was basically accused of appropriating Asian American fears in the wake of attacks on the community.

I used to work for the granddaddy of group chat programs. Paltalk was formed in 1998 and I joined not long afterward. For a time I was Paltalk’s ombudsman and I regularly fielded complaints about trolls.

I saw families broken up. Marriages destroyed. Jobs lost. All because someone thought it would be ‘‘fun’’ to send “information” they’d gathered about users to their families or bosses.

It’s a big problem on the internet. Recently Meghan Markel was attacked by internet trolls. On Saturday former NBA star Charles Barkley came to the defense of an Ohio State basketball player who’d received death threats on the internet. And an increasing number of women journalists are coming forward to report they’ve been harassed online.

Some governments are taking notice, too. A British minister is proposing the Online Safety Bill that would fine social media companies should they not take action to stop trolls.

But ultimately it’s really up to us, the users, to self regulate, grow up and show some restraint. It’s also incumbent on those who accept the role of moderator to be more vigilant.

A vibrant debate over issues is a good thing. But one that shames one’s opponent should be universally condemned.