Cyber-vigilantism and cyber-shaming

Cyber-vigilantism is where people online take justice into their own hands. This is a very intense topic that it seems to me everyone has their own opinion about. I believe this is a hard topic for people to find an agreement on because of how vast the circumstances can be. For myself I believe that if you post something online people have a right to comment their own opinion on the post. I compare this to saying something in public, obviously people around you are probably going to say something back. To expand upon this I believe having discourse on the post is alright, it’s where vigilantism kicks in that things start to become unclear. I think circumstances have a major factor in whether vigilantism kicks in. For myself, I never really comment on these circumstances mostly because I never really see them. My time online is looking at sports media, funny and educational videos. If I were to see something I probably won’t comment because I don’t think that the person that put out a post deserves my time. If I were to comment on these posts it would be like talking to a wall. This would lead to me becoming frustrated. A lot of vigilantism that is seen online also causes a lot of name calling which won’t lead to anything positive. I don’t believe going this route will cause a person’s beliefs to change, if anything it will probably have a negative result.

Digital footprints

Growing up in a time where social media has always been a thing, my digital footprint has always been something that I have thought about. I remember in multiple classes this has been a topic of conversation and I think rightfully so. During my time in school, they mostly scare tactics, which I am neither for or against. It worked for me but I definitely would say it didn’t work for everyone. Today we also see people blowing up on apps such as Tik Tok and many kids like the idea of being popular, so they might put something online to try and get attention from others. Looking back at how I was, to who I am today, I would hate to have a video of myself online when I was a kid. Me and my friends find pictures of each other when we were young and make jokes about one another. Since we are friends, we know that it is just a joke, but if someone is making fun of a person and they don’t know each other, it can be hurtful. Then when you consider getting hired for a job, that employer has the tools to learn about a possible employer by searching their name up. It makes me post things that I would want to reflect on myself.

The right to have elements of our digital footprint be forgotten

I think that posts that are ten years old should be scrapped because that is just such a long timeframe for someone to change. I also think that society also changes a lot and things that are “cancelable” today might just be a bad joke ten years ago. I’m not saying these jokes are right in any way, I’m just saying there are circumstances in which people need to be aware. I also think if you are a kid and put something on social media you get a pass most of the time, but if you posted something when you are seventeen and are now eighteen that is a whole different ball game. I believe as more time goes on this will (hopefully) become a more clear topic.