Credits: maristpoll.marist.edu
In a world where we have the freedom of speech and the control over our own social networks, it is very easy for us to fall into the pit hole of living in the world of itself. Therefore, it is of great importance for us to know some of the ethical issues that are raised by the social media.
In my post, I will be focusing on the ethical issues raised by the educational use of social media. One of the ethical issues that has gotten my attention is social bashing. According to Clickworker.com, social bashing refers to an abusive verbal attack via social media activity (Clickworker, 2014).
Does anyone here still remember the case of a 14-year-old Singaporean girl who has slapped her mother twice and posting in public? That is an example of social bashing. The picture below shows her post in 2011 and comments that comes in after.
Credits: newnation.sg
How will you react after reading this? Her post has cause an uproar in Singapore and was reported in the local newspapers, Lianhe Wanbao and The New Paper (Lim Bei Ling, 2011). If you are interested, you can refer to the rest of the story here.
So, coming back to the topic on ethical behaviour, it sure pays big when we simply act in a freedom of our own will. We may think that everything will be okay because it has been kept private. However, there will always be people watching over us even if we may not like their existence, e.g. hackers, cyberbullies, etc.
So what should we do then? The answer is simple, do not post anything that will put your online identity much less your reputation at risk. If you do not have something nice to say, don’t say it. You never know who will be out to backfire you at the other end. Also, you might just want to seek other people’s opinion on the issue that you are trying to address across to the other party before posting it up. It may be an extra mile that you are making but I believe it sure speaks well of your heart’s motives.
I know in my previous post, I mention about being real, but that should not give anyone the intention to put others down despite you may disagree with the other party’s view. The bottom line is, treat others like how you want to be treated (Public Relations Sydney Blog, 2014) be it in public or online.
References
. 2014. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/finger-on-keyboard-290.jpg. [Accessed 05 December 2014].
Social Bashing | clickworker.com. 2014. Social Bashing | clickworker.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.clickworker.com/en/crowdsourcing-glossar/social-bashing/. [Accessed 05 December 2014].
. 2014. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://newnation.sg/wp-content/uploads/6304914707_1aef9dfc1b_z.jpg. [Accessed 05 December 2014].
Teenage ill behaviour on social media – Youth SG . 2014. Teenage ill behaviour on social media – Youth SG . [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.youth.sg/Our-Voice/Opinions/2011/11/Teenage-ill-behaviour-on-social-media. [Accessed 05 December 2014].
How to be ethical in social media – : Public Relations Sydney. 2014. How to be ethical in social media – : Public Relations Sydney. [ONLINE] Available at: https://publicrelationssydney.com.au/how-to-be-ethical-in-social-media/. [Accessed 05 December 2014].
ELISHA PAY WEN HUI 
Hi, Wen Hui. I was really shocked when I was reading the story that you post it out. Can’t believe a daughter will do this to her own mother, this is so ridiculous. When from my point of view, you didn’t really answer the question that the teacher ask about. The question is asking the ethical issues with education and business, but I see nothing really relevant in your post. I think you should choose one of the areas that you are interested and talk about it. The story makes a very good example, but it wasn’t really answering the question. Maybe you can talk about it during your reflective summary? Thank you,and have a nice day.
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Hello Sunny, guess what? you were absolutely right, at least i think you were right about my post missing out on answering the actual question on education and or business. However, since you have pointed that out, are you able to relate the given story with any ethical issue in regards to either the education or business sector? It will be awesome if you could relate to me on this and i believe i could learn more even though it may be a late reply. 🙂
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Hello Wen Hui, thank you for introducing us to the term “social bashing”. Social bashing reminds me of something similar that takes place in our everyday lives – bullying and backstabbing. Social media unfortunately, had become another medium through which these unethical activities can take place, and be magnified many times over. However, perhaps the root of the problem lies not in social media but in that kid’s behaviour. Needless to say, some “damage control” could have been applied if Facebook could have taken the post down or if netizens could have reported the post as abusive.
Some of the ethical issues on social media have its roots in the ethical issues in real life. In this case, perhaps solving ethical issues on social media may not be the best solution, tackling the ethical dilemmas people face in real life may be.
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Hello Simon! Thanks for commenting! 🙂 You may suggest about getting Facebook to take down that post but to what extent can Facebook really control such unethical behaviour on the Internet? There could be many of such cases but that has not brought into attention for all we know. However, I do agree that the root issue does lie with the kid’s behaviour and not the social media. Since you have mentioned about the ethical dilemma, are you able to give me an example of such scenarios and your advice to tackle just this particular scenario that you have given?
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