Social Media as a Reason of Violance

In today’s age social media is becoming more and more instantaneous and keeping up with it all is our youth. The days of seeing your fifth grade best friend until summers over, is now over. Adolescents are communicating daily with their peers. If there was a fight during fifth period, it is now all over twitter with hundreds of people retweeting and giving their opinions. Another plague that is affecting our youth’s growth is the presence of online gangs, better known as cyber banging. Kids are now taking what’s going on in the playgrounds and in the streets online. So why is this so? Can non-violent organizations switch the interests in the kid’s lives? Prevent some of the nonsense before it transpires? In the article, Sticks, stones and Facebook accounts: What violence outreach workers know about social media and urban-based gang violence in Chicago, Computers in Human Behavior authors, Patton, Eschmann, and Butler studied the adolescents social media behavior, and how it impacts violence prevention efforts in Chicago, Illinois.

With Chicago being a breeding ground for conflict in the communities efforts have been made to decrease the crime associated with cyber banging. In a recent study researchers used a snowball sampling method to study 34 Latino and Black boys and men. Also, 17 men and women outreach workers to determine whether or not there is a correlation between community violence and social media interactions. This qualitative study utilized the data from interviews conducted from over the course of seven months. Each participant participated in a 45 minute to 90 minute interview by the authors. During the interviews, the outreach workers gave insight on their experiences with the community outreach programs, what they think is the cause of all the madness and how they use social media.

Collecting the data is one thing but interpreting it is a maze within itself. The researchers used a grounded theory. Meetings were held, patterns were found as well as decoding. They were able to develop codes to further assist in the analytical process of this study. Through these codes they were able to understand the role that an outreach worker has and the amount of trust and respect that has to be there in order for change to take place.

The role of an outreach worker is vital in stopping this online phenomenon. They are all in trying to stop this mischief that is plaguing the Chicago neighborhoods. Many of the workers have worked in these communities for years or even grew up there. The problem isn’t that there aren’t efforts in works, it’s just with technology advancing that the problem still exists. These adolescents are actively disrespecting each other rival gangs, signs and territories and the problems continue to escalate. Outreach workers stated in the study that the reason why the Chicago youth is so out of control on social media is because the lack of attention. By boasting, disrespecting each other of social media, immediately all eyes are on them, making them either winners or losers in the eyes of their peers. They are constantly creating new identities on the web due to their lack of one. Workers also think this issue stirs from having low self esteem, being from low poverty areas using social media to feel like they have something.

Most youths underestimate the power of social media and the consequences that can array from posting obscene behaviors. Many think that because you can the identity online that it won’t conflict with your true identity. The obscene posts that are being made by the Chicago youth is self incriminating, harassment and has grounds for arrest, but some how they are not getting all of this. Youth boys post pictures with guns, throwing up gang signs, and other things gang related. They don’t understand the concept of private on social media many of their pages are public for everyone to see. Much of the data they post have serious consequences, so outreach workers have been trying to inform them of such.

The study showed that relationships between the youth and the outreach workers were vital in this scenario. It was shown that by building the necessary relationship with the kids they became very effective in some of the nonsense that was taken place. Many organizations don’t allow the outreach workers to communicate via social media however, for organizations that do the reward is greater. As much as it could be effective it could be just as risky, many of the workers rather protect their private lives versus becoming connected with some of these troubled teens. Instead of being directly connected some of them act as key informants. Key informants are workers who aren’t directly connected with their students. However, they are informed due to the relationships. This is important for outreach workers because they don’t have to be directly associated to help fix the problem.

These social media efforts are put in place to resolve a conflict or to prevent one from surfacing and with these tactics they have been successful. Workers that interviewed stated by building relationships with different groups they are able to use their confidentiality to defuse major conflicts from arising. They pull on emotional tactics such as family members needing the adolescent or having children to make the teen think about it’s future. Often times they use what’s going on in the media to go in and stop it in person before anything happens. Outreach workers understand the situations that are going and they have developed ways to go in and take action against them.

Youth negative engagements online have now left the screen and escalated into the communities. The term “Internet Banging” has affected many kids in poor inner city communities. With the help of youth outreach organizations much of this Internet banging has been deescalated before any problem arose. Many of those problems were deescalated due to relationships that they outreach workers have build over time. The youth are searching for their identities where they stand or fit in in their communities and much of that resulting in negative online social presence. Many of them are posting videos of fighting, pictures of them holding guns, and gang signs. With the help of the community outreach workers and laws they may have some future hope.