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41 Percent of Adults In the US Have Been Harassed Online, Says Pew Study (techcrunch.com)
According to a new Pew Research Center study, 41 percent of adults said they have experienced harassment online, and 66 percent of people said they've seen it happen to others. What's the most common form of online harassment? According to the study, it's offensive name-calling. TechCrunch reports: It's worth noting that while men are slightly more likely than women to be harassed online (44 percent versus 37 percent), women are more likely to be sexually harassed online. For example, 53 percent of women surveyed reported receiving explicit images they did not request. Unsurprisingly, social media is where people are most likely to experience online harassment, with 58 percent of those harassed saying the most recent incident happened on a social media platform. Also unsurprising is the fact that more than half of people harassed don't know the person harassing them. Pew also explored "emergent" forms of online harassment, like doxing (posting someone's personal information online without consent), trolling (intentionally trying to provoke or upset someone), hacking (illegally accessing someone's accounts) and swatting (when you call 911 for a fake emergency and have the police show up at that person's house). "While many Americans are not aware of these behaviors, they have all been used to escalate abuse online," the report states.
The notion of "harassment" has got very blurry lately...
Back in my days, I was the little big guy in the school yard. I had to deal with insults, punches in the belly and snowballs in the face. Guess what? The school director did absolutely nothing. I had to learn to defend myself. My grandfather taught me how to fight, and after a few lessons and practice, that's what I did.
Never did I complain to my mother, it would have been cowardice.
After a few good fights where I showed I would not let others make fun of me, they left me alone, and I made some good friends for the rest of high school. With all those millenials pouring in, defended by their parents and having never felt what it's like to be truly harassed, the notion of harassment has got down to almost considering unfriending someone on Facebook as harassment.
I am happy to be born in the early 80's, I may be part of the last generation of real men that had to physically defend themselves to be respected, just as the nature gave us in our genes. Not being defended by our parents or going to the police for a slight schoolyard fight.