Violence and Aberration in the Age of Social Media: Transforming the advanced communication technology into a better facilitative tool

Abstract

Social media and the Internet have brought into being many new methods of communication and person-to-person interaction, changing the way people relate and interact with each other. However, there are negative as well as positive aspects to this sociotechnological revolution. Unfortunately, the negative social issues receive far less attention and study. This article points out three relevant phenomena that demonstrate the prevalence of violence and aberration in social media, i.e., 1) cyberbullying, 2) the role of social media in the organization of negative social events such as the 2011 U.K. riots, and 3) social-media-assisted infidelity and promiscuity. Our goal is not to undermine the great contributions that social media have made to social progress, technological advances, and the general quality of life but rather the aim is to transform this advanced communication technology into a better facilitative tool to support social cohesion and benign societal relations.