29th October 2021
Dear NZOA
RE: s 9(2)(a)
– DOCUMENTARY
s 9(2)(a)
was pitched as a documentary about youth bullying,
mental health and cyber-harm told s 9(2)(b)(ii)
We had hoped to include the s 9(2)(b)(ii)
As we’ve researched more, we’ve become increasingly concerned about the
s 9(2)(b)(ii)
s 9(2)(b)(ii)
Also with Covid delays s 9(2)(b)(ii) has been postponed again
making it very difficult to make plans around this factor too.
So, while s 9(2)(b)(ii)
may stil be part of the content, we’d like to evolve
the treatment to explores the bigger picture of why we bully, our online
behaviour and what the future might look like…so are writing now to seek
approval for a charge of treatment.
New Zealand has shocking statistics for youth bul ying that show no signs of
improving but the proliferation of life online has taken this problem to another
level.
The promise of social media was conversation, connection and community but
after two decades of use it’s increasingly divisive, untrustworthy, exploitative
and toxic.
The recent Facebook Papers revealed that Facebook and Instagram have
known for years that their algorithms have been feeding a stream of targeted
negative and dangerous content to young people. Tiktok and YouTube no
better.
Many adults think Gen Z are “digital natives” who know to navigate this world,
but that’s not the case. They are living in a dangerous and addictive online
world where they struggle to separate fact from fiction, are vulnerable to cruel
and incessant bullying, and measure their worth by social media feedback.
In the last decade the rates of youth suicides, self-harm and eating disorders
have soared with the proliferation of our social media and lives increasingly
lived online.
Social media bites hard on the psychological needs of young people by feeding
on, reinforcing, and amplifying the user’s inclination to over-share personal
information at a time when their own identity, voice, and moral compass are
still a work in progress. “Likes” – which one young Facebook user describes as
“our generation’s crack cocaine” – have been devised to deliver variably timed
dopamine shots that drive us to double down on sharing a photo, web link, or
status update. A post with zero likes isn’t just privately painful, it’s also a kind
of public condemnation.
Sociologists talk of social media steering us towards living in a “hive” mind - of
social pressures to conform existing at a level humanity has never experienced
before. This is reflected in shocking research that shows 9 of 10 New
Zealanders aged between 18-23 now name becoming an Instagram influencer
as their dream job.
The revised documentary with working title “Anti-Social” looks at that online
environment, how it is changing and what real y needs to happen to ensure
the digital environment we al increasingly inhabit is healthy and safe.
It starts with a close-up personal story about a New Zealand teenager being
bul ied online. . but as the story arc develops, the documentary increasing
zooms out to reveal the global forces that are casual y altering our behaviours
and shaping our interaction – and how our “Digital Native” youths are the
canaries in the coal-mine.
s 9(2)(a)
was struggling with her body image before one
Instagram picture she posted of herself prompted a slew of s 9(2)(a)
s 9(2)(a)
s 9(2)(a)
who are tackling the issue of cyber
harm in the real world. Each has been a victim of cyber bul ying, revenge porn,
‘catfishing” and/or harassment – and is now part of a ‘think tank’ for big tech
and working with other young people to support, and educate them about
their rights, digital harm and interventions through Netsafe.
The groups’ focus is the world-first Harmful Digital Communications Act which
was drafted in response to a New Zealand case that made headlines around
the world. The 2013, the Roast Busters case saw a group of teenage boys
targeting underage girls for sex then boasting, ‘slut shaming” and naming the
girls on social media. At that time the police were hamstrung by the lack of
laws regulating online behaviour.
Over lockdown Netsafe’s phones have been running hot with a surge in online
abuse cases. These are handled by caseworkers on site, who work to mediate
and resolve issues directly. The caseworkers have direct lines to social media
platforms and can achieve dramatic results – having posts and sites pul ed
down and their creators investigated. Few people know that this resource is
there to protect them.
The relatively new law is the most powerful weapon we currently have against
the effects of online harm but few know it’s there or how to use it.
The documentary wil include the story of s 9(2)(a)
The perpetrator was one of the
youngest people to be taken to court under the online safety law and the
consequent restorative justice provided some closure for her grieving whānau.
We'll look at how the law is currently being hijacked and tested by social media
influencers s 9(2)(a)
who are waging a battle s 9(2)
(a)
At the heart of the appeal is whether “hurt feelings” constitute
“harm”, and whether our courts should be intervening in slanging matches on
social media.
We'l also look at a worrying trend of ‘self-harm’ online – where teenagers
invent bul ying stories for sympathetic attention.
The documentary looks at the big picture – why we are so cruel, why online
bul ying is rampant, how our understanding of bullying and the recognition of
the harm it does is changing and what real y needs to happen to make the
digital world a safe and healthy environment.
With the current controversy about the Facebook Papers, the safety of young
people on line has come into focus. Facebook’s plans for a junior Instagram
platform have been pulled. In the UK, a former Children’s Commissioner is
suing Tiktok with claims it has il egal y mined data of mil ions of young people.
Antisocial wil be an important contemporary picture of how we attempt to
apply brakes to a cyber world already speeding ahead into a future few of us
real y understand.
NB:
s 9(2)(a)
– she has helped with
research and been in conversation with me throughout about the editorial
chal enges so it’s been real y valuable learning about story focus, purpose,
treatment and structure. s 9(2) super excited about how the documentary is
evolving.
(a)
