Cancel culture has become global with social media!

Emphasizing that in the cancel culture, a person is chosen as a target and his reputation and character are assassinated, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that "It is a culture that wants to harm the person in front of the social society by devaluing them. This has always been in man. However, after social media came along, it has become global.”

Stating that if we use social media in good faith, for good purposes and with good methods, it will serve the good and the beautiful, Tarhan said that with the abolition of the freedom of secret identity in social media and the obligation of everyone to be with their own identity, many defamation and lynching behaviors can come to an end.

President of Üsküdar University, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan evaluated the issue of bullying and cancel culture, which has become widespread recently.

"One person is being targeted and is being assassinated regarding their reputation and character."

Reminding that the other side is chosen as a target in cancel culture, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan expressed that "It is aimed to antagonize people for aggressive and unreal reasons. Beyond being antagonized, the cancelled person is hated and demonized. It is desirable to destroy one. There is a serious defamation, black propaganda. A person is being targeted. One is being assassinated in terms of reputation and character. A culture that wants to devalue the person and hurt them in front of the social society. This has always been in man. It happens at school in the form of peer bullying between students or between neighbors. However, after social media came along, it went global.” Stating that this situation can even affect the elections, and that a movie was made in the USA about the eliminating his opponent by lynching/cancelling him, Tarhan said that "Evil has become global and has become ordinary and normalized due to social media."

"If there is general tension in society, all kinds of evil can be done"

Stating that the accessibility, convenience and ease of social media increases such situations, Prof. Tarhan continued his remarks as follows: "In psychology, there is a 'General Tension Theory'. In other words, if there is general tension in society, all kinds of evil can be done. First, the tension is raised, controlled tension is created. It is called a 'controlled tension strategy'. In that tension, the perceptions of the masses are changed at that moment and people are made to do things that they would never do in normal times. Many situations arise, such as lynching, looting, provocation, aggression.”

"No one who does noy have a verified mark should be able to use social media"

People do things that they will regret later. Here, the effect of social media is that it is easily accessible and easily turns into bullying, it affects quickly, negative content about the victim spreads rapidly, and most interestingly, they are done with secret identities on social media. The person who does it can change identity. If the freedom of secret identity on social media is lifted right now, if everyone must be with their own identity, be sure that many defamations will end. Most of the malicious defamation are made by changing the identity. Therefore, the world is also moving towards it. In the coming years, no one who does not have a blue tick on social media should not be able to use social media because evil, violence and crimes are on the rise. It is increasing globally."

Reminding that the prosecutor's office in the USA has filed a lawsuit against some major platforms, Prof. Tarhan said that "Children and adolescents are most affected by this. The mental health of adolescents is adversely affected. The number of hospitalized adolescents has increased. We can say that the biggest factor that magnifies the problem is social media. I think anyone who does not have an identity on social media will not have an account in the near future, and I do not think they should."

"Mischief, entertainment culture is used as a psychological battlefield"

Regarding the lynchings against countries and institutions, Prof. Tarhan said that "We saw the best example of this in the Gezi protests. I saw it on my Twitter account. The whole world had given up the power and began to propagandize in a terrific way. There is a map of social media in the form of a heat map, where it has been clicked and visited the most. There was a lot of it there. You know, it was 2013, it was talked about as a project. They then founded the UK Social Media Brigades in 2015. What is a brigade? It is a military term. The brigade consists of about a few thousand people. They found a few thousand social media people. What does the brigade do? Fights. So, it chooses the social media space as a battleground. And they are doing it officially, setting it up and creating staff for it. We see that the mischief of young people on social media or the entertainment culture is used as a psychological battlefield. We can easily say that."

"Some people are very sensitive to criticism. They are 'phishing' a person who is sensitive to criticism."

Regarding image manipulations and deliberately publishing fake news, Prof. Tarhan said that "Some people are very sensitive to criticism. They are 'phishing' a person who is sensitive to criticism. If a person immediately comes up with a bunch of responses to criticism, they say, 'OK, that is on the hook.' They send it all the time, and that person has to answer all the time and is trapped. There one responds thoughtlessly and furiously. Especially if it is a person with impulse control issues, they can act without thinking."

Pointing to the Stop-Think-Act paradigm, Prof. Tarhan said that "One cannot use it. When they cannot use it, they make a mistake and regret it. That's why many people get depressed, they move away from social media completely, because they think they cannot use it in a balanced way."

"Cyberbullying is the definition of that"

Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan also commented on the issue of cyberbullying, and Tarhan expressed that "People can easily exhibit behaviors on social media that they would normally hesitate to do in their real life. Cyberbullying is the definition of it. This is how the definition of Cyberbullying was made... Cyberbullying is very common among adolescents, especially teenagers. This has already been defined as an Internet crime. It began to become the most frequently filed lawsuits in the courts. In cases such as opening a false account, placing false advertisements on someone else's account, using their name, there seems to be no one who is humiliated in front of the society and does not file a lawsuit."

"When you are mistakenly exposed to slander, you are trapped..."

Stating that they are trying to make mistakes and explode by creating tension in people, Prof. Tarhan said that "The aim is to stretch and explode the person and make them make mistakes. Some people choose a person as a target. One finds a person’s weak point. And then they keep walking on that person’s nerve from there. They make that person scream, and then they say, 'That is how this person yells all the time.' This puts the person in an unfair situation when that person is right. Social media can do this very easily with unreal identities. Many people also mentally buy into this misinformation. When you mistakenly are exposed to the slander made against you on social media, you are in a trap.”

"Public figures need to speak more carefully in public"

Noting that if the cancel culture is carried out systematically, the struggle should also be systematic, Prof. Tarhan stated that "People who are in the public eye should be much more careful when taking steps. Walking on a flat plain is not in the same danger as hiking on a mountain. For this reason, it is beneficial for well-known people to speak more carefully in front of the public, to speak more by measuring and weighing, and if they are going to talk about a subject, it is beneficial for them to speak by getting an opinion from an expert. Their charisma can be damaged from a small mistake."

Stating that social media gives people the freedom to make mistakes, Prof. Tarhan expressed that "The freedom to make mistakes can become a kind of lynching. The people who are in the spotlight have those who like it and those who do not. There is professional competition and there are people who want them to fall on their face. If you put any material in their hands, you will be lynched."

"If the faulter can say from the beginning, 'I misunderstood this and made a mistake,' and apologize, lynching can be stopped"

Stating that if one can say, 'I misunderstood this, I made a mistake' and apologize from the first in case of a possible faulty case, then a lynching/cancelling can be stopped, Prof. Tarhan said that "If a person analyzes an incident, a person does not give material to lynching. They can also manage the lynching in the best way. If one is lynched/cancelled, they will easily minimize it. We can say that a person who knows themselves does not easily fall into these traps, and even if one does, they can get out immediately with the least damage."

Warning that people can sometimes get angry and make mistakes that can cause lynching, Prof. Tarhan said that "It is smarter to try not to fall into the language on social media, it is very difficult for people to fall after falling. However even so, the feature of social media is that it is very easy to forget, traces remain, but forgotten... Before, we used to say that the liar's candle burns until nightfall, now the liar's candle burns until the Internet. Sooner or later, lynchers are exposed. Sooner or later, the truth will come out."

"Let's not be afraid of social media, but of not being able to use it wisely"

Stating that it is not realistic to escape from social media for this reason, Prof. Tarhan said that "Social media has now become a global information access and information communication network. Social media has all the advantage in terms of informing people, society, and making your work visible. Social media technology itself is neutral. Now social media and artificial intelligence are merging. When it is combined with artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence will start to do some things as if it were with secret identities. That's why it is important to regulate it. It is also important to tell the good, the right and the beautiful here. If we use social media with good intentions, good purposes, and good methods, it will serve the good and the beautiful. Thus, let's not be afraid of social media, let's be afraid of not being able to use it wisely."

"Gaming addiction has become very common, there are adolescents who are hospitalized"

Emphasizing that young people's emotions are more dominant than their minds during adolescence, Prof. Tarhan concluded his remarks as follows:

"If adolescents do not have a safe family environment, if the family is not warm and appealing, they fall into the traps of media pleasure. They are easily caught up in the evil traps of social media. Game addiction has also become very common, and there are now hospitalized hospitals. If there is a safe family, if the parents use a common language, we should not be afraid of social media. Now I see that in many families, the boss of the house has become the child, the leader of the house has become the child. This is very risky. Now that this is the case, what does the child like? Social media... Phone in hand all day, refusing school, not going to school. This has now become a social problem. That's why all disciplines need to come together and do something about it."

 

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)