Great Escape
Can You Escape the Internet?
The short answer is no, but all hope is not lost
That quote attributed to Andy Warhol — “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” — may be true. But in the internet age, it should come with the caveat that you’ll have to pay for it with at least 15 minutes of hell. Forty percent of U.S. adults have been harassed or abused online, according to Pew Research Center statistics, and two-thirds have seen it happen to someone else. More than 60 percent consider it to be a “major problem.” Presumably the rest have yet to be harassed.
Online abuse can take many forms. Maybe you’re a nearly perfect human and someone just decides to go ahead and destroy your life because of a disagreement on Facebook. Maybe your flawed history has been dug up and wielded against you. Maybe you posted something you thought was funny or wise or cutting, and it wasn’t. Maybe you broke up with someone who wants revenge, so he sends sexy photos of you to your employer and a local newspaper. Maybe you were simply on a plane, and someone with a camera and the hankering to go viral was behind you.
Whatever it is, it’s not to be taken lightly. “The effect of internet communication is quite real on our psyche,” Paraskevi Noulas, PsyD, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at…
