ZITAT. Young People Online: A Media-ethical Roadmap. Prof. Dr. Oliver Zöllner Institute for Digital Ethics Stuttgart Media University

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1 Young People Online: A Media-ethical Roadmap Prof. Dr. Oliver Zöllner Institute for Digital Ethics Stuttgart Media University

2 Do we need media ethics? Islamic State propaganda video, August 2014 Folie 2

3 Do we need digital media ethics? You Now just a fad? Folie 3

4 What is digital (media) ethics? Digital media ethics is about Acquiring value-based media competence Being able to evaluate, judge, and reflect upon, agency in mediatised contexts Being able to act in a responsible manner Empowerment of individuals in society for living flourishing lives. Folie 4

5 Fields of practice of digital ethics 1 Ethical media competence value judgement skills Hurtful online behaviour (e.g., cyber bullying, cyber stalking, shitstorms, bashing, sexual harassment, trolling) Potentially dangerous media content (e.g., violence, hate pages, web porn, suicide forums) Self-disclosure (e.g., personal data, intimate selfies, Facebook et al., YouNow, TooMuchInformation [TMI] videos) 5

6 Fields of practice of digital ethics 2 Big data and the ethics of algorithms Lack of informational equity, autonomy, transparency (e.g., data protection, privacy protection) Discourses of control and surveillance in/of mediatised society Self-optimisation, economisation and self-commodification (e.g., self-tracking, Quanitified Self) Internet of Things, Internet of Everything (Industry 4.0; Big Bang disruption ) 6

7 Labeling: Slut pages 7

8 TooMuchInformation (TMI) videos 8

9 Big data: My data, or whose data? 9

10 Big data: My data, or whose data? 10

11 Big data: My data, or whose data? 11

12 Big data: My data, or whose data? Overview: Data ranges collected by Facebook, Inc. Quelle: 12

13 Mediatisation of childhood Internet is increasingly important as social space for children. Online use is starting at increasingly earlier ages. Online use is getting increasingly mobile. Online use is happening increasingly outside the realm of parental guidance and control

14 Juvenile Internet (6-18 yrs.) Are you using the Internet at least occasionally? - Yes replies (Germany, 2014) 14 *Average Internet use in minutes Sample base: 6- to 18-year-olds; n=962 Source: Bitkom Research

15 Social networks: take-off at 12 years What do you do on the Internet at least occasionally? (Germany, 2014) Watching films, videos Using social networks Researching information Shopping online 15 Multiple replies allowed. Sample base: 6- to 18-year-olds; n=830 Source: Bitkom Research

16 Hurtful/transgressive online behaviour Has anyone you know ever been hurt via the Internet or smartphone?" (Germany, 2013 vs. 2014) (n=1.185) 2013 (n=1.170) Majority (23%) of respondents has been hurt in an online community. More girls than boys. Hurtful behaviour rising Gesamt Mädchen Jungen Jahre Jahre Jahre Jahre 16 Numbers indicate percentages. Sample base: Internet users Source: JIM Studie 2014, p

17 From violence to media competence and ethics A fundamental question as to our life and value orientation: How would we like to be living together (in our society)? And that calls for: Developing of a multi-stage reflection process Creating an ethical compass Acquiring conflict-solving competence 17

18 Media competence and ethics A media ethics handbook for teachers and pedagogues: Ethik macht klick! Werte-Navi fürs digitale Leben ( Ethics go click! Value satnav for digital living ) A joint project by klicksafe & Institute for Digital Ethics (2015) Authors: Petra Grimm, Karla Neef, Michael Waltinger, Birgit Kimmel & Stefanie Rack Available in print and online at 18

19 Media competence and ethics Focus on: Developing and strengthening of individual personality Enabling people to evaluate media and mediatised agency, to assess consequences, and to act responsibly Nucleus of such a value-grounded media competence is the ability to media-ethical reflection and agency. Moral feelings and emotions, such as empathy, sympathy, mindfulness, care ( ethics of care) 19

20 Media-ethical dimensions Macro level of society Basic questions of the media system (e.g., What do media contribute to society? What structures, rules and regulations are important for a democracy?) Meso level of corporations Questions as to the self-conception, structures, and agency of (media) corporations (e.g., What ethical rules and standards should apply for corporations? What kinds of responsibility do corporations have for what?) Micro level of actors Questions as to the use and production of media and communication content as well as the ethos of the users (e.g., What kinds of responsibility do users have? Which values and norms should be desirable?) 20

21 A media-ethical Roadmap for VIELEN DANK FÜR IHRE AUFMERKSAMKEIT! Talking to youths about online violence

22 Media-ethical Roadmap - an overview Seven steps: 1. Raising awareness for vulnerabilities 4. Reflecting ethical principles: responsibility, care, mindfulness 5. Addressing value conflicts 2. Recognising roles and motives in conflict situations Developing Web courage 3. Discussing prerequisites of ethical action Ability to change perspectives Empathy 6. Developing the ethos of fairness and respect in a community 7. Options for action: Negotiating and substantiating applicable rules 22 22

23 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 1: Raising awareness for vulnerabilities Vulnerability is a human condition. Hurtful online behaviour aims at attacking a person s social reputation or image and therefore his/her recognition as a human subject. By hurting someone s subjective character that person s opportunities for a flourishing life get diminished or curtailed

24 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 1: Raising awareness: Insulting, shaming, humiliating: Empowerment/ superiority Exclusion/ desintegration Inclusion/ integration Exclusion/ desintegration Disempowerment/ inferiority 24 Figure follwing Herrmann (2013). Beleidigung. In: Gudehus, C. & Christ, M. (Hrsg.), Gewalt: Ein interdisziplina res Handbuch. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, p

25 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 1: Raising awareness for vulnerabilities Characteristics of hurtful online behaviour: Time and place Invasions of privacy happen independently of time and place. Impact The consequences of violent acts remain intransparent. Dynamics Online media content gets spread ragingly fast and is almost unlimited in its sharability (e.g., via Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube). Duration The Internet won t forget. Anonymity Perpetrators are often acting anonymously from the Web s depths. Publicness Publics are vast and incalculable

26 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 2: Recognising roles and motives in conflict situations An actor-centered model of moral courage: Principal Objective/desire Beneficiaries Responsibility Care Mindfulness Ending violence Quering and isolating the perpetrator Fairness/equity Victim Community Helpers Actors/protagonists Antagonists Friends Teachers Mediators, etc. Intrinsic help mechanisms: Empathy Adopting perspectives Interventionists Perpetrators By-standers, hangers-on, spectators, connivers 26

27 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 2: Recognising roles and motives in conflict situations A look at helpers and by-standers: Helpers and their intrinsic help mechanisms: Empathy Being able to adopt someone else s perspective By-standers, hangers-on, spectators, connivers, rubberneckers and their non-help mechanisms: Diffusion of responsibility ( by-stander effect ) Lack of awareness that responsibility encompasses not just action but also non-action (negligence)

28 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 2: Recognising roles and motives in conflict situations A look at offenders and perpetrators: Lacking stable value and norm orientations, sense of right and wrong, familial warmth, and capability of empathy Lack of ability to solve problems and conflicts through communication Perpetrators can be victims as well (cf. Görzig 2011: 1; Livingstone et al. 2011: 42) Perpetrators are often well integrated and hold key positions in classroom communities (cf. Eisenschmidt 2012: 127; Schäfer 2013: 135-) 28 28

29 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 2: Recognising roles and motives in conflict situations A look at why perpetrators hurt someone on the Internet: Perpetuation of social relationships and power structures Compensation and vengeance Gaining recognition Coping with fear and anxiety through aggression 29 29

30 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 3: Change of perspectives and empathy Fostering motivation for dedicated supportive behaviour and Web courage Ethical action and judgement not only out of a rational sense of reason, but based on feelings of compassion and empathy (moral sense ethics, ethics of care) Influencing factors for empathy: being able to put oneself into somebody else s perspective; closeness to another person; moral judgement of a situation/action Empathy training through narrative forms (storytelling) 30

31 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 4: Reflecting ethical principles The principle of responsibility: Freedom and responsibility are mutually dependent Acting responsibly in situations of violence implies: Helping the victim even if it were easier to look the other way Being prepared to accept disadvantages up to a certain point Taking a stand against insult and hurt even though everybody else finds it funny or okay ( his own fault ) Referring to one s own moral sense (moral compass), and Getting other people s help whenever necessary. 31

32 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 4: Reflecting ethical principles Ethics of care online Principles of Taking Care by Joan Tronto (1994, 2005) 1. Attentiveness (caring about) as an expression of mindfulness: Ascertaining that support is crucial Recognising of a need Putting oneself into the perspective of others 2. Support (taking care of) as an expression of responsibility: Being prepared to take responsibility Being empowered for agency Judging how help can be given 3. Caring action (care-giving) as an expression of competence: Immediate responsiveness to need Ensuring to get additional help if necessary Acting adequately 32

33 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 5: Addressing value conflicts Competing values (e.g., friendship vs. sense of fairness) (moral dilemmas) Self-expectation of youths to solve conflicts by and among themselves Tool: Storytelling narrating the story of a moral dilemma (e.g., by way of producing video clips, etc.) 33

34 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 6: Developing the ethos of fairness and respect Community perspective: fostering commonality Reflective tool: inventing scenarios of a fair online community 34

35 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 7: Options for action Negotiating and substantiating rules Negotiating rules for behaviour (codex) Substantiating those rules by isolating and thwarting powerful offenders/perpetrators 35

36 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 7: Options for action A German example: Medien-Knigge (Netiquette codex) Screenshot of website Medien-Knigge, a joint project by Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg (LFK) and mecodia GmbH Jan

37 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 7: Options for action Preventive measures: privacy protection fostering privacy competence Ethical competence: ability to reflect on why private data should be protected, Structural competence: knowledge about who will collect, process, share and pass on private data, and for what purposes, Risk competence: Assessment of the consequences that may stem from the publication of private data, and Legal and technical competence: knowledge about data-related laws, terms and conditions, and possible protective measures. 37

38 Media-ethical Roadmap Step 7: Options for action Digital self-defense first steps: Consistently using privacy settings, Permanently deleting browser histories and cookies, Using EU-based search engines such as StartPage or Ixquick instead of Google, Using encrypted providers instead of Google s Gmail, Using messenger services such as Threema rather than Facebook s WhatsApp, Denying (presumably free) apps access to personal data there s no such thing as a free lunch! 38

39 Start today. VIELEN DANK FÜR IHRE AUFMERKSAMKEIT! Thank you!