The Issue of Civility on the Internet

Introduction 

Civility is the act of showing formal courtesy and politeness in speech or behavior. Civil individuals are the ones who exercise politeness and courtesy in all their relationships and interactions with groups, individuals, and organizations within the society, including businesses and the government. Civil people should be polite and show courtesy when engaging in direct interactions with relatives, colleagues, friends, or even strangers with whom they might lack anything in common. (Bailey, 2019) At the broader and more comprehensive levels, civil people ensure that civility governs their attitudes to all members within the society, particularly the ones they do not have direct interactions r common interests. From this perspective, being civil entails showing the traits of civility when interacting with all members of the society irrespective of the existing relationships or interactions between them (Bejan, 2017). The paper discusses the issue of civility on the Internet.

Civility in Online Setting 

In an Internet setting, being civil requires individuals to treat others with respect and dignity irrespective of the kind on online platforms or forums they participate in. Individuals should ensure to treat their colleagues on the Internet, as they would like to be treated while doing so would create an online environment in which others feel comfortable to be. Civil people on the Internet should leave those they interact with feeling uplifted and edified as opposed to angry and depressed (Graf, Erba, & Harn, 2017). Being civil on the Internet requires people to brighten the online environment to ensure that others enjoy the environment as well.

The present society needs civility online. For instance, people accessing the Internet are constantly facing abuses including threats related to sexual abuse and death threats among other cruel and hostile attacks. As such, many people are distancing themselves from online discussion platforms, which is further minimizing the diversity of online opinions and voices. The various abuses occurring on the Internet also do not show signs of slowing down with over 40 percent of adults in the United States claiming to experience online abuse personally. Over half of these have reported receiving intense harassment forms, including stalking and physical threats (Antoci, Delfino, Paglieri, Panebianco, & Sabatini, 2016). In this sense, civility is crucial online to welcome the input and opinions of other people online while at the same time creating an environment where people can find comfort from others.

The Internet usually fosters incivility in various forms. For example, due to the capacity of disseminating information to reach huge audiences, the Internet offers a forum for interpersonal discussions regarding issues that the traditional media might not cover widely. The Internet is capable of fostering deliberations and discussions among wide-ranging audiences in environments, such as the comments section of blog posts or news items. (Ziegele, Weber, Quiring, & Breiner, 2018) However, varieties of the discussions are not rational, especially when they take uncivil routes with offensive replies or comments obstructing healthy discussions, leading to heated conversations. Regarding social media, for example, it features an inbuilt moral hazard with uncivil and aggressive posts resulting in stronger reactions and increased attention for the poster (Han, Brazeal, & Pennington, 2018). The reward for uncivil discussions is replicated behavior. Adding to this, social media platforms usually make more revenues from online spaces where users are capable of attracting more individuals via more extrovert behaviors. Also, the ability of the Internet to facilitate anonymous interaction worsens incivility because it offers perpetrators with a means of avoiding the typical social repercussions associated with uncivil behavior (Brokensha & Conradie, 2017). As such, anonymous participation on the Internet supports more uncivil behavior.

Recovering Civility 

Recovering civility on the Internet is a daunting task. However, individuals can practice certain measures to promote civility online. For instance, individuals can exercise living the golden rule where they act with compassion, empathy, and kindness in every online interaction while treating the people they connect with on the Internet with respect and dignity (Antoci, Delfino, Paglieri, Panebianco, & Sabatini, 2016). Respecting differences in an online environment, especially cultural differences while at the same time honoring diverse perspectives would avoid incidences of personal attacks and name-calling. Rather individuals would engage in thoughtful interactions (Hutchens, Silva, Hmielowski, & Cicchirillo, 2019). Individuals should also practice to stand up for themselves and others, such as telling others when they feel unsafe, support targets of online cruelty and abuse, report any activities that threaten the safety of others, and preserve evidence of unsafe or inappropriate behavior.

Since heated debates and discussions are dominant online, it would be crucial to understand various ways of avoiding them. The appropriate means of doing so would be to exercise civility. Individuals should understand that their posts would remain in the view of the public forever, which would reflect on their characters. They should avoid utilizing SHOUT, all caps, or exclamation marks in their posts. They should also refrain from lashing out or getting touchy (Hutchens, Silva, Hmielowski, & Cicchirillo, 2019). It is insensible to block individuals who do not agree with their opinions. All persons are entitled to state their opinions on a free Internet, hence no need for criticizing or putting other people down. Rather the ideal means of handling personal differences should be through Instant Messengers or emails as opposed to through posts that all people can see (Han, Brazeal, & Pennington, 2018). Any bad act might embarrass some people while it is not possible to know for sure where to meet these individuals in the real world. Avoiding such acts would avoid heated debates and discussions online while facilitating thoughtful interactions.

Applying Civility to Gun Control 

The gun control debate depicts a situation where civility is missing with the involved parties losing the capacity to listen to each other. From this perspective, the ideal approach to enforcing civility in the gun control debate would be to avoid rudeness while extending mutual courteousness and respect (Holt, 2018). Civility supports attacking the opposing position as opposed to the opponents themselves. However, the practice is lacking in the gun control debate. As such, it is tearing the fabric of American civil society at a disturbing rate (Eckstein & Partlow Lefevre, 2017). The gun control debate should follow a constructive as opposed to a destructive strategy to criticism. The ones who adopt a destructive approach emphasize determining the things they can which are wrong while opposing and later criticizing them. The ones who follow a constructive approach emphasize determining the best in the opposing standpoint and working with it to reach a consensus. However, the gun control debate has not adopted a constructive approach. Thus, a civil conversation, such as the gun control debate should support tolerance for the parties holding conflicting viewpoints while moving past mere tolerance to appreciating the other side positively (Holt, 2018). In this sense, civility in the gun control debate would create increased understanding regarding how to handle the matter more effectively as opposed to constant disagreements by the parties involved in the discussions.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, civility is an ideal trait that society should practice to foster cohesive interactions among individuals. Civility on the Internet is of concern, especially due to the growing incidences of the hostilities people encounter online. The Internet provides anonymity, leading individuals to engage in incivility because they cannot receive punishments in the same manner they would do in the real world. Certain approaches exist for promoting civility and heated discussions and debates online. However, these measures are not foolproof, especially due to the ease of navigating the Internet by different groups of uncivil persons. The gun control debate as well as other civil discussions should practice civility to ensure they address the needs of the citizens effectively. As such, civility would contribute to creating a caring, concerned, and society, although people should work together to make the initiative work.

References

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Bailey, F. G. (2019). The civility of indifference: On domesticating ethnicity. New York: Cornell University Press.

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Holt, J. (2018). Here's what's missing from the gun control debate. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/gun-control-debate-is-missing-this-key-element.html 

Hutchens, M. J., Silva, D. E., Hmielowski, J. D., & Cicchirillo, V. J. (2019). What’s in a username? Civility, group identification, and norms. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 16 (3), 203-218.

Ziegele, M., Weber, M., Quiring, O., & Breiner, T. (2018). The dynamics of online news discussions: Effects of news articles and reader comments on users’ involvement, willingness to participate, and the civility of their contributions. Information, Communication & Society, 21 (10), 1419-1435.