COMM2345: Exploring Asian Popular Culture Assessment 3: Group Essay Tutor’s Name: Joshua Wang Student Names (Please print below): Duong Tran Bach (s3517744@rmit.edu.vn) Hien Le Thuc (s3413036@rmit.edu.vn) Linh Nguyen Phuong (s3515601@rmit.edu.vn) Ly Do Phuong Hai (s3501315@rmit.edu.vn) Question Number: - Will social media in Asia lead to political, social or cultural change? Discuss in relation to a chosen Asian country Title of Group Essay: The prevalence of social media in everyday life has brought about a number of both positive and negative social changes Indeed, while social media platforms provide an important source of information, entertainment and communication, they simultaneously expose users to dangerous interactions which threaten their safety and well-being One severe consequence of social media is cyberbullying, a burgeoning phenomenon that adversely changes the way people behave towards one another on the Internet While cyberbullying is a global issue, South Korea as a world leader in technological innovations is likely to suffer the most This essay, therefore, aims to explore the negative effects of cyberbullying on the society, specifically people’s well-being in South Korea by discussing its social media context and analyzing representative cases of both teenagers and celebrities as the primary victim groups of the phenomenon Although researchers have yet to agree on a universal definition of ‘cyberbullying’ (Chadwick ed 2014), this essay adopts similarities found in its various interpretations to define cyberbullying as “aggressive, deliberate, and repeated behaviours towards a targeted victim through digital communication channels” With communication technology being a fundamental element, cyberbullying is usually exacerbated in countries with advanced technological development like South Korea (Microsoft 2012) 90% of its population is connected to the Internet via one of the world’s fastest national broadband connections and 38.4 million of them are active social media users (Kemp 2016) Due to digital advancement, cyberbullying has become a negative social change in South Korea where the “traditional bullying culture” has expanded to the virtual world (Lee 2014) Cyberbullying in this country is commonly conducted through messaging apps, especially Kakaotalk - the most popular messenger (Jin & Yoon 2014), and social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter (Navarro & Larrañaga 2016) Besides tremendous growth in communication technologies, the social characteristics of South Korea are also significant factors contributing to the widespread cyberbullying phenomenon (Mun, Sura & Ah 2015) The existing Confucian society has created a powerbased, hierarchical, and authoritarian social system from which inequality and imbalanced power are generated, encouraging both offline and online bullying as everyone constantly strives to dominate others in every possible way (Bax 2016) Hierarchical rules in relationships, as Bax (2016) argues, prevent junior victims, who are younger than the bullies, from speaking up for themselves These offline victims, consequently, are more likely to become online attackers in revenge (Jang, Song & Kim 2013) The social hierarchies under Confucian values of maintaining harmony as well as authoritarian regulations at home, school, or workplace also restrict South Koreans’ freedom of self-expression (Lee, Smith & Monks 2011), leading to cyberbullying as an extreme way of relieving stress and expressing opinions under the cloak of online anonymity (Epstein & Jung 2011) As a result of the power-based social structure, South Korea is a hyper-competitive society where students even consider their classmates as competitors rather than friends (Hancocks 2012) Those with fewer accomplishments, therefore, might cyberbully others just to obtain a sense of achievement (Shin & Ahn 2015) Another explanation for the cyberbullying phenomenon in South Korea lies in its collectivist culture where people failing to meet the majority’s standards easily become targets for cyber harassment behaviors (Navarro & Larrañaga 2016) Given such context, the two most heavily influenced victims of this issue in South Korea analysed in this essay are teenagers and celebrities (Mckenna 2007, Glionna 2010) Teenagers are a significant group involved in cyberbullying actions According to Li, Cross & Smith (2011), 99.9% of South Korean teenagers are active social media users On average, they spend 111 minutes every weekday and 215 minutes per day on weekend online, which puts them at the risk of Internet addiction (Park, Kim & Cho 2008) Due to the high frequency of Internet usage, they have become increasingly exposed to and involved in the act of cyberbullying This prevalent phenomenon has brought a new headache to the school management A recent state-funded survey reveals that one out of four students in South Korea has been the victim of cyberbullying while one out of five admits to being online attackers themselves (Kwaak 2014) The Internet anonymity enables teenagers to express themselves with much more freedom and may consequently become cyberbullies In a society where Confucian values still exert a strong influence, teenagers are discouraged from “speaking their minds with parents, teachers and bosses” (Glionna 2010) As a result, they have turned to the Internet as an escape from the parental supervision to let off their extreme feelings Since providing an authentic identity is not compulsory, anyone can be anyone on the Internet, turning teenagers into cyberbullies who easily harass others or express their grievances without fear of disclosure (Epstein & Jung 2011) Cyberbullying can take place in various forms including stalking, insulting, damaging reputation and rumour spreading (Li, Cross & Smith 2011) For example, a group of students attack the victim in an online chatroom with abusive languages Whenever the victim leaves, they repeat the invitation Though cyberbullying affects both the perpetrators and the victims, the consequences it has on the victims’ well-being are critically serious In fact, those suffering from cyberbullying demonstrate negative responses towards the experience According to a poll conducted by The Korean Institute of Criminology (Aparri 2016), 4.4% of the surveyed victims considered suicide while another 5.5% feel humiliated and 4.5% found it difficult to make friends or reconnect with the society after the incident The victims of cyberbullying are also associated with higher level of psychological distress including depression, anxiety and emotional breakdown than those not involved in cyberbullying Due to the lasting digital footprints on social media that allow one’s online interactions to be subsequently reviewed, the effects of cyberbullying therefore, can leave permanent “mental scars” in victims’ lives for many more years to come (Betts 2016) Although research studies show that a large number of teenagers in South Korea are involved in cyberbullying, there have not been any official accounts of such an incident within the scope of school The notorious “dog poop girl” case study, therefore, will be taken as a representative example to examine the severe impacts of cyberbullying on teenagers’ well-being In 2005, a Korean blogger posted on a popular website a video clip in which a girl refused to clean her dog’s mess on a subway train Thanks to the Internet and social media, the enraged netizens were able to what they never did before - online humiliation They immediately bombarded the girl with criticism, mocking images and tagged her with the label of “dog poop girl” (gaeddongnyeo) Information about her personal identity and family was soon circulated on the Internet Under the existing Confucian values, social media allow people to become cyber vigilantes who are ready to expose perceived wrongdoers and attack them online (Epstein & Jung 2011) Eventually she decided to withdraw from her university to escape from the barrage of harassment, followed by an apology on her social media account which also revealed her suicidal intention unless people stopped their harsh criticism While hardly nobody argues whether the girl’s action is socially immoral or not, the emphasis is put on how the Internet and social media have made people become extremely uncivil and malicious towards an individual The girl’s sufferings of depression, isolation, and affected academic performance are only a few consequences that teenage victims of cyberbullying in South Korea must conquer Worst, when the pressures accumulate, they might even resort to suicide as the ultimate solution to the cyber violence they experienced While cyberbullying has already been a long-lasting crisis among teenagers, the emergence of popular culture in South Korea has caused celebrities to become another major victim group of cyberbullying Almost all Korean celebrities have experienced being criticized on the Internet, including child celebrities who are under 18 (Cho 2015) The reason behind these attacks, however, slightly differs from what applies to the case of cyberbullying among teenagers In addition to the aforementioned collectivist society in South Korea where any individual acting against the Confucian values is subject to criticism and even social exclusion, the high expectations imposed on celebrities also make them more vulnerable to cyberbullying (DeBary & Haboush 1985) In this case, celebrities, who are regarded by the Korean society as role models, are expected to be flawless, leading them to be criticized for any mistakes they might make In other words, while it is acceptable for ordinary people to be imperfect, it is against the norm for celebrities to expose their weaknesses Harsh rumors, as a form of cyberbullying, end up being extremely sensitive for Korean stars as they can have lifetime effects on their reputation (Reynolds 2014) A popular example regarding the negative impacts of rumours on Korean stars is the case of singer Tablo and his Stanford controversy Tablo, a multi-talented artist, is the leader and producer of the veteran Korean hip-hop group Epik High Their achievement as the number one Korean band on the US iTunes chart in 2010 made them the leading group in hip-hop, a relatively new genre to the Korean music scene (Davis 2011) Being an emerging and influential artist in the entertainment industry brings along a higher risk of public rumours for Tablo As such, the controversy began in 2010 when he was accused of fabricating his Stanford University degrees as netizens found it impossible for him to graduate from both a bachelor and a master’s program in just 3,5 years This accusation can be put down to Tablo’s reputation as an honorable public figure, whose honesty is highly expected by the neo-Confucianist Korean society (Deuchler 1992) In response, Tablo revealed his academic transcripts, but it was in vain Things got worse when an online campaign titled “We Demand the Truth from Tablo” (Tajinyo) gained a whopping 190,000 members just a few days after its establishment The attack exacerbated as his mother was blamed for faking a gold medal she won at a hairstyle competition and his brother David, who worked for a broadcasting system, was fired and bombarded with death threats The harassment only alleviated when Tablo filmed a documentary showing his visit to Stanford and had the university’s registrar reprinted his documents on camera Many of his friends and professors also appeared to confirm his attendance at Stanford (Abbotts & Makowsky 2011) Although the speculations died down, the aftermath was serious Tablo eventually left his agent Woollim Entertainment He also revealed on a TV show that the stress created by this incident was damaging to his father’s death in 2012: “ after the rumors about me had been spread in 2011, my father fainted He was sent to the emergency room, but things didn't seem good" (Kpop Starz 2012) Tablo’s career as both a solo artist and a member of Epik High was also on hiatus for nearly years Nonetheless, it was fortunate that the singer himself did not choose to end his life, as many of his fellow stars did after facing online criticism To curb cyberbullying, legislative proposals and technological strategies aimed at governing Internet behaviors as well as social programs encouraging civility have been activated in South Korea The government has revised and enacted laws regarding online security, including a bill to punish those who insult others on the Internet with up to three years in jail or a US$30,000 fine In addition, a system of real-name registration was promoted, according to which Internet service providers are required to verify the identity of users before granting them Internet access (Sun 2008) However, due to the fears of hacking attacks aiming at personal information, the real-name system is essentially abandoned and users can go back to posting anonymously as much as they like (Bryant 2012) Meanwhile, a social campaign named “Sunfull” was initiated by a university professor with a view to removing derogatory message online and encouraging people to post positive replies on every social media platforms (Kim 2009) The campaign has been spreading nationwide, with millions of people including celebrities taking part in In terms of technology, the Korean government promoted an application that alerts parents when messages containing inappropriate contents arrive on their children’s smartphones (Arrouas 2014) Although these coping strategies initiated positive movements, generally they have yet to make influential impacts on clamping down the issue, putting South Korea back in the running battle against cyberbullying Despite many possibilities that social media have brought to human life, the abusive use of those platforms can also lead to several negative social changes In this case, the combination of digital advancements and a Confucian-based society has facilitated the growth of cyberbullying in South Korea where people can become extremely malicious on the Internet By providing a social media background as well as a discourse of cyberbullying among teenagers and celebrities, this essay emphasizes how physically and psychologically harmful this phenomenon can affect people’s well-being 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