Twitter- Burning Mannerisms in name of Freedom of Speech?! - Page 2

I don't know much about twitter because I don't use it. But I agree with the topic. I have never been comfortable watching OTT series with my family, though they are otherwise quite gripping if we slash out the expletives. It is gross. I actually was rotfl when I saw a lady like Dimple Kapadia say Ch***** loud and clear in some series I cant recall the name of now 😆 I was like, what was that? And as we talk of Twitter and OTT here, lets not forget books! I find a very casual use of the F word by most celebrated of authors, and I then feel - ok, it no longer is a swear word, it used to be so in the 90s 😛 

To a large extent..OTT is to be blamed for this. No censorship, vulgarity at its peak are responsible for kids/people are using such foul language.

Even the girls today  of the age 10, 12 are also using the word like chu*****, La**** while communicating with their friends. This is really scary. 

I don't know whether these kids really know the meaning of the words they are saying😢😢

Even the accounts which has huge number of followers try to make as much controversial post as they can in order to get these people to their pages /accounts. I have seen many platform in the name of inspiration they just post a story of some people which does not go well with everyone. Recently i saw a post a man marrying another man, a women marrying herself the comments which are posted on those are very cheap. Its their right to live as they want. Freedom of speech does not mean some one will condemn others freedom. The social media influencers should inspire people by posting what made them to take that decision than just making mockery out of their decision. Everyone has their own way of living. If her/his family is okay with their decision who are they to badmouth them on their decision. 

Even I have seen people getting personal and bad mouthing just because some one said something about their fav actor.  Or some one tried to put their pov.  But some accounts purposefully  tries to create controversies to get a reaction from others. 

There was word called as publicity stunt and now we can see that happening in all over social media. 

I am not even comfortable watching those series with my parents as they sort of show lots of things which does not go well with my parents. Whats the point of making  a show where one sect of people are not even comfortable to watch it with their family. Earlier days movie nights are with family but now a days how many shows we can clearly think of watching with family. Most of them we just watch it on phone in order to avoid our family judging us 🤣

I have quit Twitter for good because it had become way too toxic for me. I mostly used to be part of ITV fds and they're as toxic as bollywood or politics fans. In the name of 'Unpopular opinions' they would abuse and insult celebs and then play victim card when their fandoms retaliate. Abusing, namecalling and insulting celebs has become a *cool* thing there and all those accounts that abuse fandoms and celebs have lot of followers.

Apart from abusing I also found fangirling worrisome. People worship their favorites as if they are all perfect of reincarnation of Gods and Goddesses. They can't tolerate even 1 word of healthy criticism against their celebs. In fact this blind worshipping of celebs let me quit Twittet for good.

All I would say is people show an altogether opposite personality of themselves on sm. They may not be abusing in real life but do the same on sm because that's how they get attention. I do feel all those big accounts that are known to create drama must be introverts in real life. Another thing I noticed is people abuse other people or celebs because no action can be taken against them. More than freedom of speech it's the lack of action against them is what makes them abuse others more.

Only reason why I never joined Twitter is due to the hate and toxicity is found normal there.

Boycott is a completely different thing, bcoz if something is made we have all the right to take it or leave it. 

But abuse isn't cool 

Worst is 

If some law or something is even made

People are gonna come with 'Our Freedom of Speech is being snatched'

Convientely ignoring that it is not right to speech being taken away rather right to abuse.

It will only increase due to OTT and other mediums hyping them and kids having easy access of Internet and thinking it is cool. 

I disagree with the fact that usage of swear words has increased because of social media. I have observed very elderly people using such cuss words as normal. This community can hardly read in English, let alone use social media. The only thing that I have observed is change of medium. Earlier it was oral, which meant you have to be within hearing range to recognize the words. If you haven't heard someone swearing it is quite likely that they delibrately filter out words in front of you and would use those words liberally with some other people. But on SM, the medium is written, along with automated suggestions, so if you watch one video/tweet with the cuss word, it is likely that more such video/tweet will appear on your feed. As rightly pointed out, anonymity is a good reason.

I think it's important to clarify that while Twitter (and other social media websites) do offer a platform for speech, that speech is restricted according to their respective goals. 

That being said - your first paragraph seeks to contradict the premise of Freedom of Speech entirely. You cannot have a platform facilitate free speech, while simultaneously restricting speech based on a subjective opinion. Free speech is what is it - it is the right to express yourself in an unrestricted manner (subject to the rules of either the government if we're discussing a public forum or the private companies, as in this topic). Take IF versus Twitter: on the latter platform, you are allowed to freely use crass words; while the former platform heavily restricts it. [I address harmful/fighting speech below] 

So the question becomes: Should Twitter restrict speech on a deeper level (like IF as a comparison) to prevent crass language?

My response: No. Crass language is another form of expression regardless of whether you believe in it or not. As long as it doesn't hurt/act racist/prejudicial/discriminatory towards a distinct group, as long as it isn't used to incite violence (fighting words), etc. crass language is objectively harmless speech. 

Me calling you the "F-word" on an online platform is only enticing words to provoke a reaction and it's significantly less harmful than me threatening violence against you. Further, restricting that sort of speech doesn't shield the class of people you are trying to protect (ie. young teens). That language will still be present in their real life, so limiting that type of speech affords no real benefit. Again using hate speech as an example - there is a significant benefit from restricting hate speech because we don't want other people to be influenced and adopt that hate speech to further commit crimes against a specific group of people. 

Subtopic: Speech as it relates to boycotting/trends

General Rule: Online social media can bring out the worst in a person.  Unless you have your face and personal information, it's highly unlikely that a person will behave in a civilized manner on social media if they are protected by anonymity. We see that everywhere - Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, even IF (Facebook has it too, but the language isn't as toxic as Twitter I feel). There is no moral compass for some online users, so it's futile to hold them to that standard. 

But despite that negativity, there are benefits to Twitter (and other social media): We are able to connect with anyone in the world instantly, simultaneously. News is able to spread faster than before, and we can collectively hold people/companies/etc. accountable for their actions to create change. 


Overall

Twitter's Toxic culture is just one aspect though. There's influencers, YouTubers, real life influences, upbringing, your own sphere of influence, etc. that will continue to affect an individual's life. The responsibility to carve out a path separate from such toxicity returns to either the parent/guardian if it's a minor, or oneself if it's an adult. 

But there are far greater issues at heart than foul language, and the focus should be on preventing those elements from invading a substantial portion of internet space because those are true violations of the right to expression - which I think is slowly beginning to take shape. But that's a topic for another day. 

Humans have always been pieces of $hit wherever they go ... and they will continue to be pieces of $hit on whatever space they invade. I don't think profanity should be blocked because it is a normal way some groups of people communicate (upbringing, etc.); but if that profanity leads to hate speech or incites violence - then it should be limited and restricted. People say "mean things" all the time -- it doesn't mean we cut it out. It would make the world a difficult place to live in because our speech would be controlled by the subjective opinions of a few. 

Social media is a very powerful medium. We came from a generation that was exposed to it in our adulthood.

Kids today, are exposed to it far too early to understand the implications. That is not to say that adults are any better at managing their social media.

Infact, kids have access to far too much information far too soon. They, notwithstanding their age, behave and speak much the same way like us adults.

While the media had given a voice to the voiceless, generated awareness, given a way to share their points of view, it has its equal and opposite consequences.

Just as our parents were worried about us having a television running full time (even thought there were just 1 or 2 channels) to worried about cable television, we are worried about social media and rightly so.

It is the helplessness to control this is the issue and I don't think there is actually a way around it.

The helplessness is not about trying to control a situation with adults, they are expected to be rational. It is our helplessness in avoiding this with our children and the fear of their future.

Thank you everyone for your inputs, it's very interesting to read all kinds of perspectives on this topic. I really appreciate everyone who has shared their thoughts on this.

I will generalize by saying that Yes! SM Platforms have their own benefits, very useful to be up to date with what is going on in the world, current affairs are quickly known and spread via these Platforms. I am against SM like Twitter/Instagram/Youtube being banned but have to admit that the language used on these sites are way more disturbing than anything else.

I was brought up in India and while growing up, we never used to use words that are being used today commonly in our daily conversations, once in blue moon it was okay and not paid much attention to when used, but that was 90’s when there were serious issues that needed attention. People today I agree with many of you that inorder to look “cool” use such language, the thirst of being accepted within online peers, growing followers and getting “noticed” plays the X factor in making people of all kinds of ages write such stuff.

I agree with Anonymity of users, acting different on SM sites and acting different in person, these individuals I kind lean towards, figuring out the difference and keeping oneself in check with the mannerism when you meet them in person. Yes OTT platforms usage of such profanity has encouraged members to post in such language on these sites. Somewhere there comes a line between being fine and not being okay with what you read on SM sites.

Yes its okay to write posts, but the profanity of these is just unacceptable, why unacceptable? I read tweets 1,2,3,4 ,5 which are not clean worded, It is stuck on my mind, I feel disturbed after an hour or two, I want to rant about it, but thanks to Twitter space for a tweet I refrain most of the times. I try to forget those by listening to music etc, the main point here is that these tweets are disturbing even if you are in for such a language to be used on these SMs. The number of people using such language is increasing day in day out. This grows concern to me, in countries other than India too there is similar situation the F word, swears are used and celebrities/ politicians are being mocked for little to no reason, just for fun sake among youth or I may say even adults.

Again adults and parents choice shapes the future kid, but at the same time parents do not want their kids to be lagging behind and left out in the current times, so they allow and pay little to no attention on what is being written by their kids on these sites.