How does Technology impact violence?

Technology can bring the world closer together, through social media, virtual reality, digital technology, and more.  Technology is also used to spread hostility, hate speech, and to encourage or incite people to rise up and commit violence against others. Incitement is found in political speeches grounded in bias and not in fact, and through texts and messages that go viral with misinformation, unfounded blame, and outrage that seek to force other people or communities to fear for their livelihood and lives.   Technologies that spread hostility and violence see others as a target, with an aim to steal their dignity and rights.  Local to national governments, religious leaders and authorities, private industry and all of us in our local communities have a very clear role in responding to hate speech and violence, as an affront to all human rights and dignity. 

Ways to Learn More

• Watch the Introductory Video above.
• Listen to the Interviews below.
• Consider the Reflection Questions below and engage with their resources using the Conversation Guide.
  

interviews

Questions & Resources

What is Social Media as a Technology?

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ARTICLES

• Social media fact sheet – Pew Research Center
• Social media usage in 2018 – Pew Research Center
• News use across social media platforms 2016 – Pew Research Center
• Faith no more: Millennials are losing their religion and social media might explain why - Quartz
• Pro-Gun Russian bots flood Twitter after Parkland shooting - Wired
• The next Russian attack will be far worse than bots and trolls – Brookings
• How social media is changing the church – The Conversation
• How smart phones and social media are changing Christianity – BBC
• Social media is driving the rise of hate crime but it can also stop it – The Telegraph
• Facebook, Google, and Twitter tell congress their platforms spread Russian-based  propaganda – Ars Technica
  

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BOOKS

Fuchs, C. (2017). Social media: A critical introduction

Campbell, H. (2010). When religion meets new media.

Campbell, H. (2012). Digital religion: Understanding religious practice in new media worlds.

Bostsman, R.(2017).  Who can you trust?: How technology brought us together and why it might drive us apart

Van Dijck, J. (2013). The culture of connectivity: A critical history of social media

Cheong, P., Fisher-Nielsen, P. Gelfgren, S. and Ess, C. (2012) Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture: Perspectives, Practices and Futures

Detweiler, C. (2013). iGods: How technology shapes our spiritual and social lives.

Hojsgaard, M. and Warburg, M. (eds). (2005). Religion and Cyberspace.

Wagner, R. (2011). Godwired: Religion, ritual and virtual reality

How does technology impact our future?

ARTICLES

• The future of free speech, Trolls, anonymity and fake news online - Pew Research Center.
• Theme 1: Things will stay bad, Part 1 – Pew Research Center
• Theme 3: Things will get better – Pew Research Center
• Theme 4: Oversight and community moderation come with a cost – Pew Research center
• Theme 5: Tech can’t win the battle – Pew Research Center
• Theme 6: Trust will diminish because the internet is not secure and powerful forces threaten indiviudals’ rights -  Pew Research Center
• The future of free speech trolls anonymity and fake news online – Pew Research Center
  

Does technology promote violence?

ARTICLES

• War goes viral – The Atlantic
• ADL adds “Pepe the Frog" memes, Used by Anti-Semites and Racists, to Online Hate Symbols Database – Anti-Defamation League 
  
• How Trolls are Ruining the Internet – Time  
  
• Former Facebook workers: We routinely suppressed conservative news – Gizmodo
• Weaponized Narrative is the New Battlespace - Defense One
  
• Pizzagate: From rumor to hastag to gunfire – The Washington Post
• Facebook, Twitter, Google under fire across the pond – Columbia Journalism Review 
• Online hate crimes to be treated the same as face to face crime in the UK – Tech Crunch

Does technology promote hate speech?

ARTICLES

• How tech supports hate – Southern Poverty Law Center
• Silicon valley’s year of hate – Southern Poverty Law Center 
• Bitcoin and the alt right – Southern Poverty Law Center
• 2017: The year in hate and extremism – Southern Poverty Law Center
• Weekend read. It took Charlottesville for Silicon Valley to stand up to hate – Southern Poverty Law Center
• Has the internet become a failed state? – The Guardian
• Can Tech stand against white supremacy? – The New Republic
• Tech Companies in the Crosshairs on White Supremacy and Free Speech – US News and World
• Tech is not winning the battle against white supremacy – Tech Crunch
• Tech bros and white supremacists: A union based in paranoia and power – Salon
• White supremacists use of Pepe the Frog fought by its creator – Bloomberg Politics
• White supremacists have stumbled into a huge issue in genetic ancestry testing – Technology Review
• A list of websites and apps that have banned, blocked, deleted, and stopped white supremacists –Quartz 
• The rise of Andrew Anglin’s neo-Nazi website, the Daily Stormer – Southern Poverty Law Center
  

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BOOKS

Citron, D. (2016). Hate crimes in cyberspace

MacKinnon, R. (2013). Consent of the networked: The worldwide struggle for Internet freedom

Wu, T. (2011). The Master switch: The rise and fall of information empires

Does Technology have positive impacts? 

ARTICLES

• Need to report a hate crime? There may be an app for that – Boston Globe
• Teaching tolerance – Southern Poverty Law Center
  

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