Intro:
The person I am planning to collect data from is my favorite social media influencer/vlogger, Kylie Ross. Kylie has two platforms that I follow which are Instagram and Youtube. I am personally not super big on Youtube, but I love to watch Kylie’s vlogs so I do like and subscribe to her Youtube channel. Since I am not very familiar with Youtube and Kylie Ross is the only person I am subscribed to, I thought it would be interesting to collect data from her Youtube channel.
Method:
Recently, in one of Kylie’s Instagram stories she mentioned how there are obviously haters and internet trolls, but that she found Youtube to be the absolute worst for her. With that being said, I want to analyze her critical comments on Youtube. My main question for this method is; why is it so easy for Internet trolls to be masked cyberbullies? I am going to choose five of her most popular vlogs. I am curious to see if these people have an actual username and a profile picture. The difference between an actual username and not an actual username is that an actual username will be something similar to a first and last name (ex: Kylie Ross), and an example for not an actual username would be something like - “BigBadDinosaur”.
Literature Review:
In today’s society it is so easy for someone to hide behind a black screen and comment horrific things on your social media, and this is simply not okay. Cyberbullying has been a huge problem since social media became popular. Anyone can talk about someone behind their back but it is another thing to publicly shame someone for the rest of their followers to see, let alone to see it for yourself. Sadly, internet trolling is common on social media because it is easier for a stranger to deliberately judge you without you knowing who they are. Internet trolls will provocate anyone maliciously to make them feel good about themselves and to get a rise out of you. With that being said, this online behavior can cause severe problems to the user they are being critical to. These major problems could result in things like suicide, depression, physical harm, and psychological effects.
The reason I chose this particular topic itself is because recently I have started to come popular on Tik Tok. I only have a handful of videos and my comment section is usually fairly nice, but there are a few comments that have been really hurtful. I started thinking about these comments daily and really started to question myself, and that is when I realized - this is not okay. A couple days after my realization Kylie Ross posted a video on her Instagram feed sharing her experience with internet trolls, and she specified that her YouTube trolls have been the worst for her. Of course I know that social media platforms can be only an act for some influencers, but I genuinely believe that Kylie Ross means well and is a good human. Now it comes down to me trying to understand my main question which is; why is it so easy for Internet trolls to be masked cyberbullies?
Over the past decade, studies about cyberbullying have been made frequently. A research study was done by The University of Arizona on “Testing Assumptions About Cyberbullying: Perceived Distress Associated With Acts of Conventional and Cyberbullying” (Bauman, Sheri, and Matthew L. Newman, Psychology of Violence). The objective of the study was created to signal the potential harm caused by cyberbullying. Their method included an online questionnaire that described traditional and digital experience. The difference between a traditional experience, rather than a digital experience is whether the bullying took place face-to-face or on the Internet. As I have said previously, it is way easier to bully someone online behind a black screen. However, the results concluded that cyberbullying and conventional bullying are two different types of bullying, but neither types of bullying affected anyone in a different way. Also, the research conducted that females are more likely to experience more hurt from cyberbullying than males. This detail in their research is significant for me due to the fact that Kylie Ross is identified as a female, who is also an advocate for fitness and played a collegiate sport. There is no evidence that supports that cyberbullying is any different than bullying in general, “However, there is scant empirical evidence that cyberbullying is in fact a distinct construct from the more conventional forms (physical, verbal, and relational).”(Bauman, Sheri, and Matthew L. Newman, Psychology of Violence). With that being said, any type of bullying is bullying. As society continues to implement technology in our everyday lives, the concept of cyberbullying is only going to significantly increase.
Usually someone’s perception of a troll is a person with no profile picture and a random username. Social media trolls make their profiles this way to hide their identity so they can comment horrible things. For my approach, I am analyzing if each troll has a profile picture and/or an actual username. An actual username would mean if the username is something simple like a first and last name. Whereas not an actual username would be similar to something like “user1245246” or “PinkPanther ''. My approach is important because I am trying to point out a correlation between the users who are commenting. The theory I am testing is that the more critical the comment is, the user who commented the critical comment will have no profile picture and/or no actual username, or both. There is most likely a deeper connection to all the data I have gathered as to why internet trolls enjoy commenting vicious words. The relationship linking whether or not the trolls have a profile picture or an actual username is significant to answer my main question above, which was again; why is it so easy for Internet trolls to be masked cyberbullies? The importance of this particular topic means a lot to me personally because I have seen the way a few words have really affected people in my life, including myself. In today’s society trolling and cyberbullying is too common considering there are usually no consequences for their actions. Hopefully this approach could reach at least one person, if not all people, to be able to share the significance of trolling and cyberbullying and how society should no longer tolerate it.
Data:
Top 5 Vlogs:
My 5:45 AM Morning Routine (yes, I struggle)
Answering Your Questions
What I Eat In A Day - how I’m shredding my abs!!!!
Game Day Routine - how I prepare for D1 college soccer
Day In The Life - D1 Student Athlete
Statistics On Each Vlog:
My 5:45 AM Morning Routine (yes, I struggle)
Views: 522K
Length of Video: 9 minutes and 38 seconds
Comments: 514
Posted: January 26th, 2021
Answering Your Questions
Views: 93K
Length of Video: 18 minutes and 6 seconds
Comments: 274
Posted: July 28th, 2020
What I Eat in a Day - how I’m shredding my abs!!!
Views: 523K
Length of Video: 13 minutes
Comments: 585
Posted: May 2nd, 2020
Game Day Routine - how I prepare for D1 college soccer
Views: 515K
Length of Video: 10 minutes and 2 seconds
Comments: 353
Posted: October 28th, 2019
Day In The Life - D1 Student Athlete (Kylie’s first blog)
Views: 1.1 MILLION
Length of Video: 10 minutes and 54 seconds
Comments: 573
Posted: August 9th, 2019
Predicted Analysis:
My predicted analysis for Kylie’s critical comments are an average of ten total critical comments per video. Overall, I predict that Kylie will have a total of at least fifty critical comments for all five of her vlog videos. Lastly, I believe that most of her trolls will not have at least a profile picture or an actual username, if not both.
Results:
List of Critical Comments:
My 5:45 AM Morning Routine (yes, I struggle)
“giiiirrrrrrl what on earth are house shoes” (Profile pic and actual username)
“If you're going to be lifting weights you probably should not stretch before lifting” (profile picture but no actual username -username Lazy Turtle)
“I'm sure that u know guys she's just lying all the shit that she has done is a big lie” (no profile pic or actual username)
“F A K E” (profile pic but no actual username)
“you get plastic cups even if it‘s not take away and you stay in the cafe to drink it? What.... Americans really give zero fucks about the environment” (no profile pic but an actual username)
“So you are one of those psychos at the gym when its still dark outside” (no profile pic or an actual username)
Answering Your Questions
No critical comments!
What I Eat In A Day - how I’m shredding my abs!!!!
“Omg this is incredibly annoying to watch. Completely off putting darting around and stupid voices. Makes me feel nauseated and exhausted after just 30 seconds.” (yes profile picture does have an actual username)
“Why can’t you tubers just get to the point??? Like they have to talk for 5min straight about nothing at all” (no profile picture or actual username)
“Just stop.... not everyone meant to be a tuber..” (no profile picture or actual username)
“Shouldn’t you be social distancing” (no profile picture, does have an actual username)
“Looks like someone is following lockdown rules ....” (no profile picture)
“Girl you remind me of that guy peter from hunger games” (profile picture and username)
Game Day Routine - how I prepare for D1 college soccer
“What the absolute f*ck are those thighs holy shit” (no profile pic but an actual username)
“it doesn’t count if you’re a girl” (no profile pic but an actual username)
“Don't ever call that soccer again pls thanks” (no profile pic or actual username)
“You guys should be playing a lot better than you are… I’m sure you’re well aware of that. Maybe a little bit more focused on the game....” (no profile pic but an actual username)
Day In The Life - D1 Student Athlete
“I'm Better than half of u” (profile pic but no actual username)
“who tf r u” (profile pic and an actual username)
“what it's like to have parents with money” (profile pic but no actual username)
“How does this Team Not Touch a Football once, during their Training Session?” (no profile pic but an actual username)
“How do I get 11 minutes of my life back?” (no profile pic but an actual username)
“college women sports is a waste of $$$” (no profile pic or actual username)
“you haven't even touched a ball!!!!” (no profile pic or actual username)
“damn those are eyebrows!” (profile pic and actual username)
“ It is FOOTBALL, not a fucking “soccer”. Understand, bish?” (no profile pic or actual username)
“ugly bitch” (no profile pic or actual username- username was FuriousPenguin)
“Shut up” (profile pic but no actual username)
“Lol ain’t real” (no profile pic or actual username)
“Send some of daddy’s money this way” (profile pic but no actual username -username was LOL)
“Gaaay” (profile pic and actual username - username Paul Perez)
“So wonder how many of the parents bribed to get their girls on the soccer team” (no profile pic but an actual username)
“You can't bend it like I can!” (no profile pic or username)
“Yo eyebrows thicc” (profile pic but no actual username)
“This Is the definition of privileged” (no profile pic or actual username)
Total Critical Comments for Each Blog:
My 5:45 AM Morning Routine (yes, I struggle)
Total Critical Comments: 6
Answering Your Questions
Total Critical Comments: 0
What I Eat In A Day - how I’m shredding my abs!!!!
Total Critical Comments: 5
Game Day Routine - how I prepare for D1 college soccer
Total Critical Comments: 5
Day In The Life - D1 Student Athlete
Total Critical Comments: 17
Critical Comment with Profile Picture:
My 5:45 AM Morning Routine (yes, I struggle)
Profile Picture: 2
Answering Your Questions
Profile Picture: 0
What I Eat In A Day - how I’m shredding my abs!!!!
Profile Picture: 2
Game Day Routine - how I prepare for D1 college soccer
Profile Picture: 0
Day In The Life - D1 Student Athlete
Profile Picture: 7
Critical Comments with an Actual Username:
My 5:45 AM Morning Routine (yes, I struggle)
Actual Username: 2
Answering Your Questions
Actual Username: 0
What I Eat In A Day - how I’m shredding my abs!!!!
Actual Username: 3
Game Day Routine - how I prepare for D1 college soccer
Actual Username: 3
Day In The Life - D1 Student Athlete
Actual Username: 6
The Same Critical Comments has BOTH; A Profile Picture and an Actual Username:
My 5:45 AM Morning Routine (yes, I struggle)
Actual Username: 1
Answering Your Questions
Actual Username: 0
What I Eat In A Day - how I’m shredding my abs!!!!
Actual Username: 2
Game Day Routine - how I prepare for D1 college soccer
Actual Username: 0
Day In The Life - D1 Student Athlete
Actual Username: 3
Results:
Before I calculated all of the data I gathered, my prediction was that most of her trolls will not have at least a profile picture or an actual username, if not both. Sadly, I was very mistaken. Interestingly, there were more internet trolls that actually had a profile picture and an actual username than without. There were even less internet trolls that had both, a profile picture and a username. Meaning, most of the trolls did not care if people knew who they were when they commented ugly words on a strangers profile.
Conclusion:
Although these people have a profile and an actual username, when it comes to cyberbullying the people making these comments assume they will not have to deal with any consequences because they hide behind their devices, using it as a mask. I believed that most of Kylie’s Internet trolls would be your typical Internet troll, the type of troll who hides their identity, but sadly some of the trolls were unmasked cyberbullies. I believe this is the worst result that could have come out of this project. It is truly sad to know that there are people in the world who do not care whether or not their words are hurting someone else’s feelings, especially someone who is a complete stranger to them. Cyberbullying and trolling are way too common in today’s society for there to be no consequences for their malicious actions. The importance of this topic is severe since the world revolves are the words of social media. Hopefully overtime, the severity of these online actions will be addressed and changed for the better. In the meantime, I hope this approach reaches someone, if not everyone, so that the Internet can become a safer and more friendly place.
Sources:
Bauman, Sheri, and Matthew L. Newman. “Testing Assumptions about Cyberbullying: Perceived Distress Associated with Acts of Conventional and Cyber Bullying.” Psychology of Violence, vol. 3, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 27–38.
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