The Reproductions of Social Media

Accountable by Dashka Slater is a nonfiction novel that reviewed the incident that occurred in 2017 on social media at Albany High. At this high school, a teenage boy created an Instagram account with his friends where he posted racist jokes and ideas to his followers. Many black students were targeted on that account which later on was exposed to not only the whole school, but the whole country. This situation led to a lot of mixed emotions at Albany High School and was soon involved with the legal system. Social media, more specifically Instagram, exposed and exacerbated the racist incident at Albany High by highly publicizing the account. Media apps should be responsible for what is allowed on their platforms.

Social media was the main cause for the spread of the account at Albany High. At this high school, this occurrence that happened with a group of boys at a Bay Area high school affected many people. The racist account that they created was shared with more people than they intended and it soon reached the people whom the posts were about, “There’s a racist Instagram account, " they told her. A ton of people are following it. And there are pictures of you on it” (Slater 54). Social media was the main culprit for why this situation got out of hand. Not only did social media create this, because the racist account was made on Instagram, but it is realistic to assume that this incident would not have been as broadcasted if it wasn’t for social media. Additionally, one of the students was talking about what happened and he said “I was trying to save my perceived popularity and public” (Slater 84). This truly illustrates how big of an impact social media has on teenagers. I believe one big reason no one stopped what was happening on this account sooner, is because they were too afraid of what others would think about them. Social media has become so normalized everywhere and is usually a big part of everyday life. If someone is shunned and rejected on social media, they are practically being avoided in person as well. Media was the main reason for the wide broadcasting of the situation at Albany High School.

Also, social media has to be responsible for the things and posts shared on their platforms. In this situation at Albany High, everything has happened on social media. The main culprit of the account, Charles, started the account with the use of social media. He later on deleted the account which made it very difficult to identify who made the disrespectful posts, “It’s a complicated task to investigate allegations of cyberbullying. Snapchats disappear, DM groups are closed to outsiders, and people are often afraid of providing evidence to administration” (Slater 63). This further adds to the fact that people are fearful of releasing information about someone’s social media. So, these platforms should do a better job of regulating cyberbullying so it doesn’t become as widespread as it did at this high school. In addition, social media not only worsened the situation, but it led to many people feeling upset about it. One of the students from the account was talking about his beliefs on social media, “When people shame us in a degrading way, this poses a threat to our identity. One way we can deal with [this] threat is to reject our rejecters” (Slater 251). This shows how the shame they felt on social media didn’t exactly make them any more apologetic for what they did, it just made them more defensive and uptight. This is why these media apps have to be more cautious about forms of hate speech on their platforms because they are responsible for what is allowed.

In conclusion, social media’s broadcast of the circumstances at Albany made the situation worse and this further shows how these platformed need to be more accountable. These events make me wonder what the reaction to something similar would be at SRHS. After having a discussion circle with the principal, Mr. Dominguez, I believe that the staff’s reaction would be quicker and more prepared. This novel truly illustrates the damage that can happen when people are not educated about racial topics.