Why Digital Ethics is not a “Young People” Concern

 

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.  - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Cyberbullying , digital plagiarism and online cheating are among the most talked-about ethical issues in media today. Sadly, much of this discussion unfairly blames new technologies, conflates morality with ethics and proposes tired old collectivist “solutions,” ignoring the real drivers of ethical blind spots and disconnects.

It's easy to pin all this on the internet, with so many recent accounts of unacceptable behavior on social media. War, bigotry and human rights abuses, however, are nothing new. If anything, the internet has enhanced awareness of these problems, especially for those of us fortunate enough to live in a relatively free society. The internet has only exacerbated our more animalistic tendencies going back to the dawn of humanity.

Morality can never address these behaviors, as it tends to have a scope limited to our awareness of those to whom we’re responsible (“known others”). Its theological underpinnings create a propensity to devalue those who don’t share our beliefs.

Consequential ethics only seek to avoid personal costs of unethical behavior. What might happen to me if I made bad choices? Clearly, this won’t stop racist and misogynistic behavior toward those we don’t care about. It holds no promise for an increasingly divided society.

Roles-based approaches have proved successful among professions whose members care about the responsibilities of their crafts. They generate precious little sense of duty beyond our colleagues and clients.

So, where do we turn for a broader understanding of the “global village?”

The notion that public education holds the key seems delusional given that our schools can hardly teach children to read and write, much less to decipher abstract ethical notions. Moreover, public education is just an extension of our ethically-challenged government. Look no further than our previous president, whose divisive tweets and disinformation campaigns nearly brought down our republic on January 6, 2021.

Solutions to these issues are neither simple nor easy, but there are some obvious places to start. Young people mirror the behaviors they see in older influencers. As communications professionals, we owe it to them to call out not only corrupt public officials but also those media outlets who promote sociopathic behavior through “entertainment news.”

Congress must end the Section 230 liability protections behind which social media hide while raking in billions in ad revenues by pandering to our animal instincts. And the Supreme Court must overturn the Sullivan doctrine and hold publications and broadcasts to the same standards of truth as the rest of us.

Perhaps then the consequential and roles-based ethics of journalism will drive us to promote a more global awareness.