Sugar and Spice and Not Very Nice

There have always been, and probably always will be, mean girls but has the saturation of social media and technology amongst young people made it easier for them to be even meaner?  Stories of mobs of girls filming themselves beating other girls and posting the videos to YouTube or Facebook leave audiences horrified.  How could girls, made of sugar and spice and everything nice, do something so seemingly evil?

Scholars have long documented the need young adolescent girls feel to be accepted by and into social groups.  Being well liked and having status is of the utmost importance and so often tactics of relational aggression, manifest in gossip, social exclusion and manipulation, and rumor spreading (Willer 416).
These issues have long existed but the rise of social media makes promoting one's own status by engaging in these practices just so much easier.  It is as if social power is a commodity.  There is only so much of it so it must be earned or stolen through social interaction either by building oneself up, or tearing another girl down.
The problem is there is now little escape from such relational aggression, short of total social isolation.  Because of the pervasiveness of social media technology acts of relational aggression no longer occur as isolated incidents among a few in the community but rather as waves that sweep over one's entire social network.  With the click of a button relationally aggression is shared with the world, ensuring that it is almost inescapable for the recipient.
Social media provides a lot of social power, power which adolescent girls in particular may lack in other aspects of their lives.  But for all the concern given about male oppression of females it seems that the oppressed has become the oppressor.  Girls have use their new found sense of agency in social media to tear down other girls instead of oppressive structures.

The whole situation is a little bit horrifying, should not be cause for dismissal of social media.  Since these technologies are new there is a learning curve.  I suspect that parents, unfamiliar with the medium have struggled to find realistic ways to deal with children and social networking.  I think however, we can put hope in the idea that social media has the potential to be empowering and not just demeaning.  Once again, media education of both adolescents and parents is key to a resolution of the situation.  Girls in particular need to learn how to channel their power to build up without tearing down and social networks are the first place to do that.



 References
Willer, E. K., & Cupach, W. R. (2008). When “Sugar and Spice” Turn to “Fire and Ice”: Factors Affecting the Adverse Consequences of Relational Aggression among Adolescent Girls. Communication Studies, 59(4), 415-429. doi:10.1080/10510970802473674
http://parentingteens.about.com/b/2008/04/19/girls-fighting-youtube-videos-are-mean-girls-getting-meaner.htm
http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/too_cruel_for_school_CljzKtibmTTODrdsI4caAO
http://mg.co.za/article/2011-01-21-mean-girls-get-meaner-online