Girls go online due to fear of missing out in spite of sexism, stalking, harassment on social media
girls still flock to social media due to FOMO, in spite of all the negativity
If you are a girl or young woman reading this, what would be more worrying for you when going online: FOMO, or the fear of missing out, or the sexual predators and misogynists roaming social media? A rather worrying study in the UK has found that in spite of the hidden dangers, young women are flocking to social media because of FOMO.
The survey by the NGO Girlguiding had more than 2,000 respondents.
It revealed that girls and young women aged 11 to 21 face unwanted sexual images and cyberstalking when surfing the net and social media.
Even as nearly 20 per cent of the respondents said they faced online stalking, many continue to go back to these platforms, with more than half of the respondents on TikTok and Snapchat.More than a third saw unwanted sexual content while online.
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But connectivity is not bringing any more happiness to the young girls. Half of the respondents felt uncertain about their future. Only a quarter felt confident about their lives.
And paradoxically, the feeling that online connections are strong has decreased in the past four years, meaning greater connectivity is only leading to more vulnerability for the youth.
One of the issues reported is not new: the unrealistic beauty standards pushed by social media.
A report in The Guardian quoted a Girlguiding advocate Jia,17, as saying that this pressure exacerbates feelings of judgement and comparison, causing loneliness and low self esteem.
“Being online all the time amplifies this. While we’re ‘more connected’, we’re also more exposed to judgment and comparison – through body shaming, sexist jokes, online harassment and objectification. This fuels loneliness and erodes our confidence, which only makes it harder to feel positive about the future,” the paper quoted her as saying.
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The girls and young women face a number of other issues when online: 85 per cent of respondents experienced sexism. For more than 50 per cent, sexismhappened in real life, while nearly three quarters faced it online.
Sexism fuels thoughts of not feeling safe, with 47 per cent of the girls feeling threatened. This is more than double the rate 10 years ago.
The silver lining of the survey is that44 per cent of the respondents still have hope about their futures.
Angela Salt, Girlguiding's CEO, said sexism continues to be pervasive, leaving many girls feeling vulnerable and unsafe, while noting that it was “devastating to see girls feel less confident about themselves and their futures”.
The survey was published amid plans by the UK government to classify extreme misogyny as a form of extremism.
(With inputs from agencies)
