Date

Spring 5-20-2016

Document Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

Humanities & Communication

First Advisor

David Reichard

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand whether individuals are losing their sense of compassion through the use of using social media. I will be examining the social media sites Facebook and YouTube, and I will provide examples as to how people are losing their compassion through use of these sites in order to victimize and bully others.

I will be discussing cyberbullying within this essay and how it is an example of how individuals are losing their compassion online. My primary source will be the case of Amanda Todd, who was a severely bullied fifteen year-old girl who posted a video on YouTube in 2012. In this video, Todd explained her story to the world as to why she was being cyberbullied and hoped to gain compassion from social media users. Instead of individuals expressing compassion toward Todd, they only increased her torment by posting horrible comments on her video, goading the young teenager to kill herself. A month after posting the video, Todd committed suicide.

Based off the tragic case of Amanda Todd, I will explain my argument through a psychological and ethical approach, that individuals are losing their compassion online. I will further be exploring the idea of “compassion fatigue” and how it may have played a role in social media users reacting the way they did towards Todd’s YouTube video. Lastly, I will also be discussing the ways in which individuals can maintain their humanity online in this ever-changing, and fast-paced technological age.

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