Online harassment is a pervasive and pernicious problem. Techniques like natural language processing and machine learning are promising approaches for identifying abusive language, but they fail to address structural power imbalances perpetuated by automated labeling and classification. Similarly, platform policies and reporting tools are designed for a seemingly homogenous user base and do not account for individual experiences and systems of social oppression. This paper describes the design and evaluation of HeartMob, a platform built by and for people who are disproportionately affected by the most severe forms of online harassment. We conducted interviews with 18 HeartMob users, both targets and supporters, about their harassment experiences and their use of the site. We examine systems of classification enacted by technical systems, platform policies, and users to demonstrate how 1) labeling serves to validate (or invalidate) harassment experiences; 2) labeling motivates bystanders to provide support; and 3) labeling content as harassment is critical for surfacing community norms around appropriate user behavior. We discuss these results through the lens of Bowker and Star's classification theories and describe implications for labeling and classifying online abuse. Finally, informed by intersectional feminist theory, we argue that fully addressing online harassment requires the ongoing integration of vulnerable users' needs into the design and moderation of online platforms.

Extensive scholarship has investigated technology use among families. Existing work has focused primarily on parents' reactions to and restrictions of their children's technology use; here, we explore the underlying tensions surrounding technology use in the home. We draw on historical perspectives of adolescence and family life to better understand technology's impact on present-day parents and teens. Through an interview study with 18 parent-child pairs (19 parents; 23 children, ages 10-17), we find a number of technology tensions, including 1) parents' underestimation of children's technology use; 2) children's perception that parents only tell them which behaviors to avoid; 3) both parents' and children's poor adherence to household technology rules; and 4) parents' and children's desire for mutual attention. We argue that the use of personal devices introduces distinctive challenges into modern family life, due to the limited visibility (or practical obscurity) of personal device use, expectations of constant connectivity, and overly-romanticized notions of family time. We consider the historical evolution of both teenage and family life, and conclude that consistent and realistic expectations around work, attention, and adolescence may help families better manage household technology use.

No abstract

Adolescents in the United States today can choose from a variety of social media platforms, which afford varying degrees of anonymity, allowing users to engage in anonymous, pseudonymous, or "real name" interactions in order to meet social or informational goals. Although many social media platforms are "profile-centric" and include an emphasis on the profile of a specific user and his or her actions (Ellison & boyd, 2013), others specifically encourage anonymous (e.g., Yik Yak) or pseudonymous (e.g., Reddit) interactions. Despite known benefits associated with varying degrees of identifiability, few platforms enable users to choose between multiple forms of identity expression using a single account. In this article, we use semi-structured interview data collected from US adolescents aged 13-18 years (N = 22) to explore adolescents' use of selective anonymity on an online platform that allows for both anonymous and pseudonymous interaction. We contribute to scholarship on mediated anonymous interaction by explicating the reasons why young adults might choose to interact in contexts that do not contribute to their overall social media presence (e.g., their "real name" or persistently identifiable accounts) by examining adolescents' social practices on Ask.fm, a question-and-answer (Q&A) site popular with teenagers, and the outcomes they associate with its use. Adolescents' use of anonymous interaction is an important topic of study given the developmental processes associated with this stage of life, the high rates of social media use among this population, and the affordances of social media sites that shape the social and psychological outcomes of their use. Prior literature associates anonymity with both positive and negative outcomes. For instance, anonymous and pseudonymous platforms are often linked with disinhibited behaviors (Suler, 2004), which can include abuse and harassment (Cho & Acquisti, 2013; Diakopoulos & Naaman, 2011). However, because people 670673S MSXXX10.1177/2056305116670673Social Media + SocietyEllison et al.

In immersive virtual reality (VR) environments, experiences of harassment can be exacerbated by features such as synchronous voice chat, heightened feelings of presence and embodiment, and avatar movements that can feel like violations of personal space (such as simulated touching or grabbing). Simultaneously, efforts to govern these developing spaces are made more complex by the distributed landscape of virtual reality applications and the dynamic nature of local community norms. To better understand this nascent social and psychological environment, we interviewed VR users (n=25) about their experiences with harassment, abuse, and discomfort in social VR. We find that users' definitions of what constitutes online harassment are subjective and highly personal, which poses significant challenges for the enforcement of platform- or application-level policies. We also find that embodiment and presence in VR spaces make harassment feel more intense, while ephemerality and non-standardized application controls make it difficult to escape or report unwanted behavior. Finally, we find that shared norms for appropriate behavior in social VR are still emergent, and that users distinguish between newcomers who unknowingly violate expectations for appropriate behavior and those users who aim to cause intentional harm. We draw from social norms theory to help explain why norm formation is particularly challenging in virtual reality environments, and we discuss the implications of our findings for the top-down governance of online communities by platforms. We conclude by recommending alternative strategies for community governance.