Effects Of Social Media On Mass Shootings

A growing concern of the violence outbreak in social media has been increasing over the years. Social media is one of the causes of physical abuse, sexual violence, recorded torture, and even shootings. Even though technology has increased the epidemic of violence, it is beneficial for law enforcement to develop facial recognition of gang members. Furthermore, because of the advancement of technology, we are able to use Facebook live and other recording devices. With this in mind, individuals may post an inappropriate picture--which could go viral-- or expose a recorded violent video. While social media contributes to one of the problems of physical violence--recorded torture, shootings, and cyber dating abuse-- it however has a positive effect,
United States is one of the largest containing mass shootings. America takes up 5% of the world’s population, roughly 31% of the mass shootings have happened in the United States alone (Ivy and Meindl). Conventional wisdom tends to claim our country has a substantial problem with mass shootings, consequently having a theory behind the dilemma. The theory has been suggested as the contagion effect, which is similar to the copycat effect. In other words, the effect implies that the hostile behavior is labeled as contagious and spreads across the community. The contagion effect is supported by evidence, which states, “when a mass shooting occurs, there is a temporary increase in the probability of another event within the next 13 days on average”(Ivy and Meindl). Researchers have assumed the occurrence of the events must have a theory as a result of the actions. Ivy and Meindl is surely right about the contagion theory because, as they may not be aware, other studies show social media is not the only cause of the mass shootings. On the other hand, social media develops an increasing rate of the population viewing the events, therefore causing them to demonstrate imitation. Many individuals possess a fantasizing dream of becoming viral and internet famous. As the prominent author, Jacob Silverman puts it, “But to the partisans of social media, a sudden
Law enforcement has been working hard to stop this issue. Luckily, social media and cameras help discover increased amount of evidence. Moreover, police can view surveillance footage from gas stations, stores, and possibly phones. Like I stated above, technology advancements have been made, benefiting law enforcements with gang related crimes. Most gang members that contain a social media account have the site public. Social media accounts reveal habits, friends, family, and interests. Whenever these individuals post a picture, they may contain tattoos and their other partners. In addition, with the increase of evidence, it is not difficult to obtain information for the databases. For example, “The fact that police officers use the information found on a suspect’s social media profile to create a gang database and then search that database using facial recognition technology does not violate a suspect’s reasonable expectations of privacy” (Behrman). With the help of social media and camera surveillance, police can develop a gang database. Facial recognition cameras notify the law enforcement, when a suspect violates a law. This technology pre-identifies the suspects in the database, to be sure they can track the gang members. As time goes on, evidence from surveillance and social media increases, creating a profile of gang members along with their background. I agree that social media and camera surveillance