School shootings are on the rise around the world. Professor, who is a lecturer in the Criminology department at Metro State University in the USA and conducts research on school attacks. Dr. James Densley said that virtual media platforms are also responsible for these attacks. Speaking to CNN Turk's Serdar Korucu, Densley said that children used to spend their adolescence at school, in their own environment and with their families, but the internet has completely changed this process and added: "If you are a lonely and angry young person, you used to have to make a plan from scratch, but now the internet offers you a road map. There are heroic perpetrators, jokes, slogans and ultimately a path to violence. Virtual media has changed the way young people interact with each other."
Prof. Densley underlined that children do not only follow music groups on virtual media, and stated that violence is encouraged: "The complexion of the situation changes when someone brings up darker topics, shares content containing violence and brutality, a manifesto, or starts talking about a school attack. Some may see this as harmless at first, but it is not. At that point, virtual media ceases to be a place for bonding."
Prof. Dr. James Densley stated that, according to the research results, a new attacker profile has emerged all over the world, and a generation that is younger and more connected to the internet has emerged: "We must not forget that we have a generation that grew up on the internet and spent a significant part of its development during the coronavirus epidemic, where almost all of life was lived online. Artificial intelligence and other factors continue to affect them. The world seems to be an extremely unstable and unsafe place for these young people. They do not see the future that my generation or the generations before me saw. There is a clear ideology in these online spaces." "There are bits and pieces coming from everywhere, and they combine them. Sometimes they are drawn to the symbol of a movement, sometimes they are inspired by videos on TikTok. They have a strong desire to leave a mark on the world. They make videos, collect photos, and adopt the style of those they admire."
Stating that virtual media is based on the "attention economy" and that the algorithm rewards attention and interaction, Prof. Densley noted that violent videos also spread in this way: "Therefore, when a curious child watches a single video clip of a violent event, the system perceives this as a sign of interest and recommends another video. Then it starts to show more extreme, dark content. Moreover, the child has not consciously chosen it. A more serious risk is this: The algorithm connects young people not only to other content, but also to other people; that is, it reaches other people who have liked that content and interacted with it. The algorithm, that is, the system." This structure itself, integrated into its design, needs to be emphasized.”
Prof. Densley said that virtual media is also responsible for the increasing violence among young people: "If a company designs a system that presents violent content that a young person does not want, it should also take responsibility for this choice. Think of it this way: We hold automobile manufacturers responsible for the braking systems of vehicles, right? The companies that develop this technology are extremely powerful organizations and they make their products available to children. We should hold them equally responsible for what they present to our young people."
Reacting to the detailed reporting of the perpetrators following the school attacks in the USA, Prof. Dr. James Densley stated that careful language should be used when talking about investigations: "The attitude in Turkey is very correct. We have been talking about the 'not to gain notoriety' movement in the United States for a long time. Of course, you want to report such an event because it is undoubtedly newsworthy. You report on the victims. You convey the facts and lessons learned, focus on solutions. You say, 'How can we prevent such incidents from happening again?' You do not need to turn the attacker into a celebrity. In doing this, you do not need to turn the attacker into a celebrity. Republishing his photographs over and over again, republishing his names, "You don't have to make headlines or reveal all the details they share on the internet. We know from our research that many attackers are trying to imitate them and follow in their footsteps. For some people, fame is part of the motivation. So we don't want to promote the next attacker. So I think it's best to take a cautious approach, focusing on solutions instead of highlighting the names of the perpetrators."
Emphasizing that the threats shared by young people on the internet should be taken into consideration, Prof. Densley noted that platforms have tools to help detect such content: "They can find copyrighted music in seconds. So they need to be able to use similar tools to detect when danger signals appear online. But it's not just about removing a post; because if someone is talking about intent to harm their classmates, deleting the post will remove that message, but not the underlying emotion. So, depending on the severity of the situation, the information may be passed on to school officials, a family member, or anyone who can intervene, such as the police." "There needs to be a clear path to delivery. They have a responsibility in this regard. Virtual media platforms are thinking about their profits. Infinite scrolling, group chats and messaging features are designed to keep kids on these platforms for longer. Unless companies are really willing to change the way their products work, I think we will continue to lose part of this fight."
