The bully in the black mirror

黑鏡里的惡霸

Why more young Americans are cyber-bullying themselves

為什么越來越多的美國年輕人在網(wǎng)上欺凌自己

詞匯

cyber-bullying/網(wǎng)絡(luò)欺凌

As adolescents’ social lives have migrated online, so too has a digital manifestation of self-harm

隨著青少年的社會(huì)生活遷移到網(wǎng)上，欺凌也隨著展現(xiàn)出數(shù)字化

詞匯

Manifestation/顯示，表征

Jan 11th 2020 |

ON A FRIDAY night in 2016, Natalie Natividad, a 15-year-old in Hebbronville, Texas, took a fatal overdose of pills after enduring months of cyber-bullying. Most of the alleged taunts—that she was ugly, that she should kill herself—came on After School, an app that allows classmates to discuss one another anonymously. Her suicide prompted an investigation. The app’s operators tracked which accounts had sent the abuse, while officials interviewed teachers and students. “We just want some justice,” said Natalie’s sister shortly after the death. “Whoever is bullying, I hope that they stop.”

2016年的一個(gè)周五晚上，15歲的娜塔莉·納蒂維達(dá)(Natalie Natividad)在遭受了幾個(gè)月的網(wǎng)絡(luò)欺凌后，服用了致命量的藥物。她所受到的嘲諷，大多數(shù)都責(zé)罵她長的丑，丑到該自殺；而這些言論都源自一款允許學(xué)生相互之間匿名討論的程序“放學(xué)后（After School）”。她的自殺引起了調(diào)查。該應(yīng)用程序的運(yùn)營商追蹤哪些賬戶發(fā)送了辱罵信息，同時(shí)官員們還采訪了老師和學(xué)生?！拔覀冎皇窍胍@得一些公正，”娜塔莉的姐姐在她死后不久說?！安还苁钦l在欺負(fù)人，我希望他們停止這種行為。”

詞匯

Fatal/致命的；重大的；毀滅性的

Alleged/所謂的；聲稱的

Taunt/?嘲弄（話），譏諷（話）

Anonymously/不具名地；化名地

There were no bullies to find. The inquiry revealed that Natalie had secretly sent the abusive messages to herself. Such anonymous “digital self-harm”, as researchers call it, is increasingly common. A study in 2019 found that nearly 9% of American adolescents have done it, up from around 6% in a previous study from 2016, according to an author of both studies, Sameer Hinduja, director of the Cyberbullying Research Centre and professor of criminology at Florida Atlantic University. Despite these numbers—and the fact that teenagers in 2020 spend much of their lives online—“People are uniformly shocked to learn that this problem exists,” says Justin Patchin, another director of the centre and professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

但結(jié)果卻是沒有人欺凌她。調(diào)查顯示，娜塔莉曾秘密地給自己發(fā)送辱罵性的信息。研究人員稱這種匿名的“數(shù)字自殘”行為越來越普遍。這兩項(xiàng)研究的作者之一、佛羅里達(dá)大西洋大學(xué)(Florida Atlantic University)網(wǎng)絡(luò)欺凌研究中心(Cyberbullying Research Centre)主任、犯罪學(xué)教授辛杜賈(Sameer Hinduja)說，2019年的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，近9%的美國青少年做過這種事，高于2016年之前一項(xiàng)研究的6%左右。盡管有這些數(shù)字——以及預(yù)期2020年青少年將大部分時(shí)間花在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上的事實(shí)——“人們都對這個(gè)問題的存在感到震驚，”該中心的另一位主任、威斯康星大學(xué)奧克萊爾分校(University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire)刑事司法教授賈斯廷?帕欽(Justin Patchin)這樣說道。

詞匯

Uniformly/一致地

?

Why do it? Ana, a 20-year-old from Alabama, says she wanted to see if someone would stick up for her. At 14, she anonymously posted insults about her appearance to Ask.fm, a public question-and-answer site. Then she waited for other people to defend her. Her motivations, to express self-loathing and to get a reaction, are some of the most common among children who abuse themselves online.

為什么這樣做?來自阿拉巴馬州今年20歲的安娜，她說她想看看是否有人會(huì)支持她。14歲時(shí)，她在“Ask.fm”（一個(gè)公共問答網(wǎng)站）匿名發(fā)帖，責(zé)罵自己的外貌。然后她等著別人來保護(hù)她。她表達(dá)自我厭惡和得到反應(yīng)的動(dòng)機(jī)，在網(wǎng)絡(luò)中自虐的兒童群體中是最常見的。

詞匯

self-loathing/自我憎恨的

About a third say digital self-harm achieved what they had hoped for. Riel, a university student in Georgia, says it was a useful way to counter other online abuse. As a 15-year-old, he created funny tweets that got him more followers but also more hate mail. Strangers started sending him homophobic taunts. At first, Riel deleted the messages, but that made him feel anxious. So he decided to imitate his tormentors, anonymously posting hateful comments about himself online. Others sent him kind responses, which he says “helped overshadow the actual negative, and sometimes vulgar” insults he had received.

約三分之一的人表示，網(wǎng)絡(luò)自殘達(dá)到了他們的預(yù)期。里爾是喬治亞州的一名大學(xué)生，他說這是一種對抗其他網(wǎng)絡(luò)虐待的有效方式。15歲時(shí)，他在推特上發(fā)了一些有趣的帖子，這些帖子讓他獲得了更多的關(guān)注，但也讓他收到了更多的攻擊性郵件。陌生人開始向他發(fā)出恐同的嘲諷。起初，瑞爾刪除了這些信息，但這讓他感到焦慮。因此，他決定模仿折磨他的人，在網(wǎng)上匿名發(fā)表對自己的仇恨評論。其他人給他發(fā)來了友好的回復(fù)，他說這些回復(fù)“掩蓋了他所受到的實(shí)際的負(fù)面的，有時(shí)甚至是粗俗的”侮辱。

詞匯

Vulgar/粗俗的

Several aspects of Riel’s background made him more likely to hurt himself in cyberspace. He had previously been a victim of cyber-bullying by others, which makes people nearly 12 times more likely to cyber-bully themselves. He is not heterosexual and he is male, traits which respectively make people 2.75 times and 1.3 times more likely to digitally self-harm. Unlike girls, boys disproportionately told researchers they self-cyber-bully to be funny.

瑞爾的幾個(gè)方面的背景使他更有可能在網(wǎng)絡(luò)空間傷害自己。此前，他曾是網(wǎng)絡(luò)欺凌的受害者，這使得人們自己也更容易受到網(wǎng)絡(luò)欺凌。身為男性的他卻不是異性戀，這兩個(gè)特征分別使人們在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上自我傷害的可能性增加了2.75倍和1.3倍。與女孩不同的是，男孩們不成比例地告訴研究人員，他們自我網(wǎng)絡(luò)欺凌是為了好玩。

詞匯

Heterosexual/異性的；異性戀的

Even so, Elizabeth Englander, director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Centre, presumes there could be a deeper reason. Boys may have “fewer legitimate ways to get attention and sympathy”, she says. Whatever the profile of children who insult themselves online, doing so “betrays mental-health and well-being issues”, warns Mr Hinduja. Depression and drug use are also predictors. And like physical self-harm, the online version is linked to suicidal thoughts, though it is not yet clear which comes first.

即便如此，馬薩諸塞州攻擊減少中心（Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Centre）主任伊麗莎白·英格蘭德認(rèn)為，可能還有更深層次的原因。她說，男孩們“獲得關(guān)注和同情的合法途徑可能更少”。Hinduja先生警告說，不管在網(wǎng)上侮辱自己的孩子的形象如何，這樣做“違背了心理健康和幸福問題”。抑郁和吸毒也是預(yù)測因素。就像身體上的自殘一樣，網(wǎng)絡(luò)版本也與自殺念頭有關(guān)，盡管還不清楚哪一個(gè)先出現(xiàn)。

詞匯

Legitimate/合法的；正當(dāng)?shù)?/p>

Much about digital self-harm is still poorly understood. Even the reason for its recent increase has mystified researchers. Mr Hinduja speculates that the rise correlates with increasing emotional instability and deteriorating emotional fulfilment among adolescents. That is reflected in a host of other online trends. Some young people turn to a less direct version—seeking out existing self-destructive content, such as blogs that glorify eating disorders or physical self-harm—rather than producing abusive content. Others hint that they want a response by “sadfishing”, or posting emotional confessions on social media in the hope that friends will comfort them.

很多關(guān)于數(shù)字自我傷害的事情仍然知之甚少。甚至其最近增長的原因也讓研究人員感到困惑。Hinduja先生推測，這種上升與青少年情緒的不穩(wěn)定和情緒滿足的惡化有關(guān)。這反映在許多其他在線趨勢中。一些年輕人轉(zhuǎn)向不那么直接的版本——尋找現(xiàn)有的自殺傾向的內(nèi)容，如贊美飲食失調(diào)或身體自我傷害的博客——而不是產(chǎn)生辱罵性的內(nèi)容。另一些人則暗示，他們想要通過“施虐”得到回應(yīng)，或者在社交媒體上發(fā)布情緒化的懺悔，希望朋友們能安慰他們。

詞匯

mystify /使迷惑

self-destructive/自毀的；表現(xiàn)自殺欲望的

As a technological matter, identifying digital self-harm is relatively easy. Usually this involves finding the computer or account that created the harmful material. The harder part is what to do after that, says Mr Patchin. Social-media platforms might consider directing known self-cyber-bullies to counselling services. Tumblr, a blogging website, already posts helpline numbers next to anorexia-related search results. Teachers and parents could treat digital self-harm as an indication of other underlying problems. The worst response, according to Ms Englander, would be to dismiss evidence of bullying because it might be faked. “Any time a kid claims they’re being bullied, they’re struggling with something,” she says. For many, the source of that something is not an external tormentor, but one within.

作為一個(gè)技術(shù)問題，識別數(shù)字自殘相對容易。通常情況下，這涉及到找到產(chǎn)生有害內(nèi)容的電腦或賬戶。Patchin先生說，更困難的部分是發(fā)現(xiàn)之后該做什么。社交媒體平臺(tái)可能會(huì)考慮將那些自我網(wǎng)絡(luò)欺凌者引導(dǎo)到咨詢服務(wù)機(jī)構(gòu)。博客網(wǎng)站湯不熱（Tumblr）已經(jīng)在厭食癥相關(guān)的搜索結(jié)果旁張貼了熱線電話號碼。教師和家長可以將網(wǎng)絡(luò)自殘視為其他潛在問題的跡象。英格蘭德女士（Englander）表示，最糟糕的反饋是由于這些證據(jù)可能是偽造的而無視欺凌的證據(jù)。她說:“任何時(shí)候一個(gè)孩子說他們被欺負(fù)了，他們都在和一些事情做斗爭?！睂λ麄冎械拇蠖鄶?shù)來說，這種痛苦的根源不是來自外部的折磨，而是來自內(nèi)心的折磨。

詞匯

anorexia /厭食

tormentor/使苦惱的東西；使苦痛的人