I've often wondered how ostracism in today's youth compares to my own generation's youth. I grew up without the Internet. For those of you who are still teenagers, it seems to me, as an outsider, that you live in a very weird time. Do you feel a pressure to conform or, given that being unique can make you an Internet celebrity, do you feel the opposite pressure?
At the very least, the Internet makes it easier to humiliate someone worldwide for months or even years at a time. Look at Christian Humber, Blake Boston, or Zamii070. (Zamii straight-up tried to kill herself, and Boston was getting harassing phone calls as recently as 2012 over a picture taken in 2006.)
Well, I'm not a teenager anymore, but I was one on the internet (on this very forum in fact, god what an embarrassment), so I guess I'm qualified. Personally I never wanted to stand out (social anxiety ie "please no one look at me"), so I certainly didn't want to be achieve internet fame. That doesn't necessarily mean there was pressure to conform though. The thing about the internet is you can always find your people - you don't have to be unique. Maybe I'm the only person who loves Batwoman on this forum, or in my tiny hometown, and it'd make me stand out in either of those scenarios, but on the internet at large I can just find a community of people whose whole thing is loving Batwoman. You get complete power over where you spend your time. It's not so much conformity as finding a place to fit in, which as a (weird) teenager and now as a (still weird) twenty-something, is something that's really valuable to me, and a lot more alluring that seeking out a platform to try to be unique on. Becoming internet famous is actually very difficult to do on purpose, and I think most people who've grown up on the interbutts realize this. If you're interested in the nature of internet fame you might want to give this a read. I'm super enamored of internet culture, I love learning about shit like this.
Not a teen either, but I was one when the internet was a thing. I've never felt ostracized as there were always sites that catered to my needs: history, video games, that sort of thing. "If you want it, the internet has it." was the lesson I learned long ago. It's a great place to find those with common interests, especially if you live in an area where 99.999% of the people don't share that interest. Have I been pressured to be big and famous like Tobuscus or Pewdiepie? Eh, a little I suppose, but it was more like I liked Tobuscus and wanted to be like him. So I poked around and realized that no, I probably couldn't do that. However, yes, the internet does make it easier for trolls to bully, belittle, and humiliate someone through a screen because unless that person can actually go to your house and beat you up, you're pretty much safe from any physical retaliation. That's why people beat newbies around the head with the "don't share private information online!" bat. If someone has an axe to grind against you (for reasons only they understand), and they have access to your phone number, your email, or God forbids, your frickin' house address, you're pretty much doomed.
