LETTER: We hear all the time about drug, video game and shopping addiction, among the most common ones. However, these days it's about "viral hit addiction".
It's okay if the person who sends a posting about something is genuine in his or her concern about a certain issue.
However, if the intent is to humiliate others, expose one's own weakness in public or to become popular by spreading quickly from person to another particularly over the Internet, we must put a stop to it.
The spread of stories, news, graphic videos, and pictures of an issue via social media that appear exaggerated is a result of the information explosion without borders and limits.
When your content is liked, retweeted, republished, commented on, blogged about and discussed, you will receive more views than you anticipated.
This will eventually lead to an obsession with "going viral." True, online users can't read the intentions of senders that make things viral but we can filter and scrutinize news, information, and graphic videos to determine whether they are inaccurate, defamatory or plain propaganda.
As informed citizens, we have the ability to halt the spread of news or items that have already been exaggerated with incorrect information.
As a result of the actions of 'citizen journalists' (wartawan rakyat) who failed to adhere to ethics, we can see that there are information and images that should not be disseminated or that require self-editing that is not done.
Similarly, viral postings or vids criticizing individuals, schools, universities, educators or government policies that are half-true or false are sent without authentic sources.
There are also posts that mix religious and racial sentiments which will invite extreme comments.
It's been a trend that many people want to be the first to report anything that happens whenever we open social media sites especially Facebook and Instagram, whether it concerns personalities, celebrities or even ordinary people.
Every 'citizen journalist' should understand communication ethics or at the very least the fundamentals of criminal and defamation law because sometimes the issues they share and cover are serious and have far-reaching consequences for many parties.
Today, this is writ large all over social media. There is a greater possibility of becoming internet famous, which can be both a blessing and a curse.
Based on the numerous posts on social media at the moment, we can see that the vast majority of media users still regard social media as an open 'gossip centre' or 'coffee shop' where anything can be discussed freely.
This is unfortunate because whether they want to or not, 'citizen journalists' should be bound by the ethics of information and news reporting as well as certain laws.
That being said, there are still things we can do if we are angry, frustrated or violated by someone else's behaviour, there are still options for resolving our grievances. Not only are there gentler solutions to your problem, but they are also more effective than online shaming and internet harassment.
ZURIANI YAACOB
Senior Lecturer, Akademi Pengajian Bahasa
UiTM Raub, Pahang
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times