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Good morning podcasters! It's time to talk about...
INTERNET SAFETY!
Specifically, this thread is addressing some things I've noticed in the audio drama community as someone who spent basically my entire childhood in internet spaces and has seen a lot of abuse.
INTERNET SAFETY! Specifically, this thread is addressing some things I've noticed in the audio drama community as someone who spent basically my entire childhood in internet spaces and has seen a lot of abuse.
TW: emotional and sexual abuse, predatory behaviour, suicide.
A lot of people think internet safety is just about keeping your address, real name, and photos private. A lot of us don't even do all of that (I have my name, face, and city listed here) for professional
A lot of people think internet safety is just about keeping your address, real name, and photos private. A lot of us don't even do all of that (I have my name, face, and city listed here) for professional
reasons, but honestly the likelihood of someone actually using that information abusively are relatively low. Most of the time abusers on the internet aren't going to show up at your house. Abuse on the internet usually takes place through text conversations and calls, and
through the exchange of photos. Internet abuse isn't always immediately obvious - it can take years for the abuse to become apparent or even to reach a point where the behaviour can actually be considered abusive. Abuse usually happens either on an individual level (between two
people) or on a community level where one person uses their leverage in a community to intimidate others. A lot of the time abusers are going to be your friends or friends of your friends.
One thing I've noticed about the audio drama community is that people are very friendly
One thing I've noticed about the audio drama community is that people are very friendly
and open. That can be awesome - I'm very happy to have been so warmly received by others - but it can also be very dangerous.
A few things I've noticed that concern me:
- people treating people they've only known for a short time as friends
- people posting publicly about
A few things I've noticed that concern me:
- people treating people they've only known for a short time as friends
- people posting publicly about
their experiences with trauma, abuse, and mental illness - particularly mental illnesses that are developed as a means of coping with trauma
- people being very openly emotionally reliant on each other to the extent that emotional support is provided in Twitter replies instead of
- people being very openly emotionally reliant on each other to the extent that emotional support is provided in Twitter replies instead of
in private conversations
- it's relatively easy to jump from public conversation to DMs and private conversations with basically anybody, particularly when you take into account Discord servers which gather lots of people in one space and make DMs very easily accessible
- it's relatively easy to jump from public conversation to DMs and private conversations with basically anybody, particularly when you take into account Discord servers which gather lots of people in one space and make DMs very easily accessible
Abusers and predators exist in every community. Especially in politically left-leaning spaces, it's very easy for abusers and predators to learn the kinds of buzzwords and simple actions that can make people feel more comfortable to lower their guard down around them. A lot of
people in audio drama belong to marginalized groups - the likelihood of people in the space having trauma is relatively high because of this. Something as simple as putting pronouns in your bio or retweeting a thread about racism can make people feel more comfortable around
people and more willing to lower their guard. I'm not saying that these actions are suspicious - they aren't, but my point is that they CAN and ARE co-opted to make marginalized people feel safe around dangerous people.
The same goes for publicly posting about experiences with
The same goes for publicly posting about experiences with
abuse, trauma, and mental illness in ways that aren't very deliberate, well thought out, and have a particular purpose. Abusers WILL remember this information, and they WILL use it to abuse people, whether it's by deliberately triggering people or behaving in ways that prey on
people's vulnerabilities, such as counting on someone who's experienced abuse before to have trouble saying no.
Abuse can take a lot of different forms in online spaces. Sometimes abusers will try to make people emotionally or financially dependent on them - donating to projects
Abuse can take a lot of different forms in online spaces. Sometimes abusers will try to make people emotionally or financially dependent on them - donating to projects
a lot and then asking for certain favours, or being there for someone emotionally and acting jealous when that person talks to anyone else.
Sometimes abusers will become emotionally dependent on You, which can eventually escalate to the point where the person being abused has to
Sometimes abusers will become emotionally dependent on You, which can eventually escalate to the point where the person being abused has to
constantly be available to talk to the abuser, and where the abuser might do things like threaten suicide or make the other person talk them down from suicide.
Abuse can be sexual through the gradual demand for exchange of photos or NSFW conversations - this is especially of
Abuse can be sexual through the gradual demand for exchange of photos or NSFW conversations - this is especially of
concern in a creative space where people rely on other creatives to help get their work known.
If you want to know more about what abuse can look like in online spaces, particularly where creatives work together remotely, you can look up cases from the indie game development
If you want to know more about what abuse can look like in online spaces, particularly where creatives work together remotely, you can look up cases from the indie game development
community.
Being too quick to trust people you don't know well can be very dangerous, and a culture where those kinds of trusting relationships are normal and even encouraged or construed as friendliness can contribute to producing conditions that enable abusers. Like I said,
Being too quick to trust people you don't know well can be very dangerous, and a culture where those kinds of trusting relationships are normal and even encouraged or construed as friendliness can contribute to producing conditions that enable abusers. Like I said,
online abuse will usually come from people you're friends with, or friends of friends, especially the people you talk to on a daily basis. A lot of the time from what I've seen, people have no idea how stressed out another person is making them until they spend some time NOT
talking to that person. Marginalized people are especially likely to be targets for abuse - that doesn't change when you move from "real life" to the internet, and the internet IS real life and online abuse CAN be traumatic. Trusting your friends is nice, but be careful who you
consider your friends and how quickly you come to trust someone and invite them to learn things about your personal life. Be especially careful venting on your public accounts because abusers do pay attention to those things. I highly recommend creating a second, locked Twitter
account that only friends you REALLY TRUST can see for those kinds of discussions. If you feel like you're oversharing, you really might be, and that isn't concerning because it's "annoying," it's concerning because it's dangerous.
Okay, I want to disclaim obviously that the
Okay, I want to disclaim obviously that the
purpose of this thread isn't to victim-blame. Abuse is never the fault of the person who is abused, abuse can still happen even if you're super careful about all the things I've mentioned, and the fact anyone would take advantage of others' trauma and abuse is gross and 100% the
fault of the abusers. However, I do think a lot of people don't know what internet safety actually looks like, or think they're making use of safe practices when they aren't, and I'm concerned about how the overall CULTURE I've noticed in the AD community makes it easy for
abusers to access, become close with, and abuse people.
It's this last point that is the most important to me. Even if you feel like abuse wouldn't happen to YOU and like you're safe, consider that there's teenagers and more vulnerable people on this platform who unsafe
It's this last point that is the most important to me. Even if you feel like abuse wouldn't happen to YOU and like you're safe, consider that there's teenagers and more vulnerable people on this platform who unsafe
behaviour is being modelled for, and for whom a potentially dangerous environment is being created. If you won't be careful for your own sake, be careful for other people's.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading
Addendum: I forgot to mention this when I wrote the thread initially, but another thing to try to watch out for is if someone who is usually fine to talk to says things that make you feel uncomfortable over call. There are abusers who will purposely save their worst for calls
because the lack of a written record makes it harder for the person they're talking to to verify their discomfort or remember that something uncomfortable was said or done.
