July 1, 2021 / updated June 2022 | Lines from “Hymn for the Hurting,” by Amanda Gorman:
“But only when everything hurts
May everything change.”
Cindy Parks, President
The rise of services that connect strangers through private messaging has strained the conventional “see something, say something” mantra repeated in the decades since the Columbine High School massacre and other attacks, according to social media researchers. And when strangers do suspect something is wrong, they may feel they have limited ways to respond beyond filing a user report into a corporate abyss. (“Uvalde gunman frequently threatened teen girls online,” Washington Post, Technology section, May 28, 2022)
Attention is a limited resource, so pay attention to where you pay attention.
A New York Times opinion piece by writer Charlie Warzel, (“I talked to the Cassandra of the Internet Age: The internet rewired our brains. He predicted it would,” Feb. 4, 2021), brought this point home to me. Mr. Warzel interviewed Michael Goldhaber, a 79-year-old former theoretical physicist, who, as early as the mid-1980’s, made the following predictions:
- The complete dominance of the internet;
- Increased shamelessness in politics;
- Terrorists co-opting social media;
- The rise of reality TV, personal websites, oversharing, and online influencer culture;
- The near destruction of our ability to focus.
A review of the Uvalde gunman’s social media history is a disturbing window into the months and days leading up to the tragedy. The Uvalde shooting came less than two weeks after another gunman killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo, NY grocery store. He live-streamed the attack through the video service Twitch, which removed the stream within a few minutes; copies of it remain online. Only 22 people saw the Buffalo shooting live. Millions have seen it since. The tragedies themselves are compounded by our limited attention spans and the destruction of our ability to focus. Look at the finger pointing and deliberate distraction away from easy access to the weapons and ammunition used. Mass shootings have become politically polarizing in the same way the global pandemic did. People have already “moved on” from Buffalo and are already “preparing for the next one” after Uvalde. The common denominator for these gunmen is their desire for one final outrageous deadly act to grab the world’s attention and hold it captive for at least one 24-hr. news cycle.
Mr. Goldhaber said nuanced policy discussions almost certainly will get simplified into meaningless slogans to travel farther along on-line platforms and that any rational discussion of who stands to benefit or lose from policies will get drowned out by the loudest and most ridiculous voices.
He pointed out that many of the polarizing factors in the country are, in essence, attentional. If you live in a rural area, then you may feel alienated because cities draw a lot more media and pop culture attention. If you don’t have a college degree, then you don’t get the attention from corporations or the economy at large like somebody who does. It’s frustrating when you feel like you deserve attention, too, but it’s all going to somebody else.
As Mr. Warzel states in his article, “Any discussion of power is now, ultimately, a conversation about attention and how we extract it, wield it, waste it, abuse it, sell it, lose it and profit from it.”
Where we choose to focus our attention and our resources of time and money demonstrates what we value. I appreciate the opportunity this organization provides me to allocate the attention and resources I have in more focused, intentional ways. Join me in “paying attention to where you pay attention” by renewing your AAUW membership and getting more involved.
Researchers have documented that a history of violence or threats toward women is a common trait among gunmen in mass shootings, as evident in the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting and the 2019 shooting in Dayton, Ohio.
A 2021 Pew Research Center study found about two-thirds of adults under 30 reporting that they’ve experienced online harassment. Thirty-three percent of women under 35 say they have been sexually harassed online.
Whitney Phillips, a researcher joining the faculty of the University of Oregon this fall, said social networks could do more to push back on violent harassment toward women, but that the threats on their site are a reflection of a larger “boys will be boys” cultural attitude that normalizes men’s bad behavior online and offline. (Washington Post, May 28, 2022)
“When someone says something violent to you or makes some sort of death threat to you, for many women that happens so often that it wouldn’t even register with them,” Phillips said.
In an “attention economy,” AAUW members only have more work to do in supporting research, outreach and advocacy efforts. Membership has been vital in making AAUW the only organization advancing gender equity from all sides for more than a century. Because of you, we’re not only working with lawmakers to reshape unfair systems; we’re also partnering with employers on workplace and economic equity and investing in women who are creating change from the inside out.
About AAUW
“The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is the nation’s leading voice promoting equity and education for women and girls. Since our founding in 1881, AAUW members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political.”
- Mission: To advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy.
- Vision: Equity for all.
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About AAUW Orange, Durham, and Chatham Counties (NC) Branch
We are a group of women and men who
- advocate for equality, individual rights, and social justice for a diverse society;
- support a strong system of public education that promotes gender fairness, equity, and diversity;
- advocate for all women to achieve economic self-sufficiency;
- support vigorous enforcement of Title IX and all other civil rights laws pertaining to education;
- support affordable higher education with local scholarships at Durham Tech, Central Carolina Community College and graduate school scholarships at NCCU and UNC-CH.
About AAUW of North Carolina
“Our mission is to advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy. The strategic goal is to develop program planning, communication, and advocacy to advance the climate for women’s equity in North Carolina.” Together with 16 branches and in communities across the state, we
- Collaborate with other NC women’s organizations;
- Promote salary negotiation workshops for women;
- Advocate issues that affect women and families;
- Promote STEM activities for girls;
- Connect branch members through annual conferences, regional meetings, newsletters, and social media;
- Promote the mission and policies of AAUW;
- Support branch activities and projects.