Social Media Becomes Medan For Impulsivity

People feel that their behavior on social media is not risky because it allows them to appear anonymously. (Pixabay)

JAKARTA Present anonymously makes people feel their behavior on social media is not risky, according to forensic psychologist Reza Indragiri Amriel.

What Reza said was related to the recent phenomenon, where many people like to make swearing and negative comments on social media.

Not long ago, Indonesian presidential candidate Anies Baswedan received death threats when he was Live on TikTok last week. However, the National Police has arrested one perpetrator who spread the threat of murder against the number one presidential candidate.

"Currently, the perpetrator has been arrested with the initials AWK aged 23 years in the Pasuruan area, East Java, precisely the crime scene in Jember," said Head of the Public Relations Division of the National Police Inspector General Sandi Nugroho at a press conference at the National Police Headquarters, South Jakarta, Saturday, January 13, 2024.

Sandi said the perpetrator was the owner of the TikTok social media account @calonistri71600 which issued a threat of shooting at Presidential Candidate Anies Baswedan. The arrests were made based on information from the public and cooperation between the Directorate of Cyber Crime, Bareskrim Polri and for Cyber, East Java Police.

Along with the development of technology, social media has indeed become very accessible to anyone and at any time. The presence of social media itself actually has a number of positive impacts, such as facilitating interaction with many people, expanding interaction, disseminating information can also take place appropriately. Distance and time are not a big problem on social media.

However, like most other phenomena, the massive use of social media also has a negative impact. Negative comments, hate speech, and even death threats are commonplace on social media.

The threat of murder is not only experienced by Anies Baswedan. Abroad, a number of footballers also received death threats on social media. This was experienced by Manchester United mainstay defender Harry Maguire in April 2022. He received a bomb threat from Red Devils fans who were disappointed with his performance with Erik ten Hag's lead team. The death threat was sent by email to the England National Team player.

Harry Maguire and Anies Baswedan are just a few of the many public figures who received unpleasant comments on their social media accounts. Why do people look brave on social media without heeding the manners that have been upheld so far?

According to forensic psychologist Reza Indragiri Amriel, this happens because social media can be accessed very easily, anytime and anywhere. In addition, the limited number of characters on social media lures users to think impulsively.

Presidential Candidate (Capres) Number 01 Anies Rasyid Baswedan when giving an oration in front of thousands of supporters and volunteers in South Lampung Regency, Lampung Province. Sunday, (14/1/2024). (Between/Dian Hadiyatna)

Hal ini menondisikan brain kita untuk berpikir cepat dan singkat. Medos, alhasil, menjadi lapangan ideal bagi insulivitas, tutur Reza kepada VOI.

In addition to limited social media characters, punishment for perpetrators is also considered too light and can even be said to be non-existent. This makes a person more daring to comment negatively on social media because no deterrent effect has been given.

Of the millions of negative posts, what is being processed by law seems to be only zero in a few percent coma. The legal process is not urgent," explained Reza.

"Because it is not urgent or constant, one element for the detterence effect (preventive effect) becomes non-existent. Because there is no detterence effect, the behavior of sending negative posts will inevitably continue," Reza added.

The height of hate speech, negative comments, and even threats on social media have been a concern for a long time. According to psychologist Oktina Burlianti, what someone shows on social media, such as scathing comments, does not necessarily show who he is in the real world. This means that people who dare to comment scathingly on social media are not necessarily brave in the real world.

There is an interesting study on why people can become very aggressive on social media. One of them, people like this do have a sadistic, antisocial, or people who have difficulty building relationships," Oktina said in May 2021.

Psychologically, Oktina says almost everyone who spreads hatred through harsh sentences or comments has problems in building and/or maintaining relations or both.

"From several factors, the most important factor driving people to become like that is that there is no eye contact," he said.

In using social media, people do not face-to-face or face-to-face, but rather deal with their devices. Because there is no eye contact when communicating, there is no awareness of the importance of morals, code of ethics, and correct or wrong understanding.

Because the anonymous social media also makes people ignore these things.

Social media allows people to appear anonymously. Because it is anonymous, people feel that their behavior is not risky, "said Reza ending.