Segment 6

The podcast explores how social media contributes to crime by creating opportunities for offenders to connect with victims, spreading violent content, and influencing behaviors. The theories of routine activities and self-control help explain this connection. The digital and physical worlds are intertwined, with social media influencing decisions and actions that can lead to crime. It emphasizes the importance of taking online behavior seriously to prevent crime and harm. Okay, as the podcast finally concludes, I want to put a reflection out there a little bit, and so, like, so I was litigating a podcast, it was questioning, like, does social media actually contribute to crime? And my answer is yes, but it's important to explain, like, what that means itself. So, like, social media does not force every person to commit a crime, it does not automatically turn users into offenders or victims, but social media has created more opportunities, it has allowed, like, offenders to connect with victims, it has allowed anti-racist ideas to, like, be enforced into the mind, and it can, like, reward, like, attention-seeking behavior, spread violent content, it can help offenders find, like, an audience, and it can move on from, like, the digital world into the real world. And, like, in Alicia's Castle Petritch case, online communication helped the offender groom and kidnap a child, and the Slenderman stabbing online mythology influenced children's beliefs and contributed to the world's violence. And Bianca's death and murder, online relationships, and social media attention became part of the crime in its aftermath. And then the Buffalo shooting, online radicalization, and live streaming connected social media to mass violence. And with, like, the older adults, the COVID-19 information showed how online manipulation can, like, influence decisions and create, like, social harm. So, hopefully, the theories I have chosen, the routine activities theory and the self-control theory, has helped. But I want to explain why those were the two most important theories throughout the podcast. So, like, routine activities theories helps, like, explain the opportunity that was, like, presented. And, like, social media can, like, bring together, like, motivated offenders, suitable targets, and, like, the weak guardianship. And then, like, a self-control theory helps explain, like, the behavior. Because social media encourages, like, fast reactions, emotional decisions, attention-seeking, and, like, risky choices. So, together, the theories, like, show why social media matters in modern criminology. And, like, the biggest takeaway from this podcast is that digital world and the physical world are, like, connected. And messages can lead to grooming. A post can be, like, a threat. A community can normalize violence. A live stream can turn crime into, like, a performance. A false story can, like, manipulate a person's decisions. Or, like, many people's decisions. And, like, I feel like social media is not just a place where people talk about crime. It can be a place where crime begins. It can be a place where crime is, like, encouraged. It can be a place where crime is investigated, in a sense. And it can be a place where victims continue to be harmed or where victims finally receive the support. And that's why I think criminologists, law enforcement, schools, families, and social media platforms must, like, take, like, online behavior seriously. Because crime, murder, and all of that can just start from, like, a single post itself. And then, when I find we scroll, post, comment, or share, we share, like, you know, they're, like, online reactions can have little world consequences. And that, this has been Trending Trouble. My name is Brindavita Snow. Thank you for listening.