Part 1: Social Media in Bystander Action – A Help or Hindrance?

Part 3: Positive Bystander Action: What Does It Look Like?

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends. (Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968)

The story below illustrates the impact of the silence of our friends. 

A technology company was having trouble attracting and retaining women engineers. One day a group of project managers and engineers were having a meeting to review a new product. There were 9 men and 1 woman in attendance. One of the men said “This remote is so stupidly easy to operate that even my wife can use it.” No one raised an eyebrow or spoke up about this comment. After the meeting the woman’s boss asked her, “Why didn’t you say something?” and she replied “Why didn’t you?”

The woman left the company shortly after this incident. True story? Unfortunately so. An isolated incident? Unfortunately not.

Micro inequities such as this one accumulate over time causing a culture of stress and anxiety as a result of not feeling valued or respected. Eventually people will go elsewhere. More »

Part 2: Positive Bystander Action: What’s at Stake?

Part 3: Positive Bystander Action: What Does It Look Like?

Recently I watched a CNN clip hosted by Don Lemon talking about how social media affects bystander reaction. The two recent examples cited were Bill Nye “the science guy” fainting on stage and Anthony Barre being gunned down on the street in New Orleans. Claims were made that people tweeted about Bill Nye rather than help him and that people posted video of Anthony Barre bleeding on YouTube. The sense I got from this CNN segment was that social media played a role in the irresponsible action or non-action of bystanders in both instances. “Tweet first, act later” was the sub head on the screen. The unfortunate truth is that these two incidents illustrate what often does happen in pubic situations where people fail to act or act in ways that seem irresponsible or without compassion. And it has nothing to do with social media.  

Lena West, a social media strategist commenting in the discussion, acknowledged that although there is a bit of a “scooping culture” out there where some people want to be first to “report” a story, that whether a person steps in to help has nothing to do with whether the person had access to twitter or Facebook – that the actions of a few people are not representative of everyone who is active in social media.  I agree. Bystander apathy is an age old problem. More »