Jennifer Adaeze Okwerekwu
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THE BLOG

HCSMGate & "Microbullying"

6/1/2011

5 Comments

 
During the HCSMgate debates and @mommy_doctor’s subsequent departure from twitter, I was really shocked to find that many people refused to believe that an act of bullying had occurred. I struggled to articulated my thoughts to those engaged in the debate until I realized that our community does not even have the vocabulary to accurately describe the unrecognizable violence committed against one of our colleagues. The “bullying” referred to in HCSMgate shall be hereafter referred to as “microbullying.”  This is a term derived from the words "microagression" and "bullying." I explain the etymology of the term and more specifically, how it applies to HSCMgate below.

According to Columbia University psychologist Derald Wing Sue, PhD microagressions: 
  •  “[are] everyday insults, indignities and demeaning messages sent to people of color by well-intentioned white people who are unaware of the hidden messages being sent to them"
  • “hold their power because they are invisible, and therefore they don't allow us to see that our actions and attitudes may be discriminatory."

According to the Department of Health and Human Services bullying involves:
  • “Imbalance of Power: people who bully use their power to control or harm and the people being bullied may have a hard time defending themselves
  • Intent to Cause Harm: actions done by accident are not bullying; the person bullying has a goal to cause harm
  • Repetition: incidents of bullying happen to the same the person over and over by the same person or group"
Anything put into the digital space has the potential to grow and take on a life of its own. That is to say, content can "go viral." The power of social media and viral content has long been recognized. 

Microbullying is the INTENTIONAL and REPETITIVE use of social media POWER by WELL-INTENTIONED people who are UNAWARE of the HARM that is caused by SUM of each deliberate reaction, which may have been "harmless" or even constructive criticism on its own.

There is no single person to blame for @mommy_doctor’s departure from twitter. Yet to say she left twitter “because she wanted to” is to deny that any sort of violence was committed against her. I believe @mommy_doctor was the target of microbullying. If we each throw a pebble, eventually we have the power to crush with the mass of a boulder.  Despite the fact that some members of the community defended @mommy_doctor, perhaps her instant celebrity and infamy were too much of a burden to bear. 

As members of a community, we must be sharp in perceiving larger context and implications of our individual actions. In order to use Social Media mindfully we must exercise a greater sense of awareness and respect the magnitude with which our actions can influence others, for better or worse.
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5 Comments
Ryan Madanick, MD link
6/1/2011 01:02:17 pm

Interesting take. Although I'm not sure there is much that could ever be done about this, since it is not generally a concerted effort to do the "microbullying". But the altruism and hope is always a good start!

Reply
Vijay link
6/1/2011 01:30:43 pm

Reply to your twitter question: "Do you think thick skin could protect you from "microbullying""
Depends.
In this specific instance there is an element of culpability on mommydoc's side as per the rules that govern you all in the US. So she probably quit before this became bigger and affected her professionally.
On the other hand, I have seen multiple cases of naked aggression, flame wars and what you have termed "microbullying" occur online in the last six years that I've been a blogger. The people who weather the storms & survive are invariably the ones with thick skin.

Reply
Jin Packard link
6/1/2011 06:51:12 pm

It's hard to argue with this well-written post. I think on my last post, I said called it a "mass effect" instead. The hard question is, is it preventable? And what I am about to say sounds like "blaming the victim" but trust me, I'm NOT. I'm trying to think abou the nature of how people behave online:

I think the HCSM crowd (broadly, all medicos on twitter) is a smart, well-meaning bunch. But even among mommydoc's defenders (and ironically she herself) there are anonymous people who use the space mainly to vent and banter. That's their valid right. But it's ironic that when anonymous people (who believe in the right to express themselves however they want) get together in large numbers, microbullying is NOT preventable because they won't be able to resist casting their pebbles.

Reply
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD link
6/5/2011 08:19:36 am

Interesting take. You're making an assumption in this post--that she left because she was humiliated or hurt or overwhelmed. And not for other reasons (the list is long, of course). This has been eye-opening and we've all learned a great deal. I'd welcome learning how @Mommy_Doctor feels about all of her content and about her exodus, but I worry we won't ever learn. Many of us would want to support her ongoing efforts in HCSM....but not at the cost of patient privacy and upholding the profession. I guess I experienced her shutting down the account differently...that it was about job preservation. Would be great for all of us to know the whole story some day. But I must say, I commend you for stating what we need to do:
"mindfully we must exercise a greater sense of awareness and respect the magnitude with which our actions can influence others, for better or worse" and I worry that the reason this "HCSMGate" started is that @mommy_doctor wasn't doing this for her own patients...

Reply
Hilda link
8/20/2011 04:19:09 pm

Bullying is horrible but if it's done through the internet, I don't think anyone can do anything about it. If your subject to bullying on the internet, you can just simply turn off the computer and ignore it. There are people out there who try to do something about it by going to the law and court and demand justice, but it can't be done when you have a choice which is "turning off the computer."

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