If I Were Boss of the Internet

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The Game Changer project designed a questionnaire that was distributed to youth in Sweden, Finland and Iceland, titled “If I were the boss of the Internet...”. The aim was to gather information on what sort of environment teens need to feel safe and happy online, and the ways they believe could lead towards that environment. In the summer of 2024, 822 people responded to this online Google forms questionnaire, representing many genders (almost equal parts girls and boys). The age range was surprisingly wide but the biggest age group to answer were 17-year-olds. We asked many and diverse questions as we wanted to know what young people do online and why, how they feel online and why, what they would change about the Internet if they could and why. The questionnaire offered both checkbox questions and open-ended questions – which the majority chose to answer. These young people had a lot to say about their online world.

 

The good news from that survey is that teenagers´ Online Utopia is a beautiful world where we are all equal, safe, kind and respectful. The bad news: This is far from the Internet they actually know and spend a lot of time on.

 

In asking: What platform/s do you use the most? we got a clear picture of “the four pillars of youth's online presence” – meaning Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat are by far the most popular platforms with young people, therefore usually the online spaces they had in mind when answering the survey. Clearly the Internet is a big part of young peoples' social life with Using social media being the most common answer to the question: What are your favorite things to do online? Their main reason for Liking their main online platform/s is: My friends are there. Besides Hanging out with friends, the participants also said they used the Internet mostly for Watching shows, movies or videos; Listening to music, podcasts or audio books; Playing games, and overall having a good time.

 

Too much hate

 

Yet sadly, even their favorite and most used online platforms don't feel particularly safe to young people. Especially not safe from hateful or degrading dialogue. The culture there can be toxic culture was the far most common answer when the participants were asked what they don't like about the platform/s they use the most. Although much less common, the next in line were: I find it hard to avoid upsetting users; I find it hard to avoid upsetting things; I don't always feel safe there; and I have had unpleasant experiences there. Less common were answers that had nothing to do with safety but more about how the participants didn't enjoy the content or didn't have friends on that particular platform.

 

When asked what types of things upset participants online, one of the most common answers were intrusive ads and pop-ups – with some specifically mentioning pornographic pop-ups. Equally common was cyberbullying and mean comments, closely followed by hate (racism, sexism, homophobia, queerphobia, xenophobia, ableism…). The questionnaire said these could either be things that happen to the surveyors themselves, or they witness happening to others. The least common things to upset these participants online were the ones that could hurt their ego and pride, such as nobody reacting to their content (a lack of followers, views, likes, comments etc.), anxiety for underperforming (in gaming, creative activities, discussions etc.), or being excluded (not invited to online chats, games, groups, activities etc.). These could all be hurtful situations to face but came nowhere near the upset caused by hateful and mean words (or annoying ads).

 

This goes hand in hand with results from this commonly answered open-ended question: If you were the boss of the Internet, what changes would you make? Only a handful of the written answers were about making the Internet more fun (“More free games!”, “More free shipping!”). Most answers were about safety, equality and friendlier communication. Our young people dream of World Peace – online, saying things like:

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“I would take away all the evil.”

 

“I would create a system where you can never hurt another person.”

 

“I would make it a place where everyone can feel welcome.”.

 

Heartbreakingly, some answers showed utter hopelessness. Quite a few said:

 

“I would delete the Internet.”

 

“I would change everything possible.”

 

“I would ban smartphones.“

 

“I would ban social media.”

 

In another open-ended question we asked: If, for one day, no upsetting things would happen online... would you do anything differently that day, knowing you would be safe? To which we got answers such as:

 

“This question doesn't really work since I can't even imagine being safe online.”

 

“This feels completely impossible.”

 

“No technical fixes would change the fact that humanity sucks, the problem is with people.”

 

So, what are the solutions?

 

Most of the participants still seemed filled with hope and optimism, as they described possible ways to work towards the lovely online culture they dream of. When asked: What do you feel would improve your online experience the most? the most common answers had the same themes as the open-ended questions, with More respectful communication cited most often, closely followed by More consequences for those reported; Better rules on platforms; and More laws to combat abusive behaviors. Young people still want to use the Internet, do all the fun things and have a social life online – but not without social structures of rules and consequences for harming others.

 

Rules and consequences were a current theme throughout the survey, clear rules on conduct so it is possible to clearly punish those who break the rules. One participant said:

 

“People only dare to write nasty things, because they are sitting behind a screen and know nothing will happen to them.”

 

Another wrote: “If I had the ability to just remove all the hate, I would. But I think a start is to set more concrete rules against hate and bullying.”

 

Despite the very clear themes, our participants showed their differences in using a broad vocabulary to describe the words and behaviors they want regulated and punished for. Anything that is… harmful / bad / mean / obnoxious / inappropriate / threatening / negative / illegal / nasty / hateful / bullying / crappy / offensive / toxic / derogatory / vulgar / ugly / triggering / evil / horrible / criminal / harassing / abusive / disgusting / disrespectful / judgmental / racist / homophobic / misogynist / violent... to name a few adjectives from their open-ended answers.

 

The many solutions suggested in the answers to: If you were the boss of the Internet, what changes would you make? could roughly be categorized as such:

 

• Have more and better moderating: They asked for admins to have more control, better monitoring, filtering and scanning for hateful harmful words – either by AI bots or staff members whose job is to clean up the Internet. Banned words and phrases should either be removed straight away or made much harder to publish in the first place. To quote participants:"It shouldn't be possible to write certain phrases,“ “Mean comments should get deleted;“ “Each user would have more tools to remove unwanted content." Comment sections should be closely monitored and some even suggested no comments be allowed anywhere, ever.

 

• A better report system is needed: Participants described reporting bad behavior from problematic users without anything happening as a result, or the reporting system being too complicated. They wonder; why have the possibility of reporting other users if it leads to nothing? To quote participants: “You get the feeling that social media platforms don't really want to limit their users, because it would take money away from them.” They had different ideas about how consequences for those reported should look like, ranging from “A lifelong ban from the Internet,“ to:’; “Three strikes and then you get banned for a few days.” Some suggested reported people would have to pay a fine, or loose certain online privileges: “You could only comment if your comment history is good.” One solution-oriented participant wrote: “Those reported could get sent a video explaining what they did wrong and how it harms others... so they can learn from it”.

 

• The anonymity of the Internet is a problem: People being able to say and do anything, in hiding, without revealing their actual names or faces, therefore not facing any consequences. This, youth believe, is what makes the Internet the Wild Wild West. The participants often mentioned bank IDs – that no one should be able to create accounts on social platforms, or comment anywhere online, unless tying it to their actual identity. This would give online communication some social structure we are used to in real life. So, no fake accounts, no false identities, no creating new accounts if you get reported, you enter the Internet as yourself and must stand by the things you say, as everywhere else in life.

 

• Protect children from dangers online: “Protecting children online” was a recurring theme. Participants either wanted children off the internet completely, or at least with limited access to certain content. Using bank IDs was also mentioned as a way to ensure young children couldn't make accounts on social media, and someone suggested it should be illegal for parents to use their IDs to put their kids online. Another wanted to ban parents from posting videos of their children. Some of the participants also had ideas about maximum age limits; suggesting adult men should not be allowed on social media, specifying adults sexually harassing and grooming children online.

 

• Have more barriers between strangers: Some participants asked for higher thresholds for strangers contacting people, especially children, and fewer opportunities to harass others. They said things like: “I should always be in control of any messages I get,”and “I want to play video games only with my actual friends”.

 

• Adults to turn to online: Last but not least, some mentioned the need for actual humans to turn to in need, a bigger presence of adult admins who enforce rules – or even as one put it; “bots disguised as friendly helpful adults”. Someone to report to directly “…instead of just filling out a form that doesn't even have the right words for each case”. Have many admins who are aware of what's going on“ “Actual staff to have a conversation with when things get rough and you don't want to talk your parents about it”.

 

 

To summarize, the Internet what Nordic youth want is safer, more respectful, and contains less hate.

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The Game Changer aims to create it with them.

 

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