“Social Media Experiments Do Not Strengthen Social Communication”

"About the video "Diyarbakırlı Cocuklar ", which has been discussed frequently on social media recently, we talked with Çiler Dursun about his social media experiments and reflections,  And with Diyarbakır Children's Network about his aspect of Diyarbakır in the context of children's rights. Çiler Dursun says that no activity that puts the social subject as a source of obscurity and danger as "the other" will strengthen social communication, and that the dominant social subject that does this will strengthen its dominance by introducing the perception of "superiority" into circulation.”

Why are social media experiments done? 

Çiler Dursun: The event, called the social media experiment, is aimed at demonstrating how certain people will develop or react in certain circumstances. By spreading this on social media, the approaches that people will show, especially for critical conditions and situations or dilemmas, are presented to the community and an intervention is made to draw conclusions. Since social media is a projection of social life in online environments, society is also asked and expected to learn a lesson from such activities. There is no research that such content has any benefit. However, the society, how people are in everyday life, in general, specific ethnic, religious, class, gender, etc. tries to give a general impression of whether groups of people are “good or bad” according to their characteristics. 

What kind of benefit or does it provide? 

Experiments are not the main focus of activity, the world of children as different from adults sharing, caring to reveal the structures; or the Kurds were “good people” to enhance an understanding that they are; or poor/deprived people actually like to draw attention to the value of aid for appearing in several axes. But since it was made in Diyarbakir, it seems that the Kurds are trying to put a supposedly positive emphasis on their humanitarian characteristics. The reason why we call this a so-called positive emphasis is that a content that implicitly implies the negative social judgments of Kurds in Turkey as an ethnic category for decades. This experiment actually contains discrimination as it is an attempt to prove that “Kurds are also good people” or “Kurdish children are good-hearted children”.  

A recent social media experiment on young children from Diyarbakir has collected quite a reaction. What do you think? Doesn’t she express the matter from a romantic and orientalist point of view, breaking the issue from the real? Do these forms of expression contribute to social communication/peace /coexistence?

Dursun Çiler: no activity that puts the social subject in front of him as a source of obscurity and danger as “the other” ultimately strengthens social communication. In the short term, it seems to support social Agreement or the partnership. But in the medium-long term, because it is made from the wrong point of movement about displaying the world and structure of “Kurdish children as the “other“, it puts into circulation and reinforces the dominance of the dominant social subject, the perception of “superiority”. 

Diyarbakir Child Study Network:: First of all, it should be stressed that it is not a social experiment. It is not possible to call this a social experiment from a scientific or ethical point of view. In a nutshell, this is an “experiment” that does not claim to be scientific in terms of method and approach since there are no hypotheses, no assumptions to test, or experimental and control groups. On the other hand, this is an unethical approach for many reasons, such as the fact that the participants of the experiment are unaware of this, that their consent has not been obtained for the use of the data to be obtained, and that the possible risks of the experiment have not been reported. It should also be said that what is done under the name of” social experiment ” is also legally problematic.

In other words, it is actually a legal crime for two YouTubers to circulate images on social networks, which are easily accessible to large audiences and an impossible-to-control medium, without worrying about hiding the personal data of children they have chosen as “experimental objects”.

What is done should be considered in the context of both the recording and sharing of personal data and the violation of children’s privacy and the right to be forgotten. This “social experiment”, in which children’s “innocence” is tested and tested, is nothing more than a violation of rights and abuse. Therefore, any study (including any scientific study) related to and with children, first of all, without violating the child’s emotional-psychological-social development, self-perception, privacy; It should be organized within the framework of ethical principles and scientific criteria, focusing on children and their rights.

What are the reflections of seeing a group/crowd/identity as an experiment in society? Why does the need to create ”actually good ” images arise? What is the truth? How should it be expressed? Or what do you recommend?

Çiler Dursun: If it is desired to draw attention to the importance of helping each other, solidarity and giving hands to each other, instead of such secret “experiments” where the participants are not marginalized and have no news, they openly show themselves, their inner worlds and their way of life as much as they wish. The content they can offer must be produced and put into circulation. Journalistic activities, the documentaries are the most important environment for doing this. They also use it for their own popularity in a way that does not bring any social benefit by inventing the so-called social experiment, especially popular opinion leaders called social media phenomena. This kind of content, which is limited to increasing the viewership by making “shows”, has the risk of reinforcing discrimination and marginalization implicitly, contrary to its apparent purpose. In addition, it does not reflect the world of values ​​regarding “what is right and wrong” in social life in a deep and comprehensive way, and since it presents people with certain cliches as a narrow section. It does not make people think about the good and the bad, right and wrong, nor make them question.

Diyarbakir Child Study Network: to say that such “experiments”conducted in Kurdish provinces are only scientifically, ethically and legally problematic in the way they are processed would leave one of the main contexts of the issue incomplete. Because in the case of Kurds, it is necessary to understand the policies implemented by the government, the perceptions and perspectives created in society. What needs to be done for the government approaching the Kurds are primitive and uneducated, is to make the Kurds good and reasonable citizens and to civilize them. This view and approach of the government to the Kurds has unfortunately become the mental and cultural codes of Turkish society. In short, whether it is carried out by the government or civilians, children who have passed the test/experiment of a white understanding; tablets etc. as good and reasonable citizens. The message is given that they will be rewarded with, otherwise they may experience a social exclusion if the test is not passed. The normalization of these and similar systems of reward and punishment also leads to a shift in the interest of universal moral development in children’s perception as a non-pedagogical method.

In fact, it is more accurate to say that the children or the citizens in Kurdish provinces try to be shown as “children” and “individuals” rather then as “good children” or “good individuals”. In our second question, we mentioned that Kurds are seen as people who need to be civilized. If you add to this, the stigmatization of almost all Kurds from children to old people as terrorists, which has been constantly voiced during the conflict of the last 40 years. In fact, you see that a dehumanizing discourse and practice has been in place for the Kurds for a long time. But it can be said that the ethos of Turkishness, which makes these discourses and practices possible, has entered into a crisis, as the Kurds have revealed themselves as a political subject and become more visible and effective in the public sphere with developing communication and transportation technologies. Seeing or trying to show that the Kurds are also “good” people (children or adults) is to overcome this crisis without a real confrontation. In other words, not all Kurds are terrorists or ignorant, some of them are “good” as far as we can see from the videos, and when you are hungry, they can give you food and open their homes. For the white sovereign who sees the Kurdish society and their children as potential criminals, the political equivalent of this is that not all Kurds have a political claim that is not all of them are “bad”. Especially in the past years, the fact that Kurdish children were subjected to government violence as stone throwing children, that is, being bad children, is an indication of the prevailing fear, but it will be substituted. It is understood that children are abused at the point of good child image and new perceptions are needed to be created with existing videos.

Then there is the issue of the child consept. How do you look at it?

Diyarbakir Child Study Network: Although the child’s consent is a highly controversial area, as a first approach; first of all, the child should understand what kind of a study was conducted in the language he/she understands (not only conceptual but also considering factors such as mother tongue), why this study was conducted, where and how the data will be used, the possible consequences of this, the risks if it is involved, etc. Consent should be considered by making explanations on matters and by listening to the child’s opinions about them. Even if he has consented when necessary, the child should not be included in the study, taking into account its superior benefit. In addition, the consent of not only the child, but also his/her parents or guardian must be obtained. While details such as the child’s informed consent, parent or guardian approval are carefully considered even in scientific studies, we find it worrying that YouTubers are making hidden camera shots and publishing and normalizing images openly and on platforms accessible to everyone.

And the child labor?

Diyarbakir Child Study Network: In child labor, there is a situation in which economic exploitation negatively affects the child’s bio-psycho-social development, making the child open to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Child labor, especially the right to life of the child, education, health, games and so on. It is a consequence of general injustice that causes deprivation of basic rights and is based on economic, social and cultural inequalities. Of course, the primary interlocutor of this inequality and injustice, neglect and abuse in child labour is the government, which is under obligation by national and international conventions and legislation. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 19, The article 41 and 50 of the Turkish Constitution Child Protection no 5395 law binds the government to mandatory obligations to take and implement legal, administrative, social and educational measures against child neglect, abuse, ill-treatment, as well as protective and preventive measures. Of course, this responsibility is not only the government, but also individuals and communities, as can be seen in the issue of social experimentation with children in Diyarbakir. Adults who do not even implement the conventions and laws to which they are a party (although there are many structural reasons in this, especially children being employed as cheap labor is an important factor), who are encouraged by this attitude of the public and who do not have any sensitivity and awareness about childhood and their rights, as seen in the example of Diyarbakır, violates its privacy and many of its rights and exposes it to exploitation, neglect and abuse. They cause child labor to be normalized and encouraged in society. The issue of children and rights is too important and valuable to be left at the mercy of the government. Although they are consciously condemned to poverty, the parents and families need to be more conscious and sensitive about this. At this point, we can talk about a situation where individuals and non-governmental organizations should take responsibility, as it concerns the entire society. Serious social policies and economic organizations are needed at the point where children and families break the cycle of poverty.

How should we learn from these images? What should be? How it should be?

Diyarbakir Child Studies Network: There are many lessons that need to be drawn from these images. First of all, it is understood that the concept of children and the perception of childhood of society are distorted and inadequate. As a social group with rights and needs, children have serious unconsciousness and violations about their privacy, consent, participation in all processes related to themselves. In total, the children’s rights are violated and subjected to neglect and abuse.

It is once again seen that all adults, civil society and social forces should be vigilant and sensitive. It is necessary to insist that no studies should be carried out without the express consent and participation of children and parents, and that those responsible should fulfill their obligations and duties by creating public pressure at all times, and to use all channels. It is the responsibility of all of us not to make children the object of any experiment. Certain scientific, ethical and legal criteria should be established and made obligatory for these studies, especially in studies and experiments to be carried out on children and with their participation. The need to develop and implement child rights-based legislation on the production and sharing of content on Youtube and similar social media and platforms significantly reveals itself.

In the case of similar rights violations on these platforms, we call on the relevant ministries to implement sanctions both for the protection of the child and for the persons producing the relevant content.