Cultivating Personal Responsibility in the Digital Age

You’re counting days to your death. Doctors have given you at most a month. In these final days you are forced to confront not illness alone, but hate-fueled crowds insisting on your culpability.

This was the reality of a Turkish artist who recently passed away from cancer. Her last days and the treatment she was subject to has been one of the most abject spectacles I have witnessed in the cybersphere. 

Last year, Cat Janice, a singer and cancer patient, tried to make her song go viral on TikTok to secure material support for her son. The backlash she faced was similarly vicious.

I’ve never been the one to shy away from discussions. Even the most sensitive ones such as death or  illness. Yet, the level of removal we feel when attacking others online has become alarming and we can’t dismiss it by simply calling it ‘evil’. 

When Mill spoke on freedom of speech he said  “If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth. If wrong, they lose what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.” 

While Mill’s framework, grounded in the harm principle, does not address the corrosive effects of cruelty, malice, or moral irresponsibility. Freedom of speech does not entail freedom from responsibility; it does not license the corruption of character or the destruction of others’ dignity.

A common defense against responsibility in online discourse is: “People who post publicly should expect all kinds of responses.” While true in the narrow sense, this stance misses the point. The question is not the inevitability of harm, but whether we cultivate a life that forces others to brace for our cruelty. To do otherwise is to forfeit the moral development that Mill’s framework presumes, even if he never made it explicit.

For the past few years, I’ve read numerous articles, takes, perspectives on the delayed adulthood a.k.a immaturity crisis. I find certain positions, like the impact of economic restraints, convincing but others, such as ‘TikTok is ruining Gen-Z,’ sound superficial. Particularly because it seems the older generations are facing serious constraints when it comes to their understanding of how the cyber-sphere functions and impacts. Not only Gen-Z but everyone involved. 

Those deprived of economic or social means to exercise control over their lives often turn to the cybersphere—a less restricted, less inhibited environment—to express the cruelty of their undeveloped selfhood. This is regrettable, because the same freedom from obligations and immediate consequences could have served as a vital space to cultivate the self and discover previously withheld autonomy.

Deflecting and rejecting our responsibility regarding anything we say or do creates a roadblock to becoming an individual and keeps us in the perpetual state of cyber-infants. The usual suspects such as ‘algorithms’, ‘Elon Musk’ and ‘Media Moguls’ become cop out phrases rather than just analysis. It’s common knowledge that algorithms reward rage-bait content yet our own social media habits also affect what we will engage with on the platform. Nevertheless, an algorithm presenting us with a certain type of material does not justify our reaction to it. These are completely different dimensions which shouldn’t be mistaken for each other.

An additional, grave and concerning aspect of cyber-infantilisation and loss of individuality is how this notion was pedigreed into certain social movements and ideas such as paternalism. We wouldn’t be missing the mark if we claim the cycle of irresponsibility leads to a lack of individuality and as a natural consequence an increase in the demand for authoritarian politics.

I consider our day and age lucky for many reasons but in terms of the relationship with the State, it’s not optimal. The current state has become capillary; meaning it is much easier to enforce, control and supervise our personal relationships, what we think, what we see and even at times what we feel. The state has moved from a body to regulate the shared environment to shaping the personal. The gradual nature of this shift has made it difficult to pinpoint yet this is where we are and it might get worse as we’re at a threshold.

Ultimately, we need to be aware that politically the distinction between a child and an adult is having full responsibility and symmetrical consequences and this encompasses the cyber-sphere.

In aid of the current situation, we have a conceptually simple but practically challenging approach in our hands: personal responsibility.

We need to stop deflecting our own mistakes, failures, erroneous judgement and analysis on algorithms, other people, experts or institutions.

Strong Institutions are pivotal to a liberal society until they replace common sense and personal responsibility, then they become a threat no different than the dogmas of the church or state.

Concurrently, to be able to allow this type of personal responsibility also pairs up with charity. A charity of kindness and understanding.

If we never cultivate intellectual humility or grant understanding and repair for being wrong or taking responsibility, we’re setting counter-productive incentives.

Today’s understanding of good faith is rather warped in my opinion. We just let people off the hook rather than making space for their repair. Of course letting someone off the hook doesn’t translate to any of the concepts I’ve dissected in this post and naturally it leads to repeated offense and as a consequence creates a public sentiment opposed to having good faith in others.

Agency, freedom and independence are cornerstones of liberalism; but they encompass more than our actions. It’s also about how we think, feel and the attitudes we adopt.

If our desire is a free world, we should feel the urgency to work on ourselves and set a good example both in real life and in the digital sphere. This is not a superficial or abstract task. It is the practical foundation of a society where individuality can flourish. 

The cultivation of personal responsibility and charity begins with each of us, in every interaction, online and offline, gradually shaping a public sphere that nurtures good faith rather than corrodes it.