JZ IS A fourteen-year girl from a public school in Laguna. Normally a happy child, one day she posts self-hurt pictures in her stories and claims that she is inspired by other “cutters” on Instagram and Facebook. When this was discovered the school principal asked the girl, orphaned since she was four, to a “discover session.” It was determined that she was gaslighted repeatedly with clear messages of both bullying and highlighting the fact that she has no parents.
Gaslighting, a form of psychological manipulation characterized by the subtle erosion of a person’s reality, has found new ground for proliferation in the digital realm. As technology becomes increasingly integrated into our lives, so too does the potential for gaslighting to permeate through digital platforms, amplifying its effects and reach, and affecting young and old, employees and students alike.
Drawing insights from scholarly research across various disciplines, including sociology, psychology, and interpersonal violence studies, this article delves into the stages of gaslighting and elucidates how digital platforms serve as catalysts for its amplification.
Understanding gaslighting
According to Psychology Today, gaslighting is an insidious form of manipulation and psychological control. It operates within a cycle, often commencing with the gaslighter’s subtle manipulation and culminating in the victim’s profound self-doubt.
“It’s All in Your Head”: Personality Traits and Gaslighting Tactics in Intimate Relationships, a study published in the Journal of Family Violence, says that the intricate interplay between personality traits and gaslighting tactics within intimate relationships. The gaslighter employs tactics such as denial, trivialization, and projection to undermine the victim’s perceptions, leaving them questioning their own reality.
Amplification of gaslighting
Spreading misinformation or rumors online, manipulating digital evidence such as photos or messages, and isolating victims through online harassment or exclusion are just a few manifestations of digital gaslighting. Leveraging the anonymity and ubiquity of digital platforms, gaslighters exploit vulnerabilities particularly of the youth either for more sinister predatory actions or to manipulate them leading to psychological scars.
Social media: The big trigger
Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat are popular venues for digital gaslighting but even platforms like Discord and Reddit where users are more outspoken are also used by gaslighters.
Social media allows individuals to curate and present only the aspects of their lives they choose to share, often highlighting achievements, happy moments, and successes. This selective presentation can create unrealistic expectations and comparisons, leading individuals to doubt their own experiences and feelings. When someone constantly sees others’ seemingly perfect lives on social media, they might start questioning their own reality and feeling inadequate, which is a form of gaslighting.
For example, someone might post misleading or edited photos, make wrong or malicious comments to make it seem like an event occurred differently than it actually did, causing confusion and doubt in others’ minds.
This can further be manifested through dismissive comments, unjust statements, or even cyberbullying, where individuals are made to feel that their feelings are wrong or exaggerated. This can have a profound impact on one’s self-esteem and mental well-being as this can be particularly harmful due to the public nature of social media platforms, where comments and interactions are visible to a wide audience.
Gaslighting in social contexts
The Sociology of Gaslighting, as explored in the American Sociological Review, examines the broader social implications of gaslighting, particularly within the context of domestic violence. In the case of ZJ, classmates make fun of her being an orphan and an outcast from the family supposedly tasked to take care of her. In one of her posts she mentions how “she just wants to run away from it all.” Her aunts blame her for being an “additional expense” and “a burden they want removed.”
Gaslighting in professional settings
In professional settings, gaslighting takes on a distinct form, as elucidated in “Workplace Gaslighting: Conceptualization, development, and validation of a scale,” published in Frontiers in Psychology. Tactics may involve undermining a colleague’s competence, discrediting their achievements, or gaslighting tactics to shift blame and evade accountability. Superiors gaslight those under them by blaming them for their own failures. Common tools used to implement this include Zoom meetings, emails, office messaging systems and texting.
Empowering individuals with the tools to recognize and confront gaslighting behaviors, both online and offline, is essential in fostering resilience and combating psychological manipulation in the digital age. As technology continues to evolve, so too must be the understanding and response to the insidious tactics of gaslighting.
