"Defining Deviancy Down" On The Internet

As I have recently pondered the state of the Internet, I have somehow been reminded of the phrase “Defining Deviancy Down” coined by the late Senator from New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Moynihan first wrote the term in an article in American Scholar magazine in 1993. Defining Deviancy Down (sometimes stated as Defining Decency Down) became a popular meme in the 90s as it seemed to strike a chord as people tried to make sense of where culture and society had gotten to in the preceding decade.

The basic idea is that we had moved the bar for what we, as a culture, defined as acceptable, down. What Moynihan said was “we have been redefining deviancy so as to exempt much conduct previously stigmatized, and also quietly raising the ‘normal’ level in categories where behavior is now abnormal by any earlier standard.”

Specifically, what Moynihan was talking about were things like broken families, releasing mentally ill onto the streets and other destructive social patterns. And yet, while the ills I am talking about do not rise to Moynihan’s standards, I do believe the phenomenon is comparable. The Internet has indeed facilitated a new era and new type of Defining Deviancy Down.

The gist of my concern is that anonymity and or the lack of face-to-face interaction has created a willingness to engage with each other, particularly strangers, in ways that would not be acceptable in person. This relates to things as wide ranging as flame wars on web forums to more economically and socially significant things like music piracy.

For example, it is very easy to steal someone’s music when there is no perception of interacting with a human being. Most would not have the chutzpah to walk up to artist and to take a copy of their music without asking permission. Most would be ashamed to do such a thing. But on the Internet there is no opportunity for “interactional” guilt. Such acts are totally anonymous, and as a result totally depersonalized.

The point is the Internet is an incredibly powerful platform that has already demonstrated and will continue to demonstrate almost unlimited capacity for good. But there is a dark side. The depersonalizing nature of the Internet has the capacity to make us, at times, less concerned about each other as individuals.

Unfortunately, some of us are coming to accept this depersonalization as inevitable. And thus we are Defining Deviancy Down. We are redefining what is acceptable by suggesting that in this new technology era, errant behavior can’t be helped. But, notwithstanding the technology, I believe it can. It must. We must. Each of us, one at a time, can do our part. And the first and most important step is resetting our declining standards. Because we can’t live up to standards if we don’t have any.