High school student Vito Calli, 15, sits by his computer Wednesday, at his home in Reading, Pa. In a shift in attitude, most young people now say it’s wrong to use racist or sexist slurs online, even if you’re just kidding. But when they see them, they don’t take much personal offense. Calli, whose family emigrated from Argentina, says people tease him online with jokes about Hispanics, but “you can’t let those things get to you.”WASHINGTON – Most young people say they aren’t very offended about the slurs and mean-spirited videos mocking overweight people or gays or blacks that they encounter on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
“You can’t let those things get to you,” says 15-year-old Vito Calli, an immigrant from Argentina whose online friends tease him with jokes about Hispanics.
In a notable shift, however, young people are coming around to the idea that it’s wrong to contribute to this ugly side of the Internet free-for-all, a poll released Wednesday shows.
A bare majority, 52 percent, of people ages 14 to 24 now say it’s never OK to engage in discriminatory language, even when it’s just among friends who don’t really mean it. That’s up from 44 percent in 2011.
A stronger majority — nearly 6 in 10 — say using slurs is wrong, even if you say you’re “just kidding.” Only about half were so disapproving two years ago.