In recent years, some political commentators and mainstream media outlets in the United Kingdom have pejoratively labelled young people, especially university students, a ‘snowflake generation’ – a term used to mock their perceived intolerance and over-sensitivity (Fox, 2016; Gullis, 2017; Slater, 2016; Talbot, 2020). This article challenges this discourse by drawing on findings from a large-scale study (N = 810) conducted on a university campus in England that critically examined student’s perceptions of and attitudes to different forms of online harassment, including abusive, offensive and harassing communications, using survey and interview data. Key findings indicate that online harassment is so pervasive in digitised spaces that it is often viewed as the ‘norm’ by the student population who appear willing to tolerate it, rather than take actions to address it, which challenges pejorative claims that they are intolerant and easily offended ‘snowflakes’. Respondents who identify as female and transgender are more likely to be targeted by online harassment. We argue that the label ‘snowflake generation’ is diverting attention away from student’s everyday experiences of online harassment and its adverse effects, particularly on women and transgendered people, which has the potential to create a gender-related digital divide (Jane, 2018). The implications of these findings for the higher education sector will be outlined.

近年来，英国的一些政治评论员和主流媒体都贬低了年轻人（尤其是大学生）的标签，称其为“雪花一代”（snowflake generation），该术语用来嘲笑他们的不宽容和过度敏感（Fox，2016； Gullis， 2017年;斯莱特（Slater），2016年;塔尔伯特（Talbot），2020年）。本文通过借鉴大规模研究的结果（N= 810）在英格兰的一所大学校园内进行，该调查使用调查和访谈数据对学生对不同形式的在线骚扰（包括辱骂性，攻击性和骚扰性通讯）的看法和态度进行了严格审查。主要调查结果表明，在线骚扰在数字化空间中如此普遍，以至于那些愿意忍受而不是采取行动解决这一问题的学生群体通常将其视为“规范”，这挑战了贬低性宣称他们不宽容和容易冒犯“雪花”。识别为女性和变性者的受访者更有可能成为网上骚扰的目标。我们认为，“雪花一代”这个标签正在将注意力从学生的日常网上骚扰经验及其不良影响转移开来，特别是针对妇女和变性人，这有可能造成性别相关的数字鸿沟（Jane，2018）。将概述这些发现对高等教育部门的影响。