Cyber bullying
June 5th, 2008 / 3 Comments
The spirit of meanness comes out in the best of us when we can be mean while remaining anonymous.
Just look at ourselves when we drive. We feel little hesitancy in cursing other drivers and giving them dirty looks or gestures, while remaining inside the safety and privacy of our cars, Most of us wouldn’t be so bold to say and do those things face to face, right?
Unfortunately, the internet is an avenue that brings out that mean side of us by allowing for anonymity behind the monitor. Imagine this platform given to kids who, like us in the car, express their anger towards people all over cyberspace.
Emily Lamont at CBS News brought it to my attention that today at 6:30 PM EST CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, the topic of the destructiveness of cyber gossip in colleges will be explored. I think this will be very educational for us parents. Couric posted her views about that on the New York City Blog.
I am sure none of us as parents ever dealt with this when we were in college! We saw defaming writings on bathroom walls or locker room gossip. But the viral nature of the internet combine with cruel comments is beyond anything we experienced.
Tune in or read the post by Couric and let me know your thoughts on what we can do to warn our children about participating or viewing sites with cyberbullying.
Photo by srbyug
Comments
As a senior at Harvard University, I’ve watched the growth of public gossip from a small chatter box in the school newspaper to multiple Internet forums (including GossipGeek, IvyGate, and JuicyCampus) where, in general, the sense is that a person can post just about anything, about anyone—anonymously. I have several friends who have been the object of slander or simply hurtful comments. But there can be venues for recourse. Sometimes the person who is object of slander can email the website and block their name or remove the story. So, in the land of online gossip: maybe you can fight city hall? But people intent on posting these items know how to re-post. If people really want to talk about a student named “Miles†and his name is blocked, they will simply use “Mi1es†(note: the 1 in place of the “i†). More important, no mater how true, or untrue, the post still hurts:
Am I hurting? Do I have an agenda? Well, about a year ago, an anonymous post accused me, a female, of “male pattern baldness.†Although I laughed about it at the time, trying to take it stride, I am still talking about it as I type this post today. (Note: I do not have male pattern baldness.)
Gossip will always hurt. Now that the Internet makes it so easy to dispense, do we all just need to develop a thicker skin?
Emily: Thanks for sharing your experiences. It’s hard to imagine the cattiness that goes on out there. I can imagine it would surely hurt.
People who post nasty comments anonymously are cowards. Meaness, I just don’t get it…
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