Online Gossip

Prior to this chapter I really did notice the growth of online gossip forums, particularyly ones that are school specific, such as Juicy Campus and College ACB. I had never heard of Juicy Campus prior to studying abroad during the spring of 2009. However, once I interacted with students from other school I learned how obsessed people were with checking the site on a regular basis. In my opinion they were enjoying reading nasty things about people they knew and were setting themselves up to be hurt when they searched their own names. These sites aren't made to post compliments so by searching names and hoping for a result you knowingly ask to be hurt.

Perhaps the trend is also school or age based. When I got back to Fordham none of my friends had even heard of the site, let alone contributed to it. However, when you search out Fordham there is a trend that users were generally pulled from younger grades, as I didn't see any Juniors or Seniors listed as topics of discussion. Perhaps Freshman need more homework if they have such vast amounts of free time to spend their days bringing people down.

Students are probably drawn to these kinds of sites because of the anonymity they can have. Although I know that everyone gossips, people probably would prefer if it was done and not traced back to them. However, what boggles my mind is the fact that people, especially girls, can write the nastiest things online and then sit next to the victims in class the next day and seem to feel no remorse. They knowingly hurt the unsuspecting victim yet they continue to parade around like nothing happened. At least in school yard fights everyone knows who the bully is and there is no place to hide, let alone in plain site.