Bullying at Another Level

Bullying has always been a problem within middle school and high school students. Reading Levinson's chapter on The Dark Side of New New Media just reiterated the gravity of cyberbullying. Bullying has always been an issue but cyberbullying takes it to another level. Students have committed suicides due to bullying and cyberbullying. Here is an article of a girl who died from bullying and cyberbullying from the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/us/30bully.html

Not only suicides can occur from negative horrible remarks from cyberbullying but friendships are destroyed from misunderstood statements. Since everything is done online, one cannot notice the tone of one's friends statement to know if it was a joke or if one's friend was truly offending them. It is complicated to say the least.

Online Traceability- A Victim's Advantage

As I'm sure many of you were aware from the coverage its received in the news, this past January, 15 year old Phoebe Prince of Massachusetts committed suicide after dealing with relentless bullying. The causes for her action point to the bullying she received from numerous classmates, through text messages and through taunting on Facebook and other social media sites. To read more about the scandal, here's a link:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/03/29/2010-03-29_phoebe_prince_south_hadley_high_schools_new_girl_driven_to_suicide_by_teenage_cy.html

I bring this up, not only because it is a clear example of the consequences of virtual bullying, but because it touches on the traceability of online bullying that Levinson brings up. He argues that this factor is an advantage for victims, and this is true of this story. Prince's bullies are now being charged for their actions, and there is plenty of evidence against them. From the text messages, to their degrading messages to Prince's memorial Facebook group, they now have to pay the price for what they did to her. Though they will still plead not guilty, what they have left on the web will not go away. This is definitely a good thing for the victim in this case, and in all cases alike. In order to prevent more of these situations from happening, it's important that kids know that everything they do online cannot simply be deleted, which should prevent them from using the web as portals for their taunting.

Formspring,Me - "Ask me anything"

It is sad and unfortunate that social networking sites are manipulated to create something other than good. The social media sites we have discussed in class clearly show much potential and benefit; keeping in touch, finding jobs, promoting world change, and many others. However, as Levinson alludes to in his “Guns, Knives, and Pillows” lecture, everything has its counterpart. Many social networking sites, especially those that include anonymity, provide easy access to cyberbulling, online taunting, cyber stalking, and other forms of virtual violence. Levinson mentions that bullying in a physical place is more dangerous than bullying done over the internet. It may in fact be considered more dangerous because it can involve physical intimidation, but I honestly don’t know which is worse. In my opinion, it all boils down to self-confidence and self-esteem. Those who bully, whether in a physical or virtual environment, have low self-esteem and feel a sense of gain by making others feel worse about themselves. Bullies who use anonymity on social networking sites are simply cowards. Of course, I have sympathy for those bullied and teased. However, even the individuals who allow themselves to feel defeated by these faceless bullies also have low self-esteem. Everyone gets teased at some point during their life. And although that doesn’t make it right, it’s just a part of life that you have to deal with appropriately in order to overcome it. Consult a guidance counselor, talk to a friend or family member, delete your account for some time or permanently, take time to yourself, etc.

While reading Levinson’s chapter, I thought of a newer social media site called, Formspring.Me. If any site is promoting cyberbullying, it’s this one. The homepage of the site says “ask questions, give answers, learn more about your friends.” The site allows individuals to search for users, friends or not. You then submit anonymous questions to the user. “Ask me anything.” From what I’ve seen, people are not shy to do so. Once the user answers the question, it is posted on their personal page. The layout is similar to that of Twitter. In my opinion, you are simply asking for hate mail. The site says “learn more about your friends.” But if the people were truly your friends, wouldn’t you just ask them yourselves? Why would you need to do so anonymously? I know some people who have accounts, but I really don’t see any appeal. There is actually a Facebook group called “Boycott Formspring.” The group currently has 7,196 and is growing rapidly. Many posts advise parents to educate their children on the site and prevent their kids from creating an account. The group asks to “spread the word, stop the hate.” Just another example of a social networking site used to educate and promote change.

Light up the Darkness

Cyberbullying and cyberstalking are problems that started in older media such as email but have become more prevalent due to the popularity of social networking sites. However, it is up to us to discover certain solutions to alleviate the problems of cyberstalking and cyberbullying. As we mentioned in class, when Facebook started it out, it required a college email address, but this requirement has changed over the years. However, an age requirement could be an useful tool for preventing middle school and even younger high school kids from using solcial media sites to harass other children. This is certainly difficult as children can lie and say they are of age.

As a result, the responsibility falls on parents and in certain instances, the teachers. As Amanda discussed earlier in her post, parents must teach children how to use the social networking sites Parents should explain to their children that they need to approach their parents when they are being constantly bullied or stalked by strangers or other children. In addition, schools should have a caveat where they may punish students if they are harassing other students from the school. I do not know the full story but certain disciplinary actions were taken against certain students at my high school for "trask-talking" with students from another school.

Nonetheless, it is up to children to admit to the harassment they have experienced on the web.

Myspace Music Page: Truth on Earth

After reading Levinson’s segment “New New Media Provide Medicine for Cyberbullying,” I was very interested in listening to the Truth on Earth band mentioned in Chapter 6. Although Levinson includes the band’s Web page, I wanted to see if the video was accessible on YouTube and it wasn’t. I then searched the band on Myspace Music. It wasn’t any surprise to me that the band had an official myspace page. This is a clear example of Myspace’s “especially revolutionary” music pages (Levinson, 114). I’ve had more luck finding better sound quality music on Myspace than Youtube. Many obscure artists only have live videos on YouTube whereas Myspace music pages provide selected music, lyrics, tour information, pictures, etc. This is not to say that Myspace music pages are better than YouTube when listening to music. Both sites certainly have their advantages. In my opinion, Myspace music pages offer more information but YouTube is a quicker search.

The song “Shot with a Bulletless Gun” that Levinson mentions is available on the band’s Myspace page for anyone interested in listening to it. The song really addresses the issue on cyberbullying. My favorite line is: “Back in the day was a time - when life was simpler and - folks came face to face to deal with their differences. I'm told - by philosophers that change is a good thing except when that change hides out in a room brewing evil ideas that belong to a criminal mind.” There music is also a perfect example one of Levinson’s previous ideas that new new media can be used to change and better the world by addressing such issues like cyberbullying.