Posts
The above link is to a sad story that involves youth and the internet. The other blog posts I have made tend to highlight the benefit of the internet in educating youth or the benefit they get from using it. Unfortunately there are negatives that come from the internet and from using social networking sites. In the above story a young college student was unknowingly filmed in a gay encounter by his room mate and then broadcast online. After finding about this he "Facebooked" his suicide and jumped off the George Washington Bridge. Many are outraged by what has happened. The Internet can help bring people together but it can also have harmful effects. As youth go online and create their friends network in a virtual space it appears that some physical practices such as bullying and teasing now also move into an online space.
So is the internet doing more harm than good? Once something is out on the internet it is nearly impossible to erase. The internet is the largest area for storage and retrieval of information. This then means any information can be found whether good or bad. This could prove damaging to an individual if unwanted or untrue information was placed online. There is no doubt that the internet has great educational advantages, but it must be considered at what point education value ends and entertainment and cyber-bullying takes over.
For me the most disturbing part of this story is that the suicide victim "Facebooked" that he was going to jump off the bridge moments before he did. His suicide note was a status update. Ironically this act represents the changing nature of the relationship between youth and the Internet. Their physical lives now run parallel to their online lives. The question now is will the online environment produce more sad stories like this one?
By Nova Watson
I agree, this is a very sad story and unfortunately it is not an isolated incident. Cyberbullying is definitely a drawback of Web 2.0 technology. Bullying has always and will always be a part of the lives of some adolescents. Before the internet became a part of the lives of young people the bullying tended to be more of an issue while they were not at home and while at home they could at least 'escape', home became a safe haven of sorts for the children who were being bullied.
ReplyDeleteSocial Networking Sites allow bullying incidents to move beyond the playground and into the home. At times, parents do not know that their children are being subjected to the bullying because their computers are in their room and some parents do not supervise what their child is doing on the internet.
As educators, it would be naive to think that we can stop the bullying cycle but we can educate. We need to educate children when it comes to appropriate use of the internet, educate parents so they can be aware of what children are doing on the internet and we can educate children and parents about what to do if children are feeling unsafe when using the internet.
I listened to an expert on cyberbullying and safe internet use last year. He specifically focused on what can be done to minimise the chances of children either being bullied or stalked by predators on the internet. His message was strong and powerful and he stressed that education was the key. As educators we are in a position to teach children how to use the internet appropriately, it is possible and in doing so, we are assisting children to be effective community contributors for a lifetime.
Posted by Kerrie
I agree with Kerrie that education is the key. Cases like this highlight the need to educate young people about the ethical choices they are making as participants in new digital social spaces and the impact these choices can have on others.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that the alleged perpetrators could ever have imagined their actions would lead to such a tragic consequence. According to Global Kids, Inc.’s Meeting of Minds: Cross-Generational Dialogue on the Ethics of Digital Life report (2009), there is a reason for this. In focus dialogues they had with teens and adults about new digital social spaces, they found that teens are less likely to engage in ethical thinking than adults.
These findings suggest that as educators, we need to help young people think about online life in moral and ethical ways so that they can then act as moral and ethical digital citizens. How can we do this if we limit their opportunities to go online? The answer is we can’t. Young people need to learn in these new digital social spaces. Global Kids, Inc. states that young people’s ‘ability to grasp the moral and ethical potentials of their participation is critical – for their own futures, for that of their friends and peers, and for the communities in which they are citizens’ (2009, p.5). Our curriculums need to reflect this before the futures of any more young people are irrevocably lost or destroyed.
By Shannon