In our Whs media class we ave been asked to watch something from Frontline. The Video is called "Growing up online." Upon watching most of it i have seen, and heard that much of what these teens have gone through, and seen online, is not much different from what i've seen. In the part titled "Private Worlds Outside Parents' Reach?" I found that a girl named Sara sort of had two different lives. Online she claims to be he true self, and in school she claims that's she is very shy and not very outgoing. Another example i saw of this was an earlier part in which a group of girls were trash talking another group of girls. You may think that they would have said these words to each others faces, but NO these girls admit ed that they wouldn't say anything to the other girls faces. All of the pent up anger resulted in a brutal fight which left a chair thrown, and 13 girls suspended from school. Witnesses of the fight claim to have seen others whipping out cellphones, and recording the fight. Sara also brought up how she felt at home on the Internet she felt that she could be herself, and no one would make fun of her for it. Sometimes this can be dangerous, and people can take advantage of someone who is feeling vulnerable.
Something that I found interesting was how some of the teens interviewed seemed to think that anything they saw on the Internet was true. I myself used to think this, but the reality is that anyone who is tech savvy, or even someone not, can post a blog, website, email, text message, or social networking page with false information in it. Sara has an eating disorder. She goes to a site called "Thinsperation." This website makes Sara feel good about her disorder, and in fact makes her want to become more skinny which is very unhealthy. On this site Sara likes to find neat little tricks to Binge, and starve, and purge to keep herself thin.
According to Frontline the lure of the Internet is seductive, and powerful because it is such a good listener. This to me is very true which is why sometimes it is hard to get off. It is also true that you may feel very comfortable with the Internet, and post something very edgy or pornographic. Y
ou never know who you could offed, or who saw this post/text/email/blog that you may not have wanted to see it. "It's been said that the Internet has created the biggest generation gap since the advent of rock and roll." This quote from the movie really stood out to me, and made me think of my grandparents and great grandparent who aways ask me what I'm doing down there at the dinner table. When i would try to explain they would often just say NEVER MIND. My grandmother on the other hand is a little more tech savvy. Working with computer used to be her job. She had a normal flip cellphone until recently when i helped her look for a phone that worked well with E-mail. She got a blackberry not 6 weeks ago, and is now face booking, E-mailing, and texting. She even has herself a separate ring tone for Me(Shots - Lmfao), My mom (Super massive black hole), and her husband (some jazz song). She is now "in the loop," and she likes to be up to date with lots of Tech and stuff like that, but she still has trouble wit texting back right away.
Another big problem on the ever growing Internet is Cyberbullying. There are kids out there that are so insecure that they will start a fight online, and talk nasty and say threatening things, but ten when it comes to saying things to peoples faces they will just give you some sort of dirty look. A man interviewed in Frontline was talking about his son. His son had asked him ho to fight, and his father taught him. It was not yet apparent, however, that his son was being VICIOUSLY Cyberbullyed. He couldn't take anymore of it, and he commited suicide, because these boys at school were just so intolerant and nasty. One person being interviewed said "Ya know if your getting bullied it ends at the schoolyard." In this case thoiugh i couldn't end. He went home, and went online to socialize with his friends. He was just caught in this crossfire of bullying i which he was never safe at home nor school. A popular girl in school thought that it was funny to flirt with boys in her gade only to trick them later, and say it was all a lie. She often did this, and upset many people.
My own experiences with the cyber world include some hurtful words that have been said to me, and sometimes i even say a few back. Cyberbullying is very upsetting, and REALLY gives you this feeling of being trapped. In the 7th grade i made a myspace. I lived in Brighton mass, and went to a very small school. I had always been bullied since Bullying was introduced to a child. Instantly i Had friend requests from people i used to know people i did know, and people i didnt know at all. I was smart online. i didnt talk to people i wasnt sure about, an
d i also tried not o give my password to any sites i wasn sure about. One thing that was not good though was bullying. I was bullied for a long time By two people. They upset me in the words they said making holocust references, and black jokes. At some point i felt like there was no escaping this bullying. i started to hurt myself as a way to make the pain of bullying seem meaningless. As I continued more, and more with hurting myself i felt like i wanted more. towards the end of my 7th grade year, and 8th grade year I tried multiple times to commit suicide with substances. As my friends have told me there is no point in doing such things because now you can easily cut people off fromm your online world, and they dont need to be part of it. I believe that if you try hard enough you can make sure the bullying ends at the schoolyard.
P.s im all better now.
Something that I found interesting was how some of the teens interviewed seemed to think that anything they saw on the Internet was true. I myself used to think this, but the reality is that anyone who is tech savvy, or even someone not, can post a blog, website, email, text message, or social networking page with false information in it. Sara has an eating disorder. She goes to a site called "Thinsperation." This website makes Sara feel good about her disorder, and in fact makes her want to become more skinny which is very unhealthy. On this site Sara likes to find neat little tricks to Binge, and starve, and purge to keep herself thin.
According to Frontline the lure of the Internet is seductive, and powerful because it is such a good listener. This to me is very true which is why sometimes it is hard to get off. It is also true that you may feel very comfortable with the Internet, and post something very edgy or pornographic. Y
ou never know who you could offed, or who saw this post/text/email/blog that you may not have wanted to see it. "It's been said that the Internet has created the biggest generation gap since the advent of rock and roll." This quote from the movie really stood out to me, and made me think of my grandparents and great grandparent who aways ask me what I'm doing down there at the dinner table. When i would try to explain they would often just say NEVER MIND. My grandmother on the other hand is a little more tech savvy. Working with computer used to be her job. She had a normal flip cellphone until recently when i helped her look for a phone that worked well with E-mail. She got a blackberry not 6 weeks ago, and is now face booking, E-mailing, and texting. She even has herself a separate ring tone for Me(Shots - Lmfao), My mom (Super massive black hole), and her husband (some jazz song). She is now "in the loop," and she likes to be up to date with lots of Tech and stuff like that, but she still has trouble wit texting back right away.Another big problem on the ever growing Internet is Cyberbullying. There are kids out there that are so insecure that they will start a fight online, and talk nasty and say threatening things, but ten when it comes to saying things to peoples faces they will just give you some sort of dirty look. A man interviewed in Frontline was talking about his son. His son had asked him ho to fight, and his father taught him. It was not yet apparent, however, that his son was being VICIOUSLY Cyberbullyed. He couldn't take anymore of it, and he commited suicide, because these boys at school were just so intolerant and nasty. One person being interviewed said "Ya know if your getting bullied it ends at the schoolyard." In this case thoiugh i couldn't end. He went home, and went online to socialize with his friends. He was just caught in this crossfire of bullying i which he was never safe at home nor school. A popular girl in school thought that it was funny to flirt with boys in her gade only to trick them later, and say it was all a lie. She often did this, and upset many people.
My own experiences with the cyber world include some hurtful words that have been said to me, and sometimes i even say a few back. Cyberbullying is very upsetting, and REALLY gives you this feeling of being trapped. In the 7th grade i made a myspace. I lived in Brighton mass, and went to a very small school. I had always been bullied since Bullying was introduced to a child. Instantly i Had friend requests from people i used to know people i did know, and people i didnt know at all. I was smart online. i didnt talk to people i wasnt sure about, an
d i also tried not o give my password to any sites i wasn sure about. One thing that was not good though was bullying. I was bullied for a long time By two people. They upset me in the words they said making holocust references, and black jokes. At some point i felt like there was no escaping this bullying. i started to hurt myself as a way to make the pain of bullying seem meaningless. As I continued more, and more with hurting myself i felt like i wanted more. towards the end of my 7th grade year, and 8th grade year I tried multiple times to commit suicide with substances. As my friends have told me there is no point in doing such things because now you can easily cut people off fromm your online world, and they dont need to be part of it. I believe that if you try hard enough you can make sure the bullying ends at the schoolyard.P.s im all better now.
And here is something that has happened more recently.
1 comment:
I never imagined that cyber-bulling happened to you, its upsetting to see that people don't really have anything better to do with their lives than to make others miserable. Unfortunately that is a big problem that the Internet brings into teenagers lives. I loved your references to the frontline, I too felt heart broken when I was watching Ryan's story, it was a story that was so sad that it grabbed you attention immediately. I'm glad to know that your doing better now. I found it very interesting the link that you made on the bottom of your blog bringing me to the page about the senior in high school who was being cyber-bullied also. Its sad to see that this is a problem that is effecting many people around the nation and the world.
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