Understanding Technology Concerning Cyberbullying

This clip, which went viral on the internet a few months ago, was shared this in my social media class yesterday, when we were discussing cyberbullying. It's pretty difficult watching a group of 25+year olds get so choked up over something that we can proactively help to diminish. As a warning, it has some trigger material concerning suicide and bullying.

I too followed the Amanda Todd case last year, but not just for the interest in the video and backstory. One of my brothers was bullied in high school, much the same way she was, "jokes and memes" included. 

I'll never forget the punch to my stomach I got when I found out emotional cyberbullying had created physical illness for my brother.  While teaching at the same school my brothers attended, one time one of my brothers specifically asked me to come down to the nurse's office instead of the school calling his parents, because he felt I might have a different perspective.  While I may have diffused the situation a bit by letting it sink in during the rest of the school day, before informing my parents, my reaction and emotional side were very similar to theirs.

Sitting with me in my classroom during my plan period and he broke down.  He said he's been teased, threatened, mocked, even a few physical punches to the head--with most of the bullying done online.  When I asked what they were saying, or if he knew why they were doing it, he said yes.  Worse, some of the teachers were aware but felt the situation might diffuse itself, instead of following school handbook protocol.  These kids, most of them who have been in his classes since kindergarten, found out he had a brain tumor.  They thought saying online things like "maybe if he gets stabbed in the head it'll go away" "just punch the tumor out of his face" or "thank God he'll die early and we won't have to see that big head of his" was funny.  You can imagine the horror and sadness I felt; think of how my brother, a high schooler dealing with a severe medical issue, felt.

My brother has a facebook and twitter account, which my mom has access to, as do I, and we try to keep a "watchful eye" on the accounts.  What upset me the most was that my parents and I didn't catch even a whiff of the bullying.  We monitor his social media, I teach at his school, I even teach and tutor some of the students who were bullying!  The problem with online social media is the rapidness things can be done or changed and accountability. Comments/messages can be posted in mere seconds and then "deleted" just as quickly.  Unless you're hovering over your child while using the computer (which would be similar to following them everywhere when they're playing outside), you can't catch it all.

While I'll concede, the school attempted to take action towards the offenders, the damage was already done--he was bullied. 

Examples such as Amanda Todd and my brother show that we're at a new stage in technology where we need to not only learn how to use it, but understand and demonstrate what it's capable of and educating anyone who uses it, along with preventative measures we can take--whether it's filtering, monitoring, or just even talking to people and informing.

Fear and Terror Provide Better Safety

Terror. Fright. Panic. Worry. Apprehension. Phobia.

The Patriot Act. Increased Racial Profiling. Detainments. Watchlists. Warrantless Searches.

All of these are synonyms for fear, and then follows a list of acts that have originated from these fears.

Remember back in 2010 when Jon Stuart created “The Rally To Restore Sanity” and Stephen Colbert followed, when he created “The March to Keep Fear Alive”? If not, Stuart'scan be found here and Colbert's, here.

Posner would in no way consider Stuart or Colbert public intellectuals, but there’s no denying that the two have a big political presence, especially within the media and public sphere. The two use humor, satire, and other elements to appeal to their audiences, but behind all of that lies truth (albeit, their version or take on it) and like their activities mentioned above, appeal to the masses and try to engage the nation in current events. I believe Colbert does a great job of this, especially when he ran for President in 2008, the South Carolina Primary for GOP in early January of this year, and then a few weeks later when he confirmed Stuart would be the official head of his fundraising committee, and then he released the statement "I am proud to announce that I am forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy for the President of the United States of South Carolina!"

Colbert elevated his humor to the next level: he integrated it not only with truth, but also infused it with action. Why would two well-established people such as Stuart and Colbert cross-over into full-fledged politics? I’d like to think part of it was their fear of the current presidential happenings, and turning that fear into a sense of safety. After all, what Stuart and Colbert’s “stint” did was increase awareness of the politics, increase voter turnout, and even increase people to convert their fears into actions that could help indirectly alleviate some of those fears.

In this instance, I it worked to use the tools of fear and mass-media and then challenging us (the public, Americans, the people) to take action.

Accountability on the Interwebz

Accountability on the internet.

Who's responsible for it?
Simple answer would be everyone.

Unfortunately, we can't just say someone's accountable and then they will be, we (the public sphere) need to hold them accountable, and I think a start to learning accountability is developing an understanding of media literacy.

Media literacy is commonly defined as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and produce media. It is the process of becoming active, rather than passive, consumers of media. The importance of media literacy is that it helps bridge the gap between everyday media use and applying it to another context.

Our society uses media on an everyday basis, so we have the capability to use it, but it's using it properly and effectively that's the trick.  All too often I've seen people post "So many posts about [insert here current political response or response to a major current event]" and leave their response criticizing other media users for sharing, evaluating, and communicating about important events, albeit, sometimes comments that are misinformed, biased, and/or targeted towards a group, but at least their attempting to display a form of media literacy. Whether it's leaving a comment, status, or update on Blogger, Facebook, or Twitter, integrating it into our curriculum as a teacher, or even using the tools it provides to apply it to our jobs, we have an accountability to be effective, responsible media users.

Good Americans

Yesterday, Deepa Kumar was on North Central's campus to speak about the ever-increasing “Islamaphobia” that’s been developing in America, and reflect on her book, duly titled Islamaphobia.  While I wasn’t able to attend (because I was in another class), Dr. Guzman mentioned an email chain letter that he recently received, “10 Reasons Muslims Can’t Be Good Americans” and his shock at the list.

The problem?

The “reasons” listed in the email chain were biased, ignorant, and misinterpreted. Dr. Guzman posts the email chain along with his thoughts on the email, which you can read here.    Dr. Guzman attempts to diffuse the situation about the email, refutes the reasons, offers small concessions (to uphold his validity as unbiased), and then connects to a current hot topic for Americans--I won't spoil it for you, but hint, hint, it deals with a current Presidential Candidate.

Was Dr. Guzman's post a good way to combat “Islamaphobia”?

It’s a two-fold question that we as the public need to constantly consider.  By responding is he able to resonate and deliver “common-sense” to the future audiences (and possibly past readers) of the email, which clearly was lost before?  Or, does it create more problems by elevating this email to a cultural cache?

I like to argue that it depends on the audience and type of public sphere you’re trying to reach.

Let's be "Good Americans" and discuss.

Can Social Media Change the World?

Remember these buzzwords and phrases?

Kony 2012
I like it on the table.
Mark aka, “The Guy At Home In His Underwear”
Kill Your Television

Twitter hashtags, facebook posts, and countless blog entries have used buzzwords similar to above to invoke people to become aware of important issues in society, but the question is: Do they really increase awareness of social issues, and even more importantly, do they invoke change?

Here is a link to examples of how social media has been used to spread awareness and make change in the world, and here are 10 ways to use social media to continue change in the world.


Let's remember the phrase "actions speak louder than words".  Posting on twitter, facebook, and other social media isn't the only action needed, we need ideas that WILL turn into actions, not just criticism-constructive or not.