Today, once something is posted on the Internet, it is permanently there and can show up in multiple places. Comments and pictures are often posted on blogs, facebook walls, and twitter without censorship, which can often allow personal attacks on people. This is inappropriate, and if behavior over the internet like this continues, it can cause harm to another person or people. I have heard many stories of cyber-bullying, but the one that left the biggest impression on me was the story of Megan Meier. Lori Drew, a mother from Missouri, impersonated a 16 year old boy and lead Meier into a fake relationship over Myspace. It tragically ended in Megan committing suicide because of the awful things that Drew would say to her. This news made me realize that there are unfortunately some very sick, immature, and menacing people on the Internet. This story and many others have encouraged me to find a way to prevent situations like these. There must be something the Internet can do in order to avert cyber-bullying. Would censorship be fair? I think if it meant saving Megan Meier's, and other teens such as Phoebe Prince's life, than it is worth the slight violation of free speech on the Internet.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Cyber-Bullying
Today, once something is posted on the Internet, it is permanently there and can show up in multiple places. Comments and pictures are often posted on blogs, facebook walls, and twitter without censorship, which can often allow personal attacks on people. This is inappropriate, and if behavior over the internet like this continues, it can cause harm to another person or people. I have heard many stories of cyber-bullying, but the one that left the biggest impression on me was the story of Megan Meier. Lori Drew, a mother from Missouri, impersonated a 16 year old boy and lead Meier into a fake relationship over Myspace. It tragically ended in Megan committing suicide because of the awful things that Drew would say to her. This news made me realize that there are unfortunately some very sick, immature, and menacing people on the Internet. This story and many others have encouraged me to find a way to prevent situations like these. There must be something the Internet can do in order to avert cyber-bullying. Would censorship be fair? I think if it meant saving Megan Meier's, and other teens such as Phoebe Prince's life, than it is worth the slight violation of free speech on the Internet.
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As much as it is sad that this girl committed suicide, I believe that it was her responsibility to tell someone what was happening, or to stop chatting with "Drew". As I have learned over my relatively few years of conscious life, if you are in a bad situation, get out. Go away, do something else, but just get out of the situation. Clearly it was her choice to chat with this person, and while the outcome was tragic, I can't say that it was entirely either party's fault. Because of this ability to shut off the device, etc, I would say that the internet should be without censorship.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I agree with you, but although this could have been avoided by Meghan alerting someone about "Drew", she may not have thought through these sort of precautions. The worst part of the Internet, is the threat of anonymity and being able to hide behind a computer pretending to be someone you're not. Elizabeth, you bring up a great point, I really agree, I think it's possible to protect users from these menacing people, but the real question is how. The Internet is absolutely huge, it would take a lot of effort to try to correct this issue with cyber predators.
ReplyDeleteEmily I think you bring up a good point that due to its immense size, it would be really hard to correct this horrible issue of cyber-bullying. Censoring the Internet would take a lot of effort, and still would not be a foolproof system. While this was such a devastating story (and horrifying that a mother would do that), it is a lesson that you have to be careful who you trust, especially when it comes to the Internet. We all have to be careful when talking to people on the Internet, because you never know who is behind the screen. Last year, I saw the play "Trust" at the Lookingglass Theater in downtown Chicago. The play was about a girl who became close with this guy online, who pretending to be a high school guy. Really, he was an elder man, who ended up raping her. It goes to show because of the anonymity of the Internet, you have to be cautious. While it would be nice if we could censor such horrible behavior, it would be nearly impossible. So if we can't correct the issue that cyber predators are out there, then we ourselves must be even more careful.
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