New new media abuses

On the internet, we are all journalists in our own right reporting of our daily lives and experiences and this has opened the door for all eyes to see. Once you post, you really have no way of knowing who can see all of this information regardless of how much you secure your privacy settings, you really have no way of knowing who will be looking at this information. In this information age with an extreme lack of privacy, we have opened the door for anyone to put their two cents in regards to what we post, and not all of the feedback will be positive. Although this behavior is unfortunate it is somewhat expected. In such a multicultural and multiethnic world, we cannot expect everyone to agree and therefore we are unaware of the fact that maybe what we consider to be entirely innocent, another may consider it offensive and therefore they may react by insulting you in forums and other social websites. Cyberbullying trolling, flaming, online gossiping, amongst many others are becoming a real issue lately. It in fact reminds me of the story, which has been previously mentioned, about a teenage girl committing suicide due to the cyberbullying she was receiving from her classmates via internet. The worst part about this story is that this is not the first case of suicide due to cyberbullying nor will it be the last. At schools, if there is bullying, it is easier for school officials to track it down and prosecute the students involved. However, in the internet age it is impossible to track and therefore the students doing the bullying usually do not get punished for their behavior until it is too late. Although it does seem impossible at the moment, I believe that a solution is very necessary because this will get out of hand, if it has not already. The internet has in many ways desensitized us as human beings, there are certain things said over the internet that one would not be able to say in person. The distance from one computer to another has given us incredible strength in terms of what we can say to others. Although, it may sometimes seem that your insults will do no real harm except temporarily hurt a person’s feelings, time as well as the news, have shown a different side to the effects of cyber taunting.