Cyber bullying is real; it happens every day and seriously affects people. It is important to note that there is a difference between “cyber bullying” and what I like to call “cyber drama”. While cyber bullying is repetitive the actions between users is not reciprocal. One person is clearly the victim. Cyber drama is a one-time event that can affect multiple users, sort of like a cyber prank. The users are not victimized because the damage done is minimal. In comparison cyber bullying inflicts serious damage to people and has resulted in suicide.
Unfortunately numerous examples of cyber bullying exist but few more infamous than the suicide of thirteen year old Meghan Meier. The mother of one of Meghan’s peers and prior friend made a fake Myspace account to gain insight into her daughters personal life and interacted with Meghan. The relationship became hostile. The mother posted insulting messages on Myspace calling Meghan “fat” and “a slut”. The messages were repetitive and Meghan was victimized making this an example of cyber bullying.
Cyber drama is not as grim. It can even be funny at times. Cyber drama occurs at particularly high rates in online gaming communities like World of Warcraft and Xbox Live. A great example is the “Leroy Jenkins!!!!” video. During a raid in World of Warcaft a character by the name of Leroy Jenkins stuns the group and attracts every nearby enemy, killing the everyone’s character. Although each player died very little damage was done, particularly in comparison to cyber bullying, and happened only once, and affected multiple users. The video turned out to be quite successful, going viral.
An article on Meghan Meier can be found here.
Here is the Leroy Jenkins video
I like how you noted that there is a difference between cyber bullying and cyber drama. Because while some cyber bullying is caused from cyber drama not all cyber drama is cyber bullying. In the case of Megan, she was repetitively mocked, if it had been one time it would have never ended the way it did. Also nice use of the Leeroy Jenkins video.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sydney in that I like how you made a point of the differences between what cyber bullying is compared to cyber drama. I do feel that making a note of that also reminds us of how 'real life' the cyber world is turning into and can be some times. It raises many questions that should be addressed, because I think we are all noticing that cyber-bullying and the like is becoming bigger and more evident that what bullying used to be.
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