quit being scared and who cares what they say
dam
u guyz need to get out more

Hope it’s not too diversionary to mention that apparently cyberbullying isn’t just for kids.

I find myself wishing people would put effort into the choices/consequences of situations. Kids are impulsive and can act in this ignorant impulsiveness when bored/angry/mischevious.

The idea of a “bully” is so round– show the different sides & angles… the choices and consequences of both being the bully and the victim.

I hate to use this as an example… but look at Imus. He chose to use three words, totally meant in jest (so he says), on a public platform and a whole nation erupts. Three words… that’s it. Content means different things to different people. Three mean words placed in public can label you a bully and in some extreme cases– change your life. Bullying can happen anywhere/anytime… It just so happens that by placing it on the web, it can be accessed by an-y-one. Anyone. No matter how we would like to believe that the web is a private, personal space… it is not.

This is my favorite line:
“(Bullying online) is visible to adults in ways that note-passing, bathroom-wall-scribbling, and phone bullying just aren’t. And most kids are smart enough to do physical bullying outside of the view of adults, but a huge amount of physical bullying takes place at school where adults are nearby: recess, bathroom, school bus, under the bleachers at games, school carpark, etc.”

Anyway… great piece, Danah!

This is like the file sharing/sampling debates – quotation, repetition, reference, copying, mixtapes: a practice that already existed in non-cyber form, and that is in certain ways mirrored and amplified online. The effects may be different because of that amplification, but I think in both cases we will never understand the dynamics of the practice (for good or ill) if we think it is caused by the technology.

that said I think technology design can affect the dynamics in some ways, the capabilities of the internet to be a mirror and a facilitator of certain practices and not others is partly based in the expectations, desires and culture of the people who designed the protocols and the machines, so I don’t think it is entirely neutral.

I get the sense you want to take the discussion elsewhere than the technology and I’m basically in agreement, but for people who are technologists, can they do anything?

Do you have any thoughts on that? Does technology have any role to play in this concern about bullying (or other things seen as problematic or desirable) or do you see it as a neutral medium through which our cultural battles are fought? or is there another way to look at it (probably) that I am missing?

This isn’t to say bullying is good (it’s not), but just that it might be part of the socialization of humans. That said, maybe there’s a way to educate children to reduce this. I couldn’t help but think of this story about Legotown that I saw on Plastic. Even 5- to 9-year-olds understand power and equality, and I’m certain that activities like Legotown provide powerful lessons to kids in their most impressionable years. If there’s a solution to bullying, that’s a good place to start.

WRT the Internet, I see bullying-like acts on the site where I work. The difference there is that most communication is public. If someone says something offensive, the community insults or ignores those folks. Like Anastasia said, when bullying is brought out in public, there’s room for a solution like in the Simpsons episode where Nelson gets called out and has to walk down the street with his pants around his ankles and everyone laughs at him… It’s not the solution, but it’s nice to have faith in humanity.

I already had poor social skills, which was part of what helped make me a target. But until I experienced being repeatedly ganged up on and laughed at, I never had the deep fear of other people which has persisted, at least somewhat, to this day.

Maybe not for everybody, but at least for some of us, being a persistently targeted victim can create deep and long-lasting damage.

Even though I know better, I often feel a kinship with the young kids who pick up a gun and go after their tormentors. No, it’s not right and I don’t support it. But even now, 45 years later, I still have enough of the rage and helplessness to emphasize with that approach.

This sh*t is NOT harmless!

-Steve

I’m intrigued, you consider what happened in that incident bullying? A fake Myspace profile?

I remember in high school, we would make fun of teachers/administrators we disliked mercilessly and invent all sorts of absurd (but hilarious at the time) fictional situations and depictions of them. I suspect not unlike what these students did for their principal. It was just good fun, venting a little, though I’m sure it would have offended the teachers if they ever saw it. But it certainly wouldn’t be considered “bullying.”

Do you really think that the principal’s response in this situation was appropriate? The whole situation could’ve have been forgotten if he had just ignored the profiles and gone on his way. That’s how it is with most bullying online, honestly, if something is going to offend you, don’t look at it, right?

If the profiles cause the students to behave more disrespectfully of him to his face or disrupts their learning in some way, then the principal can take action to remedy those specific behaviors.

And as a somewhat unrelated note, how can he possibly win a defamation suit? Writing that makes no claim of accuracy should really be immune to libel and defamation suits.