Comments on: Text + Sex= Sext!

By: vg513

vg513 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:08:07 +0000

@nate: you can scan, photocopy or re-print the note. You can read the note over a PA system, or show it to a mob of people at the 7th-inning stretch if you want to pay for it. You can publish the note in various places in traditional media. You can give the note to a court as evidence or to the press as ammunition. Why aren’t we arguing for the government to step in for celebrity well-being? I would argue that they get MUCH more stress than many (most?) instances of cyber-bullying.

I agree completely with Lily – what is frequently shown online is a lack of concern for personal privacy and *anony*mity (=P). In your other post you cited “tricking people into divulging information and passing it on” as a type of cyber bullying. How is this “cyber”? I can do this without a computer. It is also a perfect example of how being more careful can prevent this whole business (there’s a reason my employer warns new hires of friday afternoon calls for information). Why would someone allow pictures of themselves in compromising situations, especially if THEY have control of the camera? It is perfectly reasonable to allow people to deal with the consequences of their own actions considering the alternative.

People need to take responsibility, and I hear more and more often of people saying the government should protect people from themselves. This is a horrible detriment to personal freedoms on which many Americans pride themselves. There are much more significant things to regulate, like making consumers aware that their free e-mail services transmit messages so that they can be read by anybody if not protected by default (specific hate on Google for not getting it right after all the “don’t be evil stuff”)–encryption helps with that. But willingly handing over information? No amount of encryption or secure protocol will help you there.

@jessica: seriously? anti-woman? There is nothing inherent in the process leading it to exploit women–this process can be used just as effectively for each gender. Before making claims like that, you should eliminate the myriad other factors such as social patterns that may be the real cause. If the female-centric viewpoint is taken, the males compromised will be brushed under the rug just like those with breast cancer. Care about guys for a second rather than wallow away.

By: NateGsays

NateGsays — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:00:00 +0000

cybertexting being the equivalent of a cyber note is the DUMBEST thing i think i have ever read. the idea that a note that is passed from one person to the next being compared to something that can be visually seen on the internet is really not even remotely parallel. I forgot that day that a note i sent in middle school saying “Do you like me, Check yes or Check No” has any comparison to a picture of me nude being posted on the internet. The impact of the internet is that it is so wide spread and diverse that it can come back to haunt you at anytime. A dirty class note didnt and DOES NOT have that power.

By: andrea_arellano

andrea_arellano — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:18:55 +0000

I agree with most of the points stated in the comments. And yes, there is no need to blame the Internet for what these bullies are doing…

I also think its important to note the distinction between “cyberbullying” and cyber-harassment or cyber-stalking. Cyberbulling has been associated with children and cyber harassment to an adult. While I think cyberbullying is terrible and destroying kids lives (to be dramatic) I think cyberstakling and harassing are a much more of a serious crime and should eventually go punished.

Good work Nate! Interesting topic!

By: nayoung

nayoung — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:56:45 +0000

I agree with both of petra’s points. I would add that schools and families need to be smarter about regulating these kinds of behavior. You said in your video that teachers can’t pick out the “troubled” kids (bullies-to-be) if these things are being done over the phone or the internet. Instead of compiling a list of signs of potential bullying, they should just BE there for all kids, regardless of how they seem to be behaving in private, and try to reach out to those particular ones who seem to be having problems. I was suspended in high school because i was depressed, which obviously meant that “i was a threat to the school.” That letter probably made me more depressed than anything else. It’s not enough to look for red flags; there needs to be open communication, and teachers/parents are the ones who need to foster it. If technology is evolving, then all we can depend on is good old face-to-face communication.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:56:38 +0000

Cyber bullying, sexting, mean girls, people are going to be mean no matter what, but the effects of the internet on the way that we communicate is ALWAYS worth looking at even if it is people’s lack of judgement that drives it. The internet is not changing the way people are or ruining lives, its just changing the way we say things who we say it to how many people hear us and when we can say it.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:44:15 +0000

Mainstream media is so annoying with this “sexting” bullshit. They just like how easily sex + texting combine and then they drive this fear campaign into the hearts of midwestern parents eagerly scanning their kids’ diary for the first sign of misconduct.

HA. Anyway.

Sexting is a decidedly anti-woman form of cyberbullying because it mostly impacts young girls. There were all these articles in the 90s about how the internet is a male-dominated space and not a safe area for women because you can constantly get hit on via AIM or harassed on message boards, etc. I think the internet is way safer for women these days, but this sexting thing is kind of an extension of that.

By: Lily Q

Lily Q — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:26:52 +0000

Yet another case of lack of judgment. Now we’re not even talking about particularly new media though, but the years old tool of texting and sending picture messages. Before sexting there was dirty email, and before that, dirty notes. This is just another way to do the same dumb things.

You say: “I think it is pretty black and white that the internet is destroying lives.”
Seriously? The internet, which is an amorphous thing until shaped and used, is destroying lives? Or are we just self destructive?

By: petra

petra — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:26:18 +0000

I think that there’s no black and white situation here, or any simple answers. I see two main problems that cause cyber-bullying:
1.bullying (which has nothing to do with the internet)
we have to look at why some young people bully others in the first place. if we concentrate only on the internet part of if, we’ll miss the root of bullying behavior: the place of violence, power and abuse in our culture.
2. the gap between technological developments and social codes/laws. I think the issue of violence and bullying (whether on the net or not) should be dealt with on a government level (judicial system), in schools and at home, in the family. The problem is that all the laws, schools rules and advice/punishment from parents can’t catch up with changes in media technology. We can’t see problems before they happen, so we’re always going to be one step behind…

By: amandicle

amandicle — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:58:20 +0000

I would have to agree that I think that the Internet opens up a very dangerous realm for children and tweens and teens to “play” in. I certainly think that the anonymity of the Internet allows young people to find a space to engage or try out behaviors that they do not yet feel comfortable performing in physical and public space. I think there’s a reason that they aren’t comfortable performing in public, and that’s because they aren’t really old enough to engage in the kinds of behavior they are cyber-performing on the Internet and other virtual modes of communication like texting. However, I don’t think that this is like a governmental thing, I don’t think there’s a very plausible way to set up censorship or regulations on the Internet. It really has to be a family thing and there are a lot of softwares out there right now that can help track activity on the computer. One is called X3 spyware. http://x3watch.com/

By: Angela

Angela — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:29:39 +0000

The vid isn’t there, but I read the post, and I must say this is a very interesting take on the whole monitoring idea. While I’m not sure if monitoring is exactly the right way to go about it, I do agree that socio-judicial action should take place when tech has made such changes in behavior. I don’t blame the Net, I blame its uses/users. It’s sad what people do with the technology – especially in youth culture, the uses of it seem to always imply devious behavior (from pranksters, making fun of something and parodies, to outright bullying and feeding dangerous egoism).
Anyways, nice travelogue!

By: JessRoss

JessRoss — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:28:49 +0000

First off, I think there’s a break in your link… but anyways

I agree, the internet has taken bullying to a whole new level. I remember being in middle school and entering a “group chat” on aol and having the so called “mean girls” gang up on me from behind their screen name/computers. I think this is about the time “3-way” calling died out.

As for the sexting(?) I may be one of the few people who felt bad for vanessa hudgens and didn’t think it was funny. Our laws were not made with the internet and technology in mind. While I am all for freedom of speech/press/etc I do think that there needs to be some adjustments