Cyber-bullying/Cyber-vigiliantism and my Thoughts..

Well, this week in class we discussed the repercussions of making your thoughts on the internet known. While it can be harmless, if you share anything controversial or straight-up stupid, there could be some serious consequences. While we all do silly things and make questionable decisions when we are young, the internet has made it possible for your decisions to haunt you for the rest of your life.

There have been many instances where people have lost their jobs, scholarships, and other meaningful livelihoods because they said or did something stupid on the internet. While I agree in most cases that fully-grown adults should know better, a lot of the cases we saw were high-school students whose brains haven’t fully developed yet, that seems a little unfair. How do we hold all people of different ages and stages of development to the same standard when it comes to online identity? It just doesn’t feel right to me.

Not only have these people lost their jobs, but often times their bullied online for a very long time. Sometimes the online hate or vigilantism takes such a toll on them that they feel there is no way out and they commit suicide. This is where I feel that society can be too hard on people. It’s made easy to be a keyboard warrior. You can go online and say all of the hateful things you wouldn’t say to someone’s face because you get the luxury of hiding behind a screen.

While I find it important to educate those who share their racist, homophobic or generally wrong opinions, we can’t or shouldn’t be doing it in a way that causes harm to them, whether that’s mentally or emotionally. This kind of damage cannot be undone and I find when people take their anger out online, it only adds to the problem.

So what can we do differently as a society? It starts with being mindful and considerate when you’re online. Treat others the way you would like to be treated if the situation was reversed. Show people grace, sometimes they are just uneducated and need some help unlearning their bias. Be the person who isn’t causing harm online. Remember that what you put out there, stays there. The internet is a tricky place to navigate, but you can make a difference by being kind and thoughtful with your digital identity.

Here is a video I came across to help littles understand the importance of being kind on the internet!