Carol Todd’s visit was appreciated; I learned a lot from her and took away ideas, insight, and knew knowledge for myself and for my future students. I watched the TED talk on Monica Lewinsky and was shocked. I was unaware of her story before watching her public speech which told the story of her online shaming. It shocked me because it happened such a long time ago, and while the cyberbullying looked a little different than it does now, it was still so similar. This surprised me because I didn’t realize that it was affecting people for as long as it has been. I felt sad for Monica and all the other people in this world who have suffered from cyberbullying.
I really appreciated the eye-opening speech that Jon Ronson gave in his TED talk as well. I felt like it was a new perspective on cyberbullying. He talked about societies habit of quickly taking offense to words said online and how society often all groups together to bash something said- even before they have stopped to consider if they are interpreting it correctly or not. People are quick to jump to conclusions and often times the “think before you speak” rule gets missed when it is a keyboard instead of your own words.
These TED talks, as well as Carol Todd’s visit, gave me insight on some of the ways that social media will be affecting my future students, as well as my future kids. It made me think of how quickly things can be turned against you and how we must make students aware of the online world so that they can make a difference. Teaching students to stand up to online bullying and to understand how others can misread your intentions are important lessons so that students can safely use technology. Making them aware of risks are important. It is sad to hear the stories of people who were victims of cyberbullying, but the awareness is necessary to improving the online world and making students and adults aware and safer internet users.
Attached is a short video on preventing cyberbullying that I enjoyed watching!
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