PROMPT #1
Is our data private? Is our personal information private? These are the questions that we should be considering whenever we begin to post our information anywhere on the web. Keeping your personally identifiable information private is a serious challenge in the digital world. Pretty much everything that we do on the web leaves a digital footprint. These digital footprints are prone to hackers and companies selling our information for ads and other means. In addition to this, the U.S. government has admitted to spying on its citizens (Armerding, 2017). It is challenging to remain anonymous, and even when you work hard to hold on to your anonymity, it is possible that data breaches could expose your information. My personal viewpoint on your privacy on the internet is that you don’t really have any. If you didn’t want certain people to see what you are posting or doing on the web, then you shouldn’t have posted that information. The only real legitimate way to guard against the government demanding our private data and information is to simply not use the internet at all. During this generation, that is pretty much not an option. Therefore, we must be cautious as to what we post and only use legitimate sites that have encryption. Afterwards, we just hope for the best.
What if it is “too late” and your private data is already exposed? All you can see is the shame and humiliation being poured out all over you because something was outed that you thought was private. The “shame game” has set in and your name is being publicly criticized online and in person. How do we cope with the shaming? First, this is a terrible thing to happen to anyone. There is so much in this world that thrives on the humiliation of others and it is just awful. Second, we must decide what we are going to do with shame. Sadly, some are unable to bear with the shame and take the route of suicide, but there is a completely different route we can take. We can seek help and work through the pain. David Sack (2015) lists five ways to silence shame. These are:
Bring shame into the light
Untangle what you are feeling
Unhitch what you do from who you are
Recognize your triggers
Make connections
The hope is that these tips would be beneficial to anyone and everyone that is struggling with this. One person that struggled with the “shame game” was Monica Lewinsky. Monica made decisions in her life that led her to be outed in a big scandal with the president of the United States of America at the time, Bill Clinton. The details of this decision were outed and the news of her scandal set the world on fire. All news and media outlets made it known to the public what happened. In addition, Monica was shamed publicly by people seemed to enjoy humiliating her (Lewinsky, 2015). This public humiliation caused Monica to live under the shadow of this dreadful moment in her life for over a decade. How would this instance be different if it happened now? Social media connects the world in a revolutionary way. In an instant, any video could go viral. Monica’s humiliation would have been significantly worse because she would have been open to hurtful comments directed at her through social media feeds. There are so many cruel things said in this world. We have all most likely made a decision in our life that we regret, and if it were outed then we would be facing shame and humiliation too. If we would only stop and take the time to show compassion, we could defeat the battle of shame and prove to this world that there is still hope in humanity.
Key Takeaway from the Monica Lewinsky Ted Talk Video:
Our culture thrives on public shaming of others. Those who show compassion defeat this ideology.
One Word Summary:
Survival.
There is darkness in this world and there’s nothing we can do to prevent junk being thrown our direction, but we can decide how we react to it. We can choose to press forward and embrace the adversity. We can be strong and push through any adversity. We can look to the future and not let out our past define who we are.
PROMPT #2
According to stopbullying.gov (n.d.), Cyberbullying is understood as bulling that takes place over computing devices and often occurs on social media, text messaging, instant messaging, and email. Before cyberbullying existed, the world dealt with bullying, which was a terrible thing, but most cases were usually significantly less severe in regards the consequences. People could get away from the bullying by being home with family who showed them love and kindness. With cyberbullying, it is not always this simple. Social media has opened the world to so many great opportunities, but unfortunately this also comes with the hefty pain of cyberbullying. According to bullyingstatistics.org (2015), over half of the teens that participated in the survey admitted to being victims of cyber bullying. This is a staggering statistic. Something must be done to cut down this epidemic.
If I had unlimited resources, I would ensure that I enact a plan that would help to prevent cyberbullying as much as possible while also promoting kindness. One of the things I would do would be to assign “buddy” to each student in school. I strongly believe in the buddy system. No one should have to go through life alone. This buddy system would allow everyone to have someone to lean on and get through the day with. This buddy system would be intentional and since Social media is such a huge part of cyber-bullying, I would hope to be able to gain parent support in positioning all phones in a central location in the home when it time for bed. I have heard from my students how often they lie awake at night just scrolling through social media feeds and simply reflecting on every word they see. This is not healthy and it impacts their education because they are physically tired and mentally exhausted. In addition to this, I would ensure that my resources are promoting positivity through social media by making daily positive posts that connect to every enrolled students accounts. These three steps will not eliminate cyberbullying, but they should help to fill in some of the gaps that are currently present.
References
Armerding, T. (2017, July 14). The 5 worst big data privacy risks (and how to guard against them). Retrieved March 12, 2018, from https://www.csoonline.com/article/2855641/privacy/the-5-worst-big-data-privacy-risks-and-how-to-guard-against-them.html
Bullyingstatistics.org. (2015, July 07). Cyber Bullying Statistics. Retrieved March 12, 2018, from http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html
Lewinsky, M. (2015, March 20). Exclusive: Monica Lewinsky on the Culture of Humiliation. Retrieved March 12, 2018, from https://www.vanityfair.com/style/society/2014/06/monica-lewinsky-humiliation-culture
Sack, D. (2015, January 13). 5 Ways to Silence Shame. Retrieved March 12, 2018, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/where-science-meets-the-steps/201501/5-ways-silence-shame
Stopbullying.gov. (n.d.). What Is Cyberbullying. Retrieved March 12, 2018, from https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it/index.html
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM PEER DISCUSSIONS
In this generation, it is challenging to have a "normal" life without being connected to the digital world.
Make connections.
Learning digital survival skills