There have also been stories about bullying, murder and suicide pacts. The temptation always seems to be to blame the media form itself for provoking or invoking these incidents, but that is an over-simplified and unhelpful assumption to make.
Online bullying, for example, is a terrible trend that seems to be growing, but bullying has always occurred and I can't see how online/mobile phone bullying could be worse than old forms of bullying. Receiving a threatening note (or "poke"!) via Facebook is no less scary than getting a nasty note left in your locker, which is the traditional form of girl bullying.
The argument is that online bullying follows the kids home, but psychologically, bullying always follows the victim wherever they go, it's part of the psychology of being bullied.
I'd be interested in other points of view on this issue, if you have any insights?
1 comment:
New forms of media are always blamed for bad behaviour, the artform is the fall guy when humans do what they have always done. Rock and roll, heavy metal, video games or online communication are scapegoats for people exploiting each other, lying to each other or preying on each other. It is seldom, if ever, the fault of the medium itself. People like to blame things they dont understand.
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