Ethics Post #2

With the advancement of technology so should come the advancement of responsibility. Alas, it does not always turn out this way though. When people are given more power then they can responsibly manage problems will arise. In comes the topic of cyber bullying/stalking.

Cyber bullying I think is a bad representation of what really occurs, a better term would just be a Jerk with access to a computer. This being because the word bully has been so watered down by people today. In an attempt to prevent any act of namecalling, competition or discomfort we have destroyed the concept of the word bully. In saying "cyberbully" we are talking about a bully that is ruthless and inescapable, so I took it upon myself to find a word more fitting, I chose Jerk. The difference between the Jerk  of yesterday and the Jerk of today is, yesterday the Jerk could humiliate you infront of a lunchroom, or a town at most. The Jerk of today has the power to humiliate someone on a global scale. That power mixed in with the inability to cumulate empathy towards the victim brings the issue from bad to worse. When confronting somebody in the past you would have to face them, you were forced to experience what they felt through your immediate perceptions. I guess notewritting and phone calls could have been ways around bullying someone in the flesh. Still with a computor I have the ability to destroy someones life that I have never met, and never will. Making it to easy for me to forget that they are in fact human. With email, instant messaging, and texting the lack of face to face communication has lead to a lack of empathy. I don't think it's possible to provide an accurate description of what is an act of Cyber-jerk-y-ness or not, for that lies in the hands of the one on the receiving end.  The point that I am making in regard to cyber bullying is that it exists so strongly because of a combination of power not met accordingly to the responsibility needed, as well as a lack of empathy.

Finding a solution to the problem proves to be much more difficult then identifying it. 

"Unfortunately, there is no "one size fits all" when cyberbullying is concerned. Only two of the types of cyberbullies have something in common with the traditional schoolyard bully. Experts who understand schoolyard bullying often misunderstand cyberbullying, thinking it is just another method of bullying. But the motives and the nature of cybercommunications, as well as the demographic and profile of a cyberbully differ from their offline counterpart."-Stop Cyberbulling.com 

It would appear ironic that the cyberbully is illusive as it common. What then is a proper solution? Should there be strict regulations upon using technology? I see this as only a temporary solution to a larger problem. It's like teaching people not to kill by removing their guns, the only way to fix the problem is to nurture perspective taking abilities. To make the faceless victim a human being, to build empathy. I'm not sure how to do this quickly and effectively, but if someone does please let the rest of the world know. It could solve a heck of a lot of other problems as well.  Another closer solution would be to replace the word that is associated with bullying. When I chose to replace the word with the word Jerk in this paper I was doing so in a planned manor. It's surprising how much we don't realize the power of a title can give people. The reason I chose the word that I did was to comically strip the bully of it's power. If all of the sudden we replaced the word bully with the word "Jerk", the people recieving the abuse would be able to overcome it more easily. This being becuase they could immediatly identify the bully as what they really are.

The second topic in discussion is cyberstalking, although these two are often bunched together they are in fact vastly different. The first being that the internet has taken the taboo out of stalking someone. Yes I did say that, stalking people has become socially acceptable to an extent. Anyone who has a facebook or twitter account in many ways stalks others, and in turn are encouraging being stalked themselves. I think it has to do with our insatiable appetite for fame and attention. The problem's arise when people don't like certain people paying to much attention to what they distribute, or even worse didn't know what was distributed for them.

The solution for cyberstalking is in turn much more simple then cyberbullying. The solution is simply be more careful and attentive. Social networking services should be used for that purpose, social networking. To keep in contact with family and friends that you normally couldn't keep in contact with. It should not be used as a billboard for the persona your trying to advertise. So simply pay a little closer attention to anything you put up on the web, a good rule of thumb would be not to post anything on the Internet you don't want certain people to see. This being because once it's posted potentially everybody in the world has access to it. Just be more cautious, act as if you were walking into a place that you didn't know or trust. Actually another good rule of thumb would be to treat every place we go in that same fashion. Most simply, be attentive.


Resources:
Source #1
Source #2