I couldn't help but laugh/cry/squirm watching the documentary on the "online world" Wednesday in class. Not to say the feature was bad, as it did have all the right elements—a good laugh and cry—but it had its moments.
Take for instance the commentary made by the teachers/parents in the community. Did anyone notice how they sat in a black backdrop, adding a more serious tone to their already dark affect. The one teacher who deemed that her career in education was up made me smirk. "This isn't the profession I once entered," she declared, suggesting that children of the Internet age are somehow cursed, or from a different planet. The poor woman acted like she was a dinosaur. It was kind of hilarious.
Then there was that mother; oh, that mother. She was the epitome of an overbearing parent, seeking to make their children's life a living hell (and bore). Sure, parents should worry about and care for their children, but she basically gave her son a death sentence with that email she sent out to all of the parents. But, don't blame her, she's just the messenger.
Let's not forget about the online catfights that went on via MySpace, and the race to get the most friends on Facebook. That's when the squirming came. I couldn't help but think, "Gosh these kids are idiots. Was I like that?" I sure hope not.
But, in all seriousness now, some of the messages in the movie were powerful. The story about the 13-year-old boy who killed himself was horrifying. What a terrible thing to be bullied like that; he couldn't even escape all of the harassment outside of school because people continually taunted him on the Internet. Kids need to stop beating each other down; it's horrible! When you're that young and fragile, you can't handle being ostracized like that.
What did you think about the movie? What meaning or messages did you take from it? How does the Internet affect your life?
I thought the video was interesting. I'm a bit older than the rest of you, I'm guessing, and when I was in high school there was no Facebook or texting for that matter. We still had to socialize the old fashioned way - get together and hang out. I thought the video made some interesting points on how kids really do seem to think that what they do online is private - even though the whole world can see. It's easy to laugh at the young people of today, but rest assured - we were all as dramatic and ridiculous as the kids in the video.