Was it really beauty that killed the beast?
No.
It was social networking.
Obviously, the Internet and what goes on around the Internet has to be responsible for a lot, good and bad. I mean, look at this blog. Who's reading it? Probably no one. I could be standing right behind your desk chair, holding an anvil over year head, and if your choice was to get my blog address right on the first try (no looking!) or to meet your Loony Tunes-esque demise, I'll bet I know which one you'd chose.
The anvil.
And it's discouraging. Very discouraging. Putting all this work into writing a blog that I'll bet only five or so people have heard of. And my Twitter page. Don't even get me started on my Twitter page.
No.
It was social networking.
Obviously, the Internet and what goes on around the Internet has to be responsible for a lot, good and bad. I mean, look at this blog. Who's reading it? Probably no one. I could be standing right behind your desk chair, holding an anvil over year head, and if your choice was to get my blog address right on the first try (no looking!) or to meet your Loony Tunes-esque demise, I'll bet I know which one you'd chose.
The anvil.
And it's discouraging. Very discouraging. Putting all this work into writing a blog that I'll bet only five or so people have heard of. And my Twitter page. Don't even get me started on my Twitter page.
Just don't.
I won't even give you the link. It's too embarrassing.
Not to mention all the other stuff that goes on here on Planet WWW. Cyberbullying is more than an empty inbox, or a horrifying lack of followers, or a nearly vacant friends list containing three foreign strangers and Image Not Available avatar that is probably the friendly mask of a forty year old man who claims to be a fourteen year old girl with fat issues and acme.
Cyberbullying is bad. Very bad. And it's only getting increasingly worse. You most likely won't find me on Tumblr, or Myspace, or - gasp, scandal! - Facebook. Too risky, and I really don't have much of an interest in it, except for maybe Farmville, but still - Dwarf Village will suffice for me.
There are many things you can do to shelter yourself from cyberbullies. Don't let them terrorize you. Don't let them get under your skin. If they grab ahold of you and don't seem to want to let go, don't let it turn into a trainwerck situation - don't keep turning back to look at the catastrophy, and twisted metal and smoke and other things you don't want to see, but can't turn away from.
Walk away.
Cyberbullies may think that it's just a game. Who knows - maybe they just don't get it that they're actually hurting people, not just taking shots at words on a screen. And maybe they don't get that it isn't just a fun thing to do after school when their parents aren't looking and when the big, wide open plains of the Internet are so free and welcoming. It's psychological warfare.
The Joker is the master of psychological warfare, to a point. He runs on fear. But he's a maniac and maintains a certain air of awesome, so he doesn't count. But cyberbullies are not awesome, even if they think they are. The Joker can think he's awesome all he wants, but Batman is still going to beat him. Unfortunately, with cyberbullies, a lot of the time it doesn't work that way.
So the next time you check your email for a new notification of followers, or obsessively check your friends list for new takers, or your comments or your messages or whatever, just forget about it. Turn on your heel, maybe pretend you're reaching down for that penny on the floor and flash the Internet the moon for its big old world-wideness, and carry on happy-go-lucky.
Not that I personally have much against the Internet. I love you, Planet WWW...
Not to mention all the other stuff that goes on here on Planet WWW. Cyberbullying is more than an empty inbox, or a horrifying lack of followers, or a nearly vacant friends list containing three foreign strangers and Image Not Available avatar that is probably the friendly mask of a forty year old man who claims to be a fourteen year old girl with fat issues and acme.
Cyberbullying is bad. Very bad. And it's only getting increasingly worse. You most likely won't find me on Tumblr, or Myspace, or - gasp, scandal! - Facebook. Too risky, and I really don't have much of an interest in it, except for maybe Farmville, but still - Dwarf Village will suffice for me.
There are many things you can do to shelter yourself from cyberbullies. Don't let them terrorize you. Don't let them get under your skin. If they grab ahold of you and don't seem to want to let go, don't let it turn into a trainwerck situation - don't keep turning back to look at the catastrophy, and twisted metal and smoke and other things you don't want to see, but can't turn away from.
Walk away.
Cyberbullies may think that it's just a game. Who knows - maybe they just don't get it that they're actually hurting people, not just taking shots at words on a screen. And maybe they don't get that it isn't just a fun thing to do after school when their parents aren't looking and when the big, wide open plains of the Internet are so free and welcoming. It's psychological warfare.
The Joker is the master of psychological warfare, to a point. He runs on fear. But he's a maniac and maintains a certain air of awesome, so he doesn't count. But cyberbullies are not awesome, even if they think they are. The Joker can think he's awesome all he wants, but Batman is still going to beat him. Unfortunately, with cyberbullies, a lot of the time it doesn't work that way.
So the next time you check your email for a new notification of followers, or obsessively check your friends list for new takers, or your comments or your messages or whatever, just forget about it. Turn on your heel, maybe pretend you're reaching down for that penny on the floor and flash the Internet the moon for its big old world-wideness, and carry on happy-go-lucky.
Not that I personally have much against the Internet. I love you, Planet WWW...
"I used to think I was funny...but my lack of retweets discourages me."
...But, seriously.
- your most erratic hero
...But, seriously.
- your most erratic hero
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