When reading the article Facebook Prank Backfires on Two Preteen Girls I was shocked. Two girls aged 11 and 12 obtained the Facebook password of a classmate and posted sexually explicit content on her profile. The girls are being charged with cyberstalking and first-degree computer trespassing. I thought with all of the publicity about cyberbullying, kids would know better than to attack other kids online. However, what I am surprised by most is how young these girls are. They must be in sixth grade. It makes me sad that even young girls feel they must bully others.
The article doesn’t talk about how Facebook played into the girls being charged. This is the first case I have heard about with cyberbullying using Facebook as the medium. A few years back, Myspace was a popular cyberbullying site.
I am glad that these girls will be taught a lesson. However, in the end they are just kids. One has to consider how much punishment is too much. I think that the parents of these girls also need to reassess their parenting style because at 11 and 12, kids should not be hacking into another person’s social media site to post inappropriate information. I guess in the age of the Internet, being 12 is a lot different than when I was that age.
If you would like to check out the article you can find it here: http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-prank-backfires-on-two-preteen-girls-2011-04
Hey Sweet Dee!
ReplyDeleteI elaborated on cyberbullying within my New Media Research Project. Check out my project on the class WIKI for some interesting statistics. It is disappointing that so many teens cyberbully one another online.
I am in the same boat as you… Should the teens be punished or not? They are young and naïve. Consequently, I believe that they should be punished lightly. They need to realize that cyberbullying can have serious adverse effects on others.
Cyberbullying is a true and real problem in today’s society. Something needs to be done to stop cyberbullying. What should we do to prevent the adverse effects of online harassment? Educational campaigns? Harsher laws? Severe school punishments?
Any suggestions?
Jay From the Bay
In my COMM 181 class we recently had a short discussion on if social networking sites like Facebook should put an age limit on it’s users. I know for a period of time when Facebook first made it’s debut it was exclusive to only college students. I think they should bring back that exclusivity.. especially after reading this article. I think there should be an age limit on all social networking sites not just facebook. And it saddens me that children as young as these two girls don’t really see the harm in doing things like this and rather think of it as a little “prank”. I’m really glad they’ve learned their lesson and I hope that news like this pushes parents to keeps a better eye on what they’re children are doing on (and off) line.
ReplyDeleteWow! I was shocked at this too, they are so young, and that seems really malicious to me for an 11 and 12 year old to do. The parents definitely need to be in question too because you have to wonder what the parents are allowing them to be exposed to; even makes you wonder how the parents behave themselves. That poor girl must be so devastated; I would be horrified at that! Another thing that shocked me was their ability to hack into an account at 11 and 12, that seems to young to have such a hold on that kind of technology.
ReplyDelete