HW # 3 History Class (digital)

Mean-spirited, verbally abusive, secretive, uncomfortable, and embarrasing conversations take place everyday in the life of a teenager. The hardest things about these interactions is that they occur face to face. Whether its a bully threatning the new kid at school to shove him in a locker or the scared kid trying to sweet talk his crush. They both stare at the object of their interest with extreme malice or affection not 100% wary of the outcome of their actions. But what if these 2 characters had a comfort zone in which they could both feel their fear and insecurities drown away. This comfort zone is the internet. Where instant messaging is the future and awkward face to face interactions is the past. What if the boy with the crush could be more seductive without the nerves or fear of rejction. What if the bully could be even nastier and meaner without the consequences that could potentially occur in school.

The invention of Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and Aim have been a godsend to bullies, finnaly they have the ability to constantly harass their most recent victims at all hours. This specific action is called "cyber-bullying." Frankly, bullies are cowards. They make fun of others so that they in turn can not be made fun of because they have a very low self esteem.

Now, in the case of the boy with the crush, behind his protective computer screen in the comfort of his own home the possible sting of rejection seems to slide away quickly in comparison to at school and in public. Behind his computer, he has the ability to think out questions for a minute before deciding what to write back that would sound real "smooth. " A luxuory you can never get in the real world where you have a minimum of 5 secounds to answer back before the conversation turns awkward and someone breaks the ice with a stupid joke or remark that results with a fake laugh and a "sorry, I gotta go now" as she scuttles quickly away to a group of friends happy to be around normal folk.

After exploring one possitive and one negative topic of the digital revolution that is the internet although there are many many more topics that need to be taken into consideration,
I personally believe that AIM is an excellent tool for communication among friends online as it develops an individuals identity as well as one's social development. Teens can talk to multiple friends at a time, meet people in chatrooms, and even get screen names of people you do not know to well but that you would like to know better. Users of AIM seem to have a larger network of supportive friends around them and the greater amount of friends you have is an indication of a good judgement of the amount of self-esteem in an individual.