Prompt 1.

What was your biggest takeaway from the video? My biggest takeaway is how oblivious and selfish
society was relishing in this young woman's mistake. Granted, it was with the President of the United
States, but it is still unfortunate. She was one of the first cyberbullying victims. If you had to sum up
your initial reaction in one word after watching this video, what would it be? Why? Empathy. I
empathize for Ms. Lewinsky and her situation. Especially since she was in the spotlight. The Clinton-
Lewinsky scandal occurred before the advent of social media (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc.).
Discuss how things would have been different if the scandal had broken on social media. She had to
hide for ten years as she stated to get away from the shame. Cyberbullying is exponentially increasing,
and it is not going away anytime. There is a stark contrast between the Internet of yesterday and
the Internet of today. There is almost a zero-tolerance mentality amongst professionals, educators, and
parents when it comes to cyberbullying. Perhaps, the Internet was still in its infancy as a widely-accessed
platform. We did not know the impact cyberbullying had on its victims. It wasn't even a coined term. It
took suicides and public spotlight shame such as Ms. Lewinsky’s to bring to the forefront this issue. She
was "slut-shammed" for committing the adulterous act, with the other consenting adult, Mr. Clinton.
Lewinsky (2015) stated, "the Internet has connected us in unimaginable ways. The dark side of
cyberbullying and “slut-shamming” I had experienced had mushroomed. Every day online, especially
young people who are not mentally equipped to handle this, are so abused and humiliated that they
can't imagine living to the next day, and some tragically don't." This impactful statement reminds us that
we have a lot of work to do to help educate, intervene, prevent, and stop cyberbullying. We need to
emphasize a sense of empathy amongst all students and all persons in our life. How do we guard
against an overzealous government demanding private data and information? By using browsers like
Chrome or Firefox and clear your cache full of cookies. Check that your browsers can block cookies,
period. Use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), vs the non-secure (HTTP) while on the
Internet. How do we cope with the “shame game” when the game is played out over the Internet?
Monica Lewinsky (2015) stated "public shamming as a blood sport has to stop" It is time for an
intervention on the Internet and in our culture. The shift begins with something simple, but it is not
easy. We need to return to a long health value of compassion and empathy. Online we have compassion
deficit and empathy crisis. Internet Researcher Rene Brown stated, "shame cannot survive empathy.”
We need a culture of empathy and it needs to start from teaching our students to care about people
other than themselves.

Prompt 2.

If you had unlimited resources (money, time, people), what would you do to prevent cyberbullying
and promote kindness? I would show Koyczan’s video to every single kid, adult, educator, and
administrator. I would explain the language, in the beginning, is necessary. I will never ask a student
what will they be when they grow up? Ironically, I am teaching a unit on career exploration! Ack! I would
incorporate a curriculum of socioemotional learning in all schools across a global scale. Students would
have to learn about empathy, kindness, humanity, and service before any academic book, lesson, or
lecture passed their hands. I would invite persons to speak at an assembly to encourage good behavior. I
want my students to be good for good’s sake, not because they are scared of consequences. But alas,
accountability, ratings, grades, and the growth of their academic learning is more important than their
socioemotional learning, despite it being a flagship we incorporate in our lessons. There is no growth
measurement for this. The only growth measurement is a decrease in attendance, disciplinary issues,
and high-risk school drop-outs. To prevent cyberbullying, I would bring in experts in the field to help
design a curriculum that is accessible for free for all schools. Practicing good digital citizenship is a
mindset, not a one-and-done lesson. I don’t have all the answers, but students need to be encouraged
and shown how to make good decisions to protect themselves and others. To understand that we are
greater than the needs of ourselves and that everything we do affect people. Digital etiquette is key
here.

Reference

Koyczan, S. (2013). To this day…for the bullied and beautiful. TED.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa1iS1MqUy4.

Lewinsky, M. (2015). The price of shame. TED. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U