Cyberbully

1. I personally believe that what Taylor's mother was trying to say is that, anything
you post publicly, someone could print it or record it by any other means, then
passing it/ showing it to other people making it maybe even more public, or
even sending a picture to all the bully's friends. It can still happen, if you are
talking to someone privately, for example the person can do what was
mentioned previously and post it on their public account, showing everyone
what was meant to be private.
2. I believe that it is easier to talk "trash" about people online rather than in real
life, because of the amount of power you have. For example as mentioned in
the movie, "she has no limit. He can say whatever she wants, whenever she
wants, freedom of speech" or something along those lines, mentioned by the
bully's father, which basically says that they can use whatever type of words
they want and to anyone. Another big factor is that the lack of face to face
connection makes the person sending the message less humanized, since they
believe that the receiver won’t be hurt as terribly as the bully expects since they
are most likely less careful about what they are sending to the receiver.
3. The positives of friending someone like James, even though she didn't know
him, it could be as followed: James could become a possible business partner,
friend and even a possible love interest, if he says who he says he was. Some
of the negatives things are as followed: a possible enemy, bully, rapist, pervert,
serial killer, or psychopath to name a few, if he lies about his identity and if the
recipient is weak or foolish enough of giving him his or her home address and
more personal information about him or herself. There have been many cases
of this happening. In my opinion, I wouldn't accept.
4. I was very surprised that a family member would do such a thing, knowing that
this family member was not very emotionally stable/very easy to hurt/very
delicate. I would have never expected that a family member could have done
such a thing.
5. I believe that James was another guy in school that found about Taylor's crush,
and began a fake account to make Taylor look bad, the being the only person in
the whole school to start acting nice or loving around her making him seem, in
contrast, as the best guy of the whole world.
6. I am very upset by the way Cheyenne was showed in this film. At first, she
seemed like a very trustworthy person, but then she left her best friend, since
she was giving her a bad name; I understand that the point of her and this
happening in the film was to show the impact that she caused. Showing that
even your closest friends might treat you differently adding to the drama, but in
real life, this would just show that you are not a real friend, but just a coward
that leaves the situation instead of facing it with his or her comrades, like a
trusting, loyal friend. This would never be the right thing to do as a friend. This
would be the most selfish thing to do.
7. Yes, I was very surprised that James’ identity was one of Taylor's closest
friends. I would have never expected that someone so close to another person,
so connected in fact that they would go to each other's house like it was
nothing. This really surprised me, knowing how close they were to do such a
 thing, to basically family is terrible. The only reason I think someone would do
such a malevolent thing, is for jealousy. Maybe as a sick joke, I do not clearly
remember but I believe it was because of jealousy.
8. Bullies get punished by different ways. Some types of bullies would be put to
detention, suspended, or even expelled, some bullies get into more trouble, and
might have to face legal action against them of the bullying is so severe. I
believe that cyberbullies should be put on the same type of consequences, but
more that revolve around the Internet, for example: a ban from the site or
maybe humiliation so intense that the person would never want to go close to
these websites ever again. People don't understand that most of the people of
this generation care more about their social media life than they do the real life,
so the laws might have to change to adapt to this new generation.
9. No, saying that what her little brat did was freedom of speech, is no different
than telling someone to kill themselves out on the streets, or calling someone a
racial slur, if this is a law, there are other laws that go against it; every law in the
world has a law that goes against it. I think he should have first seen what the
problem was, and not be so ignorant in only thinking about his sorry excuse for
a human being that she calls "Lindsay.” The smartest way of fixing the problem
was seeing the situation from a different point of view, like a professional
lawyer, and not like a rich dad with terrible parenting skills.
10. This cyberbullying experience has changed her family, since now they
understand that she is not so emotionally stable. This also opened Taylor
father's eyes, letting him see that even if he does not want to admit it, her
daughter needs him in the hardest of times. This also helped Taylor's friends
see that they have to stick together for the good times and the bad times, since
at the end of every dark, miserable cave, there is always a way out.
11. What the counselor was trying to say is that when you respond to a bully's
action, you are just saying to the offender, that they have won. They have
achieved their goal of making you feel bad about yourself, making you feel less
than them, elevating their ego higher. The best idea is to ignore the bully since
at a certain point they start to understand that they are not going to win.
12. In my eyes, the movie could have ended in two ways, depending on what the
director was aiming for. The shock and devastation of cyberbullying or the
explanation that cyberbullying can be stopped if dealt the right way. I think it
has a realistic ending, excluding the scene where Taylor's mother finds a way
to create a new law regarding cyberbullies and cyberbullying. The movie was
realistic, but as all movies, the good people win. It would have been much more
interesting if somehow they showed what could have happened to Taylor, if she
overdosed. It may have given the movie a much more memorable moment, but
it might have been more dark and unsettling to air on television.
13. The reason why they did not stick up for each other before had mostly to do
with the fact that cyberbullying and cyberbullies were new at the time. They
were very scared to confront a bully, since they might think bully will change her
sights to one of the people, that tried defending the victim, and seeing what was
happening to this victim, they knew better than to risk it.
14. When Taylor posts a picture; this, in my opinion, is turning this new generation
into a more social media focused world, showing our pictures openly to
strangers is a very powerful tool, that used incorrectly can greatly damage the
person uploading the picture. If used properly, it can be a great thing.
 Another scene was when Taylor started talking to someone that she did not
know, and saying very private information. This is a very powerful tool for
communication, but I think that these sites should make it a lot harder for
people to expose this, for example prohibiting screenshots while in a private
conversation.
The various scenes where the 3 girls call each other, and then go to each
other's houses. This is an incredible way of communicating, since it can do
various things. For example as a form of entertainment, going to each other’s
houses, as a form of education (asking for help and knowledge for the
upcoming test etc.). This is something that is very useful in our society, since
most of the time the end is meeting each other face to face.
15. Cyberbullying is a modern form of bullying, used through websites. This is
incredible hurtful to our fragile and social media addicted generation. This never
goes away, like regular face-to-face bullying. It will always be on 24/7 and can
hurt a person so badly that it can lead to extreme moments of depression, fear,
and maybe even suicidal thoughts. I personally can’t do much, the most I can
do is when I see this happening, help out and get someone with more power
than me, to help stop the attack. My peers can do the same thing. If we unite
powers, we can become a big group that might scare the cyberbully away,
stopping the situation. Schools are the higher power that I would be looking to
get. Maybe if a lot of students keep bashing the school with a no cyberbullying
policy, the situation can be much less effective for the cyberbullies. The
government can do the same thing as the school, but in a higher level, making
any form of cyberbullying a fine per word / letter written, that can be considered
offensive after a certain type of amount, with the victims permission, to make
bullying through the Internet virtually stop. Don't take it the wrong way, I know
that instant messaging and social media is greatly helping us students, but
some of these students will decide to use it for the worse, making more rules
against these type of behaviors will help these advancements more comfortable
for our generation.

By: Ignacio Becerra

Grade: 8