Anonymity of Cyberspace

I guess this is a follow-up to the last posting. There was another interaction by email with the ex-friend I wrote about that was cold and disturbing.

This has really led me to start thinking about some of the strange interactions that I have had online. Not that those same interactions can't be had on some level in live interactions (meat space, or whatever you want to call it) but somehow it is easier to be cruel or rude when people are physically distanced.

Cyber-bullying is something that must be more chronic now than ever. With films like Mean Girls we see a dramatization of what some people lived through in high school or middle school. Whatever you call it, there is some level of pressure that teens go through and, in negotiating their identities, they sometimes exercise power and position others as inferior or not worth their attention.

For me, it was hard to have this happen as a secure grown woman, so I cannot imagine what young people have to navigate in this online participatory culture.