The Wireless Playground

Posted by Ken

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I’ll bet you can recall one of your childhood bullies. The guy who was always seeking attention by making others look stupid or weaker than he was. Or the girl who was pretty and used her beauty to its fullest advantage, while at the same time she stabbed people in the back if it meant she got what she wanted.

The pain can last long after the bully has inflicted it

If you were the one they were targeting back then, you at least had a safe harbor to turn to: home. Now, with the proliferation of cell phones and computers and all that they do to help people communicate, kids these days don’t have much of a safe haven anymore. You see, what used to mostly be confined to the school playground has expanded to the wireless playground. As such, ridicule, embarrassment, and harrassment are all around them thanks to technology.

And this brings us to this article, which tells of a story that had a fatal ending. The only thing worse than a fatal tragedy is a fatal tragedy that could have been prevented. If just one of the witnesses chose to stand up and say something, then a 20-year old man might still be alive today. The teens involved with this incident spread harrassment using their cell phones. It’s unclear if IM was used, but clearly confusion increased as more kids got involved.

Read the article

Cyberbullying