Cyberbullying

Bullying has existed eversince. Cyberbullying is something technology has newly brought. Cyberbullying is controversial because it can cause more harm than just bullying. I have an experience of being bullied and this includes cyberbullying.

When I was in 7th grade, myself was against five other girls. It was such big pressure that there were five girls who hated me yet I needed to face. Yet, cyberbullying made it worse. If it were only face to face, I didn’t need to mind them once I walk away from them. But in terms of cyberbullying, it lasted longer. Even after school was over, I still needed get text messages from other girls, I also felt pressure to reply them. They excluded me from their group chat. They also publicly offended me online which really made me embarrassed.

Bullying itself already means pain and depression especially to teenagers who really care about others. But it gets worse if bullying continues 24/7 due to technology. It seems that everyone’s reluctant to set rules and regulation about cyberbullying since it’s so new. However, cyberbullying results terrible outcome. It is urgent to set clear rules regarding cyberbullying.

Changing bias

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Illustrative of couple representing online dating

When I heard that online dating is in fashion, I couldn’t really agree with that for I have not seen single married couple who met online in my life. Few days ago, I was invited to one of the church elders’ house. It was my first married couple who started their relationship with online dating.

“S(wife) and I met online. When my first wife died, S was widow too. We talked on the phone for three weeks and we started dating offline.”

I believed that relationship that started with online dating cannot last long. I also thought only young generation would approach to online dating. However, knowing how much they appreciate each other and they started online dating when they were early 50s changed the bias I had toward online dating. It was good experience to meet them, ask about their online dating and change the perspective I had.

Powerblogger

Some of my friends in Korea run their own blogs. In Korea, blogs are big. Bloggers upload billions of posts everyday in different fields: beauty, food, fashion, exercise, home-deco, music etc. Koreans rely heavily on blogs when they search for information. When bloggers become “power blogger” by going beyond certain amount of subscribers and views, they are offered of countless sponsorship. I have a friend who is power blogger. She gets her nail done for free, skincare for free,  invited for fancy dinner, clothes for free etc. I thought about running my own blog because I envied her, but it was just too much work. Taking picture of everything she sees and writing comments about it seems too burdened to me. I guess this is another industrial area that technology has brought.

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Technology in Awkward Situation

When I was in high school, I got into an elevator with one of my friends. She and I knew each other but we never made it too close. After saying hi, it became really awkward with her. I felt like suffocating. So I put my hand into the pocket, got out my mobile phone and started to pretend as if I have many texts to reply back. As soon as I did so, she took hers out and did the same. I thanked technology for keeping both of us look busy.

I thought that technology is what makes people awkward because it grabs everyone’s attention and make people not talk to each other. However, considering this incident, technology is too familiar that it could be a substitute for any situation. I think it just became part of life and habit for everyone.

Too Much Technology

 

I watched this video clip on YouTube. When it was supposed to be family time, they did not speak a single word. Instead, they were staring at their phones and tablets. So mom took away all the electric devices. For the re of the time, they remained silent.

This implies technology grabs not only kids’ attention but also adults’. So technology is really everywhere for anyone.

Another thing I noticed is that even after mom took away their electronic devices, they couldn’t have a conversation. If I were the mom, I would throw conversation topics or set different environment instead of only taking phones away. I would bring all my family out for dinner, plan baking time together, or go on a picnic.

I feel like modern family needs more than just staying away from technology.

Parental Monitoring

I learned that there are three types of parents monitoring: restrictive monitoring, active monitoring and deference. Professor. Kiester explained these three steps are like sequence that occurs in order. I remember my mom restrictively monitoring my siblings and me and ended up in deference. Although I don’t remember my mom being actively monitoring, I’d like to reflect back and apply each stage to her.

When I was young, my siblings and I were only allowed to play computer two hours a day. There was no exception. When I wanted to create a new account, I had to use my mom’s  social ID number since I was underage. She made sure what kind of website I was using. This strict rule went on until I became 7th grade.

Because I needed computer for academic purposes, and that I had my own mobile phone, her regulation just disappeared. And by this time, I memorized her social ID number, I could create a new account without her permission. I also became more familiar with the Internet than she was. I guess my mom kind of lost her confidence in restricting technology.

Looking back at how my mom set regulations, I think the parental monitoring sequence totally makes sense to me. And also because my sisters and I had positive predictor to convince my mom, I believe my mom could end up in deference.