Cyberbullying( non fiction blog post)

     I read the book Cyberbullying. It's a non fiction book with different chapters written by different authors. The one I thought was the most interesting  was " A Lack of Compassion has led to an Epidemic of Cyberbullying" by Ronald Alexander.


      I think the main idea of this text was that because the internet has the option to make people anonymous,  this makes it harder for people to have empathy towards one another. I can tell this because he says "...Anonymity can encourage kids and adults to be cruder online than they would be face to face." This shows that he is trying to say that being anonymous can actually be a bad thing because you can hide behind a computer. Another detail is the fact that he mentions Tyler Clementi ( a boy who committed suicide because of cyberbullying). He talks about how the people that saw the video that his "friends" put up of him on the internet couldn't have any empathy for him, because they are anonymous, basically hiding.


      The author wanted to make me feel that cyberbullying is a horrible thing that should be stopped. I know this because of the way he describes certain things. For example he says "...it [the internet] also tends to depersonalize the people using it; it's especially true for those who already lack in empathy."  Here, he tries to make me understand that the internet has a very damaging effect on some people. Another thing he does is talk about how good it would be if we were more conscious of the things we do and say. He says "We can all live in peace. So let's all join together and become more mindful now!" He clearly shows his belief of how cyberbullying is wrong and that we should stop.



       From this book I can take away how much cyberbullying happens in everyday life. I learned that it's basically all around us and can range from just 1 to hundreds of people ganging up on 1 person or a group of people. I don't think my thinking has been changed at all. Before reading this, I thought cyberbullying was bad, and after reading it I still think the same thing. I'd like to know more about cyberbullying statistics.