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Title of Article: “The Rise of Cyber Bullying” (May 2008 Issue)
Done By: Geraldine Tay #8 :D
Title of Reflection: Cyber Cowards

This article talks about the rising number of cyber bullying cases and that the bullying is usually targeted at children, although there are cases where adults are being bullied online as well. Technology has redefined our way of life. One of the most essential forms of technology would be the internet and because of its importance, more people are finding ways to gain access to it. In almost every home in Singapore, you will be able to find a computer with internet access, don’t you agree?

The article also states that internet usage by children has increased enormously and because of that, cyber bullying is also on the rise. There are many reasons for cyber bullying, but it is mainly because aspects of online communication, like anonymity, encourage people to act aggressively and prompt them to do things that they normally would not do in real life. Also, cyber bullying is different from other forms of bullying because it can happen at any time of the day or night and that the messages, pictures or videos that are spread can be circulated around very quickly. These messages, pictures or videos leaves no scars and is less evident to adults but can lead to severe consequences.

Bullying can result in long-term psychological harm such as low self-esteem, depression, anger, poor academic performance, and even suicide. To prevent more children from becoming victims of cyber bullying, the article has stated a few ways that parents can identify if their children are victims and help them.

In my opinion, cyber bullying is a cowardly act. Firstly, if one is unhappy with the people around him or her, voicing it out would be better than to spread false information about them online. What good will come out of spreading rumours? Yes, even if the people are eventually affected psychologically, it does not solve the problem. Instead, one should get to the root of the problem and see if there is any way both parties can compromise so as to ensure that the problem will not arise again in the long run.

Secondly, we should not make use of the internet to harm others because I believe the internet was created to make our lives easier. Through the internet, we can link ourselves with people from all over the world. Information about almost everything can be found on the internet and is just a click away. Since the internet is such a useful tool, why should we use it for all the wrong things? Also, the bullies are actually committing crimes because according to the law in some countries, like Canada, some forms of online bullying are actually criminal acts and is punishable by law.

Some bullies may think that it is not possible for the authorities to track them down because the anonymity of the internet. However, that is a misconception. Everytime one accesses the internet, there will be a record of the address and the authorities would be able to trace the user. In addition, many would pit ethics against rights. They believe that there should be freedom of speech and intellectual property anytime, anywhere. I personally feel that these people are mean. Yes, there may be freedom, but that does not mean that one can use that freedom to hurt others. We are all humans, so why should we bring harm to one another instead of spreading joy and laughter? Perhaps if they stopped to think of how silly their actions are and how many people may be affected by those actions, they would stop the online bullying, making the internet a better place for everyone.

To help these bullies, we have to first find out the reasons why they turn to bullying. From my point of view, I think that most bullies come from broken families or have problems and that they do not know where or how they can vent their frustrations. Also, they do not want people to think of them as “weaklings” because of their family background and the problems they are facing. Thus, they put on a brave front and decide that the only way to prove that they are ‘tough’ would be to bully others.

I feel that if we want to help them, we would have to counsel them. We have to let them know that bullying others will not solve the problem. Instead, it creates a vicious cycle where the people who are being bullied will become bullies themselves. Allowing them to know that there are people who care and that they can approach them when they encounter problems may help them to stop their bullying habits.

“To err is human – Matthew Prior”. I agree with this quote completely. Nobody is perfect. Therefore, to get along well with one another, we have to practice tolerance. “What is tolerance? -- it is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly -- that is the first law of nature – Voltaire”. If we can try to be more patient and set aside our differences to live together harmoniously, I believe that not only the internet, and the world, would be a much better place for everyone.

Article: Reader’s Digest May issue 2008, pg114-119) Title of article: The rise of cyber bullying

Reflection's Tiltle: Cyber bullying makes the world go wild.

Advanced technology makes the world go round and makes the world go wild. In this sentence, the meaning of “advanced technology makes the world go wild” means that the development of technology such as computers have cause the people to have the audacity to use technology on bad intentions. I believe that cyber bullying is quite common in the world nowadays and it has become a worrying problem for parents. Parents fear that their child might become the next innocent victim of cyber bullying and are at a lost of what to do to protect their beloved child.

By referring to this article, I think that there would be more people who would become the victims of cyber bullying and the more problems would rise. Personally, I have thought of a few problems that might develop from the victim.

Firstly, if the anonymous bullies online have hurt the victims deeply through the use of vulgarities of drawings over a long period of time, the chances of the victim committing suicide would be high. The reason is because they might not be able to take the blow of these discriminations, thus causing them to seek the pessimistic way out. Innocent lives are lost in just a few minutes time, in a few seconds. The victims’ death would be a great blow to their families’ members. Thus, the bullies are just causing the victim’s misery while they are enjoying the process of bullying.

Secondly, even though the victims’ teachers and friends did not harm them in any way, the victims would still develop fear towards them. This would cause them to be anti-social and would always hide at one corner, in fear that others would hurt them again. Some of them might develop hatred towards the people around them and the cycle of cyber bullying would never ends. If the victims are anti-social and have fear communicating with others, this would cause them to have great difficulty in looking jobs in the future.

Thirdly, I think that the insult towards the victims, in terms of appearance or academically, would cause the victims to lose confidence and feel inferior because they think their friends better than them in any ways. They might also think that they are such a failure in life and have no confidence at all. Often, these cyber bullying victims whom are criticized by other people in terms of their looks would be the gullible ones. Thus, others could easily trick them, which doubled their misery.

I think that it would be a difficult task if we hoped to stop all these act of cyber bullying because teenagers nowadays use Internet almost everyday, thus increasing their chance of getting bullied online. However, if we persist on and try to stop all these cyber bullying, we would succeed.

The first step would start from the parents. Parents can actually look out for their child’s behaviour, especially if their child seems extremely upset after using their computers. These might be signs of cyber bullying victims. However, I think the best way to prevent more teenagers from becoming victims of cyber bullying would be to ensure that parents could show their care and concern towards their children everyday. Parents could also communicate with their children more often, so that they would know what problems their children are facing.

Secondly, I think that the victims can try to ignore all the nasty comments towards them. This might be a difficult task but I think it would be the most efficient way out. I think that if we are not satisfied of whom we can, we would definitely be deeply hurt by the negative comments towards us. We live for ourselves and not for others. Thus, we should stay positive and calm of the comments by other people.

Personally, I think that all these advanced technology have caused much harm to people. However, technology has benefited us in many ways and has caused our world to be a better place to be. I think that the bullies are just a group of immature people whom use their Internet access for bad intentions.

In my opinion, I think that we should not criticize our friends through any means because this would only hurt our friends’ feelings and it would not benefit us either. If we are displeased with our friends, we should always talk to them personally. Even though it would still hurt their feelings, but I think they would change for the better and all of us would still be friends again.

Other than cyber bullying, all other acts of bullying are also discouraged. Bullying would neither make you nor the victim feel good, thus we should get rid of these bullying acts and make this world “bully-free”. With no bullies in this world, it will make our world a better place to be in.

By: Tay Ru Jun(24) 3G

The rise of cyber bulling (page 115)(RD May 2008)

Cyber bulling is a very common thing that is happening to the whole world nowadays. After reading the article, I find that the increasing number of cyber bulling cases is due to some immature and insensible behavior of some youths. A study had shown that one-third of American teen Internet users have been targets of cyber bullies. This is quite a serious problem that is occurring around worldwide and we should try our best to reduce the number of cases before it gets more serious. Reports have also showed that online communication have encourage people to act aggressively, promoting them to do things they would not dare to try in real life.

A 2007 pew study found that 93 per cent of American teens use the Internet and 61 per cent go online daily. Unfortunately, some of the teens misused the computers and turned them into weapons that threatened a lot of other people in many different ways that may harm their life. I was actually quite surprised when I read that numerous teenagers have committed suicide after being harassed by their peer and being called for some heartbreaking names. I think that hurting ones feeling is not a very nice thing to do. It only shows the characteristics of the people that many people would look down upon. One of the main reasons why people are often being bullied in cyber space is that there is usually no visual contact unlike in the playground when you can see the stress and pain on the victim face which can act as an inhibitor to some degree.

In my opinion, I think the impact of cyber bulling on a teenager can be fatal. It can cause the teenagers to have a kind of thinking that they are just a laughing tool for other people and may try to end his or her life if they could not find a solution to it. Some people are even heartless. Not only do they make fun of their classmates, they also posted the movie online for all the people in the world to have a chance to see it. Some teenagers might not be able to take it and they may even do some foolish things when their mind is unstable. Some of the teenagers are very sensitive and will not tell their parents about it. In New York, a student sets up a website that encourages students to label their peers as promiscuous. They could write anything about them. To me, this website seems like an insult and humiliation to one self. It shows the ugly side of the people writing down the negative comments about their classmates.

Although warning has been given, it is not totally effective as many people may choose to avoid it or continue to do it. They do not take the law seriously, and in the US they apply only to adult. Some people may also use the computer to trick people into giving them money by using some forms of 'sweet talking'.

Another study had also found out that one in eight young people, cyber bulling is even worse than physical bullying, which is becoming quite a concern for all the people. I think that the only way to reduce cyber bullying is to limit a number of hours a person has to spend on the computer.

A computer is just a tool, it cannot be bad. It all depends on the user using it. It will only be good when the user makes use of its talent properly.

Done by: Cheong Mun Hong (31)

Reader Digest May 2008-----Pg 30~Pg 33

This article is mainly about how to stop terrorists from getting materials to build nuclear bomb and the answers from the article is NOT MUCH CHANCE!

Nuclear bomb is a great weapon to the terrorists and had great destruction forces and can cause great damages to a country if it is misuse by the terrorists. Example given is the bombing in Brussels that cause the entire infrastructure to fall and cause million of death in a minute time.

But in fact, it could be avoided. All we need to do is to stop the production of nuclear bomb. You may wonder how, but it is very easy yet hard to achieve. Why?In order to produce nuclear bomb, you need to first fuelled it with plutonium or uranium, which is very difficult to make and does not occur in nature, which must be created by humans. So in order to make nuclear bombs, terrorists need to gain possession of the fissile materials from country which produce it. The only way to gain possession of the materials is not only by stealing, but by illegal transition. Some countries produce materials and even sell it to disreputable buyers, which may be greatly dangerous.

I think that the main purpose of them selling it to the others is because of the power of money. With money, they tend to do anything without considering the consequences. I tend to give my opinion that they think that money is everything. But why did not they weight the pluses and minus, is money more important or human lives worth more? Although they may deny that they had sell it to a terrorists, but even there a single chance of putting the world in danger, I seriously think that they should not do so.

After reading this article, i also think that rules should be enforced by international government, banning the selling of plutonium or uranium to anyone or any other countries. Through this, this greatly minimise the chance that nuclear bombs could be produce and therefore reduce the possibility of more and more terrorists attack.

Done by: Jerome GoH ( 36 )

Dead Of Night (Page 120) (RD May 2008)

I believe that this article was originated from America, as ‘911’ was mentioned in the article. This article mainly shows how high the crime rates in America were and how dangerous the jobs of the cops were. In America, anyone could get a gun by simply registering. I think that the government should do something about it, as crimes usually gets out of control because criminals have the ability to buy guns legally. I would recommend them to have a system like what we have in Singapore, where only the civil servants are allowed to own guns.

As mentioned in this article, housebreaking, or trespass, is very common in America. This is because most criminals are armed, and some even had better weapons to challenge the law. With this, they are more daring to commit crime. To fight increasing crime rates in America, one of the best measures I thought that people have taken would be arming themselves too. For example, in this article, this victim had a rifle at his garage, probably used for security purposes.

Nevertheless, more people in America worked as police officers, and thus it is not rare to see any ex-cops around in America. However, as a police officer in America is very dangerous, since all the criminals that had to be dealt were dangerously armed.

Housebreaking was common in America, as the majority of the citizens were rich. This particular reason made robbing popular, as robbing could easily get money. However, the consequences of committing crime are serious. For example, in the article, the man that invaded the house was charged with several offences and dealt with.

Thus, we cannot always assume that we are safe. Much safety and security measures have to be taken at everywhere to prevent one from becoming the victim of the crime. Moreover, I am sure that the criminals did not have a second thought before committing crime. Serious consequences should be considered if we were to do something inappropriate intentionally.

(332 Words)

Done by: Goh Yih Xun (33)

Reader's Digest Reading Assignment

Hallo 3G! This is a summary/remind of what you need to do.

1. Flip through the May or June issue of Reader's Digest. Pick out one article that interest you. It should be at least 3 pages!
2. Read it.
3. Put on your thinking cap and reflect on the issues raised. For example, think of why the people in the article did what they did, or what could happen to the people in future. You can also think about your response to the article (did the article shock/disgust you?) and why you reacted that way.
4. Write a reflection of at least 300 words to discuss the issues raised in the article and your personal opinion on them. Please remember to use paragraphs and write in proper English.
5. Give your reflection a title.
6. Post your entry! Remember to refer to the title of your article somewhere in your entry. Sign off with your name.
Your entry should be up by 15 June.

Do feel free to comment on your classmates' reflections.

I will be enthusiatically awaiting your profound and meaningful reflections! :)
-Ms Heng