Adolescence in the Age of Social Media, Cyberbullying, Amanda Todd Case

A friend on Facebook recently posted this to her wall:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/bullied-teen-amanda-todd-leaves-chilling-youtube-video/story?id=17463266

It's a case of 15 year old girl Amanda Todd who recently committed suicide because of bullying and stalking, made worse by the internet, after a man who had coerced her to send him a topless photo of her released it to the internet. Prior to her suicide, she posted a video called "My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm" on Youtube, which has since gone viral:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyHX7wMJBY0

This case is a sad example of what it means to be an adolescent growing up in the new digital age, and what it means for society and policy. Adolescents make mistakes and throughout time have been ostracized for their mistakes. But the dawn of the digital age has radically changed the environment in which adolescents grow up in. What does it mean to be an adolescent with instant access to digital media and the attention of the world? What does it mean when social interactions has been thoroughly imported into the digital stage? What does it mean when fame and ostracization occur at the speed of light and around the world? What does it mean when things that are put on the internet are permanently accessible and instantly transmittable without regards to a person's privacy or individual rights or the protection of a minor? What does it mean for justice and accountability when cyberbullying and cyberstalking happens in the comfort of mass anonymity? What does digital and social media mean when they are themselves the stage of this ostracization, backlash, rebuttal, support and every other aspect of this conversation?

It's easy for a person to laugh at people doing stupid things on the internet, and I believe that we are all guilty of that. It's easy to forget the feelings of people you don't know and who live thousands mile away. I think it's important to consider these questions. The digital age is both recent and yet has become thoroughly entrenched in our lives. It affects everyone, and yet it is not old enough for the people who have grown up with it to truly see the long term consequences of this change. Just consider how Youtube has been the stage for both unintentional and involuntary stardom, and for vloggers to make a living from their Youtube channels. How are 4chan, Anonymous, reddit, Facebook, Twitter affecting all aspects of society, and what does it mean for adolescence, privacy, sexuality, cyberbullying and cyberstalking, anonymity, and celebrity.

Edit: After looking at the syllabus again, this seems like it would'be been a better post for the Nov 14th class on Online Intimacy and Accountability.