Digital Etiquette
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Talk or Type?
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Personal Digital Safety
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Cyberbullying hurts
Advances in technology and social media have allowed schoolyard bullies to extend their range and methods of bullying. Some people send mean or threatening texts or emails to people they don’t like. Some even distribute inappropriate or embarrassing images of people. These activities are committed by cyber bullies. Sometimes cyber bullies even create false email addresses and social media accounts to avoid being caught (Stop Bullying, 2016). There is no escaping cyber bullies as they can do their nasty work from anywhere, at any time, using many different methods, via numerous aliases.
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(Stand Up, 2010)
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Cyberbullying can cause a lot of mental anguish and even lead to the suicide of person being bullied. In 2015, it was reported that between 15% and 21% of high school students had experienced cyberbullying (Stop Bullying, 2016).
If caught, the cyber bully can expect to face a range of penalties including suspension or expulsion from school to jail time depending on the severity of the offense (Cyberbullying, n.d.). Nearly half of the states in the US include cyberbullying as part of their bullying laws with severe cases being classed as criminal harassment (Cyberbullying, n.d.). |
Sexting
Sexting is the distribution of sexually explicit image using digital devices such as cellphones. Laws covering sexting are being passed with the intention of being less punitive towards teenagers who are convicted (Theoharis, n.d.). Currently, in some states, underage children who are caught sexting are prosecuted under existing child pornography laws even if they send pictures to themselves (Theoharis, n.d.).
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First impressions lastThe rapid increase in texting over the last twenty years along with the more recent tweeting phenomenon has led to a decrease in spelling proficiency and a loss of grammar skills. Language that is acceptable in a Tweet or a text may be totally unacceptable in an email or letter.
If you are communicating with a prospective employer or you are applying by letter to be accepted into a degree or other program, you must ensure that your spelling and grammar are up to the required standards. Download and use a grammar checker like Grammarly, or ask a friend to check your work, or best of all do both. (Grammar, 2013) |
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This work by Stephen Taylor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.