Cyberbully | How much is too much when it comes to sharing online?

The incredibly well-woven plot of Cyberbully provided us with a number of other important points. Firstly, it proved that what people share online does not necessarily tell their whole story. As was the case with the character of Jennifer Li, who got trolled for posting singing videos. As we later find out, Jen who lost her mother at an early age and struggled to fit in at school found singing brought her closer to her memories of her mother. This concept of not sharing the whole picture is both the beauty and the burden of sites like Instagram. On the one hand, we can post beautiful pictures and pretend for a while that everything is perfect. But on the other hand, it gives a false impression that people have these wholeheartedly wholesome lives that our realities can never reach. It's the age-old problem of comparing our bodies to retouched images on the front of the magazines, only now we're not just competing against celebrities. 

Another important lesson to be learnt was one I found to be particularly worrisome. The hacker in Cyberbully informs central character Casey, played perfectly by Maisie Williams, that he helps victims of cyberbullying and Casey is falsely led to initially believe that she is the victim of a tweet supposedly sent by her ex-boyfriend. As the hacker continues with his diatribe, it becomes apparent that he wants Casey to accept that she is in fact the bully, because of her online actions towards Jennifer Li. What the film proved to me is that there is a real fine line to be followed in the way we post our opinions. It is not a crime to dislike something but that should never give anyone the right to 'troll' anyone else, either for being involved in or associated with whatever we dislike, or for simply holding a different opinion. I spend a fair amount of time on YouTube, in particular watching other people's dance choreography; dance is a great passion of mine and as I can't take as many classes as I'd like to, I rely on online content to help inspire me. And whilst many of the comments are positive and encouraging, some people will be so unnecessarily rude in the way they respond to another person's personal expression. I cannot even begin imagine being a celebrity and having to face such a barrage of criticism from anonymous accounts and I imagine it is equally hard going through your formative teenage years where social media has such an day-to-day impact on life. I went on MSN and Bebo and sites like that during my early teens and spent most of my time trying to find a fail-safe guide to flirting with boys whilst adding glitter text to my Piczo pages. I didn't post selfies, my "other half" on Bebo is still one of my closest friends and I didn't have to worry about the threat of hackers pretending to be me or posting private pictures. 

I clearly found Cyberbully to be very thought-provoking and who knows, maybe I've shared too much just writing this post. But we live in a socially connected world and as long as what we share is positive and well meaning and not malicious and purposefully unkind, it would be a shame to ignore how much potential can be created from connecting with people all around the world. I guess what I'm trying to say could be broken down most simply into this: think before you speak and think before you tweet.