This past Wednesday, our assigned readings and class discussions centered around the topic of cyber harassment. Though I have never been a target of online harassment or cyber bullying myself, I found both the reading by Professor Danielle Citron as well as our discussion incited by her writing to hit a personal note.

Recently, I did a project for my Junior Year Writing class about a trend in my ideal career field, and I chose to research the affect of the Internet on the field of writing. Doing this project made me realize just how much I rely on the Internet for everyday activities, from doing research for similar projects to checking Facebook and other social media platforms. Personally, the Internet makes my life easier, and gives me more resources to utilize in my academic life and my social life.

However, my project didn’t really investigate the side of the Internet that includes cyber bullies and ‘trolls,’ and while I have learned about cyber bullying in a more general sense in high school, the Citron reading was an intense and in-depth look at how the Internet can affect people negatively. For me, it was really interesting to go from researching and presenting my project in my Junior Year Writing class to doing this reading and hearing what my classmates had to say in our discussion on Wednesday. I went from discussing all the benefits that the Internet can offer to a person’s career to seeing just how quickly the Internet could damage or even destroy someone’s entire life.

Of course, the existence of the Internet isn’t to blame for cyber harassment, but though the Internet has its benefits, it is also important to recognize how quickly it can dismantle a career, a social life, or both. Throughout my research for my Junior Year Writing class, I found that a great deal of my future career in the field of writing could be centered around the Internet, specifically in terms of the methods of communication and connection that it provides. For example, through my research I found that the Internet has already altered the field of self-publishing, and has made that a much more viable and inexpensive option for those who do not want to take the traditional publishing route. Additionally, social media has made it easier for authors to connect with their readers, as well as agents, publishers, and other people involved in the field of writing. These are both benefits that the Internet has offered to my ideal career field, but, as we saw in class, being so connected and somewhat dependent on the Internet can have clear downsides as well. If someone in the field of writing or even myself in the future were to become the target of cyber harassment or stalking, it would probably be very difficult to disentangle one’s image and career from the threats and abuse that come along with cyber bullying. Thus, with my ideal career field being so interwoven with the resources and opportunities provided by the Internet, I myself would have to be very careful of what information I released online and how I might deal with the possibility of cyber harassment, as both of these things could come back to haunt me. Unfortunately for me, with my goals growing more and more dependent on the Internet and being connected, cyber harassment is something I would have to be especially careful of.

Though I have not personally been a target of cyber harassment, it is easy to see through Professor Citron’s reading how quickly one’s life can change as a result of it. While I am thankful to not have had to undergo the struggles of one who is being targeted online, I have become more concerned about cyber harassment in general now that I know more about its possible effects. Doing research into my own future gives me hope, as I think the Internet has a lot of tools and resources to offer its users. However, it also worries me, as the more we become dependent on the Internet, the easier it seems to me that cyber bullies and stalkers could get ahold of personal information and harass someone into needing to abandon the Internet altogether, and thus leave behind something that provides a lot of connections and career opportunities. Through our discussion and my research I have seen the positive and negative aspects to the Internet, but I have learned about the seriousness of cyber harassment.