Our discussion of cyber-bullying really shocked me. To begin with when I was doing the readings before class, the links were under the section titled twitch and gaming. I opened the intro to Citron and was completely shocked by the content. I was expecting an article on how twitch changed the world of gaming and instead jumped into a world of sadism and hurt.

Once I got over the initial shock of what I was tasked with reading, I was shocked by at how graphically the author chose to portray the effects of cyber-bullying in the intro of her book. I understand that this catches the attention but it seemed very aggressive to me. This is probably exactly what she was going for since the content of the book is aggressive and deserves attention. Honestly, since I was just so unprepared for the content it may have just thrown me that much off guard. Once past the initial shock I must say that the medium was very successful with relating the message. As a text it sucks you in, the twisted nature of the subject and the author’s gifted writing makes it hard to look away. You feel the need to keep reading just to find out what happened to these people, to find out what we can do to help stand up to their trolls and to ultimately never let this happen to anyone else.

The other link brought me to a podcast from “This American Life”. In class we discussed how the medium in which this topic is presented could help or hurt the message. I really believe the medium of a podcast helped the message. The subject material is so personal, it’s the story of how this woman confronted her troll. It brings you into the mind of the troll when she calls him up and speaks with him directly. I personally listened to the podcast in my apartment while doing housework. It almost felt as though the presenter was sitting at my kitchen table telling me this story of her experiences as I was washing the dishes. I really feel this was presently best in the form of a podcast. Hearing the emotion in her voice when she talked about her father and while she confront her troll is something that could not be captured through text.

I do feel each of these mediums was effective in getting their message through. I personally preferred the podcast for the intimacy but the book did a good job bringing out the aggressiveness of cyber-bullying.