The Amanda Todd story highlights the danger of the Internet and lack of privacy for young users, which poses risks of harassment and stalking that can be detrimental. To me, the term “cyber-bullying” is an understatement in this case. This stalking and following of this man on the Internet around Amanda Todd tormented her and harmed her mental health to extremes, and made her feel so isolated and helpless, sadly. She developed anxiety, major depressive and panic disorder, and other coping mechanisms related to drugs, sex and alcohol before committing suicide, demonstrating the consequential negative effects of this online harassment. Todd wrote a note in her YouTube video stating that she “lost all her friends and respect,” showing how utterly alone she felt. The harassment made her hate herself, showing how online public perception can warp our brains psychologically and have a lasting negative impact to such a tragic, deadly degree.
The New Yorker article pointed out that online harassment is deemed “legal” use and free speech, but more states in the U.S. are implementing anti-online-harassment and anti-bullying laws, and there is the Federal Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act, as well. The First Amendment does not protect threat and harassment, but it is up to society’s Internet users (bystanders), culture and law enforcement to recognize this online harassment, even when anonymous, to get to the bottom of it and help someone who is struggling with their public image online as a harmful result. With the novel Internet features developed in recent years, even as Facebook was first on the rise, law enforcement as well as regular citizens were all learning how to navigate the platform; this gives room for trolls and harassers to hurt others if they do not feel that their actions can be addressed with their secretive way of harassing while hidden behind a screen. At the time of the New Yorker article’s publishment, Todd’s harasser was not yet identified by police. This really demonstrates the danger of exposure to the Internet because those who inflict such pain can avoid getting caught and punished.
The final paragraph of the article shows that anonymity benefitted the harasser in Todd’s case, and he took advantage of using photos of Todd to expose her instead of exposing himself. The quote of the Internet myth, “a way to escape physical reality,” was the complete opposite in Todd’s story, where she faced a terrifying reality that she felt she could no longer face.
As you stated, the internet did not give Amanda an escape from reality, it ultimately led to her death. The internet is an incredibly scary place, and we must all do a better job at protect young children from it. In these days so much can happen on the internet, so parents need to be strict about the internet use. Especially since there are not many laws to protect individuals from the harassment they could face online. Harassment is not the only thing minors can be exposed to; it can be traumatic to be exposed to a variety of different things at younger age than one needs to. Ultimately, there needs to be better ways to protect children and minors from the internet which includes having better laws and making sure parents are watching their children and what they do on a device.