https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bachelor-women-tell-all-contestants-cyberbullying-read-messages

On Monday, March 2nd, The Bachelor had their most anticipating episode of the season – Women Tell All. This is where all of the contestants from the season’s Bachelor come together to discuss the season, the relationships, and of course all of the drama. However, the episode took a little of a turn when Chris Harrison, the host of the famous dating show, addressed cyberbullying issues along with former Bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay. Rachel goes on to talk about how contestants on the show are constantly being bullied online by watchers of the show. There are racial slurs being made towards some of the contestants and the offensive comments don’t stop there.

Cyberbullying is an issue with so many people that use online media platforms. For ‘The Bachelor’ to come out and discuss the cyberbullying that is associated with the women on the show is huge. They advocate for good digital citizenship and they even discussed it on TV. Since they discussed the issue on TV, they put out the message that cyberbullying is not okay. So hopefully the show had reached out to the millions of people that watch it and it had made people realize that cyberbullying is not okay.

https://www.summer.harvard.edu/inside-summer/4-tips-spotting-fake-news-story

News articles online are everywhere, but do you know if it is actually a true news story? Fake news has been on the rise with all the current events that have been happening, and authors of the articles falsely report on it due to not knowing the facts or they intentionally mean to falsely report on it to get more people to read their articles. This can make people uneasy about reading news online because they are not sure if they are true or not. The Harvard article listed above shows 4 ways that can help someone determine if a news article is reporting the real story or if it really is fake news.

The first tip on spotting fake news is to look at the credibility of the publisher. This means that you are looking at the url to see if it ends with .com, .org, .edu, etc. This article from Harvard says to be cautious about urls that end with .com.co and other similar endings. See if the author has published other articles on their website is another good way to look at the credibility.

The second tip from this Harvard article is to look at the quality. If there are a lot of spelling errors, odd punctuation, or even grammar issues then this needs to be carefully examined. It is likely the article is not from a credible source and should not be relied on as a good source.

The third tip is to check the sources and citations used in the article. If you can look at the sources and citations used for the article that you are debating is fake or not, then chances are it might not be fake. If the information can be found somewhere else, and it correlates with the information found on the article, then it is probably and okay article to read.

The last tip that the Harvard article states is to “ask the pros”. By this, they mean to look at fact checking websites. The fact checking website does what it says – it checks to see if facts are true or not. These can help weed out the fake articles from the real ones. These are a few great tips to help someone determine whether an article is real or fake.

https://news.ku.edu/2018/09/13/study-shows-how-media-influence-public-individual-opinions-varies-country-factors

The article above is from KU, the University of Kansas, and it discusses how the media affects public opinion in different countries. The authors of the article conducted a study on this and even stated, “An old adage in journalism research holds that the media can’t tell you what to think, but it can tell you what to think about”, which is 100% true. The media influences our thoughts without us even knowing it most of the time.

The researchers of the study found that there are various factors that influence how media affects its users in different countries. Hong Tien Vu, who works at the University of Kansas as assistant professor of journalism states, “The central idea was that the effect journalism has on the public is a product of culture, economy and similar factors in a nation”. This means that different factors like age, economic status, and more affect the way people look at the media. The researchers looked at 16 different countries – “Argentina, Austria, Canada, Chile, Taiwan, Germany, Israel, South Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States”. They picked these countries because they are all very diverse in many ways to one another, allowing for good data.

The results of their data were very interesting. People who are less likely to be influenced by the media are younger individuals, people who are more educated, and people that are more politically liberal. The article that reviews the study says that individuals that live in big cities are more likely to be influenced by the media compared to individuals that live in rural areas. Findings also made researchers think that the population of people in developed countries are more “skeptical” of media than the population of people in under-developed countries. Studies like these help us realize who and how the media really does affect and influence all of us.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal

The article above shows how media platforms, websites, and news reports compare Meghan Markle to Kate Middleton. They don’t come out and state the comparisons, however, you can see how differently they view each Duchess based on the articles of their website. This quote from the article states that Meghan and Prince Harry are knowledgeable of the comparisons between their brother/brother-in-law, and sister-in-law, “Harry and Meghan have said publicly that they believe they have been treated unfairly by the UK press since the moment news broke of their relationship — that they are bullied, that there are racist undertones to coverage of them, and that they have been held to a different standard than Harry’s brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka Prince William and Kate Middleton)”. Let’s look at how the media has been reporting each Duchess.

There are 20 examples (so 10 pairings) in the Buzzfeed article that show the comparisons in the same news/media platforms between the two Duchesses. MANY come from the Daily Mail, and Express. Like literally every other example is the Daily Mail. Headlines from Daily Mail say: “Not long to go! Pregnant Kate tenderly cradles her baby bump while wrapping up her royal duties ahead of maternity leave – and William confirms she’s due ‘any minute now'”… while covering news on Meghan’s pregnancy… “Why can’t Meghan Markle keep her hands off her bump? Experts tackle the question that has got the nation talking: Is it pride, vanity, acting – or a new age bonding technique?”. Another example from Express says: “Why you can always say it with flowers” (discussing the marriage of Kate and William)… compare that to the coverage of Meghan and Harry’s marriage… “Royal wedding: How Meghan Markle’s flowers may have put Princess Charolette’s life at risk”.

As you can see from just the 2 examples from above, the media portrays Kate and Meghan in two very different ways. Seen in the quote from the article earlier, Meghan and Harry feel bullied and that they are even racial stabs at them in some article’s cases. No one really knows why the media portrays the Duchesses differently, however, it could be because of some of the untraditional ways that things are done with Meghan and Harry, and even because of her race, which should not be an issue in the first place.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/07/26/harassment-social-media-cyberbullying-reports-rise-among-girls/1835431001/

In the article listed above, it discusses the difference between genders with reporting cyberbullying. With cyberbullying as a whole, the cyberbullying article states that “about 20%, or one in five students, reported being bullied, ranging from rumors or being excluded to threats and physical attacks in the 2016-17 school year. That’s unchanged from the previous survey done in 2014-15”. However, it is also stated that the amount of cyberbullying has increased from the previous years to now. This is an issue because as the rates of cyberbullying had increased, the rates of reporting cyberbullying has not increased.

This article says, “Broken down by gender, 21% of girls in middle and high school reported being bullied online or by text message in the 2016-17 school year, compared with less than 7% of boys”. This raises questions as to why girls report more than boys when it comes to cyberbullying. Girls are involved with more cyberbullying due to wanting to be accepted by other people, and especially their other peers that are also female. The article goes on to talk about Lauren Paul, and how she hears many stories how girls are normally bullied by other girls. Paul now has a non-profit that focuses on how girls bully girls, and this non-profit goes to many schools to give educational facts about the topic and how to stop it.

Lauren Paul hosts assemblies at many middle schools and high schools across the nation to get the word around about cyberbullying and how to stop it. There are other ways that schools and media are trying to stop cyberbullying. Schools are beginning to impose punishments (suspension, detention, etc.) when cyberbullying happens between students in their schools. The article states that even media platforms like Instagram are attempting to stop cyberbullying by monitoring their comments. If someone is about to post an offensive comment, Instagram will step in and send them a notification asking them if they really want to post this… These are small steps that can potentially help defeat cyberbullying among younger adults.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/284282

The article above focuses on ways to keep your social media profiles all to yourself and how to prevent them from being hacked. Some of my friends have had to make new accounts for their social media pages because their last profile had gotten hacked. They had to start their profile all over from scratch. There are many ways to prevent being hacked. Here are some ways to help keep your social media to yourself – all from the article listed above.

The first way is to be careful with certain third-party applications. Only allow third-party applications to have access to your information if you know that the third-party app is legit. The next way is to use a strong password. Don’t reuse passwords for other social media networks you use, and be sure to include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, punctuation, and numbers to make a really strong password. The third way is to install antivirus software onto your computer. Use a trustworthy software that maybe your friends use – DON’T go find a random one on the internet, make sure it is legit. The last way is to enable two-factor authorization. This means that you will be alerted on another device when you sign into your account on a separate device. This lets the user know if they were the ones actually signing in to their profiles or not.

It is very important to know of ways to prevent your social media accounts from being hacked. When your social media accounts are hacked, it can lead to loads of your information being leaked online and to the hacker themselves. Keep your information in your own hands and be smart when it comes to your social media accounts online.

5 Reasons Your Kids Shouldn’t Use the After School App

I remember when I was in high school there was this app that was beginning to become popular among all of the students – it was called After School. I downloaded it to see what all the hype was about, and then I realized what it was. After School is an app for iPhones and Androids that allows students of high schools to post status’ anonymously for everyone to see that goes to that certain high school. I never participated in posting, but I did read what some of the status updates had said – and they weren’t all that great.

I looked online for an article that explains the harms of this anonymous person posting application and found the one that is listed above. The article gives some good reasons as to why this app is not healthy for students because it can cause bullying, impersonation, and even the sharing of personal details or problems. I agree 100% with this statement because I witnessed it firsthand, and I saw what the app did to my high school. The article even states that someone had posted a threat saying that they would bring a gun to the high school. Even though the person who made the threat never went through with it, it is still a big deal.

The After School app, and other apps with the same concept, should not have a place in schools or even the workplace. It is important that we teach the younger generations that apps like this are not okay to use since it can cause unnecessary drama and can cause bullying as well. This app is a great example and proves what cyberbullying can do to others. Students should be aware of the harmful effects that this app has on themselves and others.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/12/02/melania-trumps-christmas-decorations-are-lovely-that-coat-looks-ridiculous/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/12/20/michelle-obama-can-wear-whatever-she-wants-now-what-she-wants-is-sparkly-thigh-high-boots/

I came across an article (December 2019) written by Robin Givhan, a fashion journalist for the Washington Post, that criticized Melania Trump for the coat she was wearing during a showing of the White House Christmas decorations. There were comments made that stated that the coat she was wearing was a “distraction” and that she didn’t look comfortable. Givhan even stated, “In a video that is intended to celebrate the warmth and welcoming spirit of the holiday season, that simple flourish exudes cold, dismissive aloofness” (Robin Givhan, Washington Post).

I then went on to find another article (December 2018) written by Robin Givhan… only this time I searched for a fashion article written about Michelle Obama. I was intentionally looking to see whether Givhan had criticized Michelle Obama as harshly as she had Melania Trump – and I definitely found what I was looking for. In the article that covered fashion worn by Michelle Obama, Givhan basically praised Obama for what she wore. She stated, “…the former first lady wore a full-length, draped, shimmery yellow shirt dress with a pair of gold, holographic thigh-high boots. It wasn’t just an eye-catching ensemble. It was fashion. Fashion. Faaaashion!” (Robin Givhan, Washington Post). No criticism at all, just how perfect her look was for a former first lady.

Part of me wonders if Givhan feels this way about their fashion due to politics or if it was actually because she felt that their fashion was the way it was. No one can deny that it seems like most of the world is against Trump and their whole family ever since they have been in the White House, so could that be the case with the article about Melania Trump’s coat? To me, I don’t understand how a coat could disrupt the whole concept of the video showing Christmas decorations. I cannot change someone’s opinion or the way that they feel about something, but it is apparent that media portrays Michelle Obama as a great person who does mostly everything right, while the media portrays Melania Trump as a not-so-good person just because of politics. This is why I feel like Melania Trump was criticized more harshly than Michelle Obama.

Vanessa Bryant: 5 Things To Know About Kobe’s Wife After His & Their Daughter’s Tragic Deaths

In the article above, a Hollywood Life journalist wrote about Vanessa Bryant, the wife of Kobe Bryant who had died in a helicopter crash with one of his daughters on January 26, 2020. The article was posted just a few short hours after reports of Kobe and his daughter’s death came out. The journalist reports in the article “5 Things to Know About Kobe’s Wife After His and Their Daughter’s Tragic Deaths”… and yes this was the title of the article. Why do we need to know information about Kobe Bryant’s wife after the death of her husband and daughter? Shouldn’t we give privacy and respect to his loved ones after their death? The title seems a bit impolite to me.

The article then goes on to discuss the 5 things that someone would need to know about Vanessa Bryant, and this is where the article takes a turn. Instead of focusing on points that could make a person look good or bring some positivity to the tragic situation that occurred today, the journalist mentioned how Kobe went through a lawsuit that was due to sexually assaulting a 19 year old (which turned out to be consensual between the two). The journalist also touched base on how Vanessa filled for divorce from Kobe in 2011. Why are these things that we need to know about Kobe’s wife after his death? To me, I don’t think that we need to even know about them.

In conclusion, I think that the journalist of the article should have more respect for Vanessa Bryant in this difficult time. There is no reason to bring up past hardships in their relationship – the article should have just focused on bringing positivity to the hard times right now. I hope that the journalist apologizes for reporting on past issues that did not correlate to the tragic event that happened today, and to Vanessa Bryant and their family.