To Live and Die in Social Media: What We Can Learn From Amanda Todd and Felicia Garcia
On September 7, 2012, Vancouver teen Amanda Todd posted an 8-minute black and white YouTube video, "My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm" chronicling her struggles with being teased and harassed by fellow classmates. Todd doesn't speak at all throughout the video, and instead holds up placards in front of a webcam. Each piece of paper outlines her story while viewers are provided with a glimpse into Todd's experiences as a victim of cyberbullying, and as according to Naomi Wolf, a victim of adult male cyberstalking. Others have noted that Todd was also victim of slut shaming, or the idea of "shaming and/or attacking a woman or a girl for being sexual, having one or more sexual partners, acknowledging sexual feelings, and/or acting on sexual feelings" (Finally Feminism).
When describing an altercation she had with her classmates at school, Todd writes, "After I got home all I saw was on Facebook - 'She deserved it. Did you wash the mud out of your hair? - I hope she's dead.'"
On October 10, 2012, approximately one month after Todd posted the video on YouTube, she was found dead after an apparent suicide attempt.
On October 24, nearly two weeks after Amanda Todd reportedly committed suicide, Felicia Garcia, a Staten Island teenager jumped in front of a moving train in New York City. Friends and family said Garcia was bullied in school and online because rumors were spreading that she'd been sexually active with football players at her high school. The last words a friend heard Garcia speak right before falling backwards in the path of a moving train were, "Finally, it's here."
Though Garcia's classmates didn't seem to think she was in trouble, a quick glance at Garcia's Instagram pictures tells another story.
Similarly to Todd posting on YouTube, Garcia posted, what I believe to be her last cry for help via Twitter twelve days before she decided to take her own life.
It's heartbreaking to watch our young people take their lives as a result of being bullied by other teens and adults online. As a researcher, I wonder why our young people, girls and boys, decide to use social media as one of the last forms of communication before killing themselves. While it seems like a classic case of cry-for-help, social media further complicates this psychoanalytic narrative by the so-called spectacle in the form of retweets, @ replies, favorites, and likes.
I have to wonder what Amanda and Felicia felt while uploading and posting. What did they really wish to communicate? And has social media now become an alternative to the handwritten suicide letter?
I recently spoke with The Media Bytes about young people in the digital age. I mentioned Amanda Todd in our conversation, in that I believe we failed this young girl in many ways. We had access to knowing and seeing her struggles in a mediated and visible space, yet still we were unable to, or not willing to intervene. During the interview I mentioned that perhaps seeking out social and public spaces while struggling essentially comes down to our basic human need to connect with someone; anyone who will watch our videos and read our tweets.
I understand this need to connect all too well as I also struggled, and was diagnosed with severe depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after my father passed away in 2008. I took to singing on Youtube early on while my father was sick. It was a cathartic response to coping with death and dying. It still is. I'm sure if I revisit my Twitter streams, Facebook updates, blog posts, and even SMS text messages during that time immediately after my father's death, I would see myself in my most rawest and vulnerable form. There was something about singing and talking to a camera, then uploading to a public site that allowed me to let go. To where and to whom I let go in this public space was, and is always a risk. But for Amanda and Felicia it was more than simply letting go publicly online, it was a permanent disconnection from a space so-called the 'real' offline world.
Now we are left with YouTube videos, tweets, and Instagram photos that will continue to remind us of our failure as a tribe in the global village.
That said, however, ubiquitous use and mainstream presence of social and mobile media provide a unique opportunity for adults (and anyone else who cares about the well being of young people) to better address youth in crisis. I recognize that the idea of 'crisis' itself carries with it a ton of baggage; what exactly is meant by crisis? Is crisis a word we only use for certain 'kinds' of communities? Is the very idea of wanting to un-do crisis problematic because it automatically assumes something needs to be fixed? And might that 'something' be the child? One look at the comment's section of this post, and the constant victim blaming that ensues, reminds me that we, as a collective, still haven't fully grasped what it means to be empathetic in a crisis situation. So, I recognize the conundrums.
But I also recognize that something unlike anything I've ever witnessed before is happening with our young people in this digital moment. We live in a hypermediated and interconnected world, so much so that we now craft our identities in these public and mediated spaces like corporations do; as brands. We've always created elaborate narratives of ourselves, but now it seems as though these narratives are beginning to take on a posthumous life of their own.
It's fascinating when you think about the posthumous digital life. Yet, I still wonder where do we stand in the midst of this crisis as our young people both live and die in social media?
We simply can't be satisfied with mourning the deaths of these young girls after the fact and behind our computer screens. What keeps us from nurturing our young people while they are alive? What keeps us from engaging them as they explore their multiple and contradictory identities? What keeps us from being more attentive as they express themsevles in these public places---not as a way to police or to monitor inappropriate behaviors---but as a way to gain insight into what's actually happening in their media-rich, public, and interconnected worlds?
Part of what I wish to do as an academic and social entrepreneur is to create spaces where young people like Amanda Todd and Felicia Garcia (who was in foster care) can go to retreat, reconnect, and rebuild. And I believe media and technology can play a transformative role in mediating what I'm calling nurture-networks. But we have to be deliberate and thoughtful in how we further encourage media and technology in the lives of young people, particularly those in crisis.
I recently applied for the Media Ideation Fellowship and my idea is to specifically address the needs and concerns of young people in crisis, namely court-involved youth who are tethered to multiple social institutions like foster care, juvenile, and welfare systems. I'm hoping to create a localized SMS Texline co-developed by and serving the needs of court-inolved youth in New York City. While I understand that media and technology is not *the* answer to address ongoing and dynamic problems young people face in today's world, I do believe that media and tech tools can help to support deliberate efforts in (re)building what's seemingly been broken. As evident with Amanda Todd and Felecia Garcia, our young people are living and dying in these social and mediated spaces, isn't it about time we meet them where they already are?
**Update***
I just discovered that Amanda Todd sang too.
#RememberKatrina
On Monday, August 27th MEDIA MAKE CHANGE (@mediamakechange) will launch the #RememberKatrina hashtag via Twitter. #RememberKatrina seeks to engage a national conversation about hurricane Katrina through storytelling and social media. We've invited several guests to lead the conversation all next week to discuss issues about post-Katrina relief efforts, research, and the status of communities in the Gulf Coast seven years after the storm.
Confirmed participants for #RememberKatrina include:
Marcus Akinlana (@MAkinlana) - a NOLA native, artist, and community activist. His critically-acclaimed art and music has been showcased around the country. He's been a committed cultural advocate for NOLA communities before, during, and after the storm.
Patricia Stukes (@jusbcas) - a doctoral candidate and native New Orleanian lesbian attending Texas Woman's University. Patricia is currently conducting research on lgbti identified advocacy organizations in Baton Rouge and New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. She is interested in stories regarding lgbti identified persons and how they negotiated disaster recovery. Some of the big questions she is asking include; what is the role of lgbti advocacy organizations in the aftermath of a disaster event like Hurricane Katrina? Does sexuality impact the way in which groups begin the recovery process? Does sexual orientation matter when sexual minorities apply for assistance from faith-based organizations? It is important to think about disaster and the potential environments left before they happen so that minority groups are sustained after the event?
Kellen Smith (@provondatrack) - a NOLA native and artist. He's been featured in two digital documentaries on hurricane Katrina, including A Region of Survivors and Story Melodies Vol. 1: A Tale of Two Cities.
Myron Strong (@AllRealDeal) - a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of North Texas and an Adjunct professor of sociology and women studies at Baltimore City Community College and Community College Baltimore County. His areas of interest include gender, race, social relationships, and pop culture. He has publish articles on pop culture phenomena such consumerism and video games, as well as ideology and education. His current research explores gender role ideology of Blacks and Whites between the ages of 18-30.
MEDIA MAKE CHANGE wants as many people engaged in this conversation as possible. Share with us your reactions upon first hearing about hurricane Katrina in late August of 2005. Talk about ways you and others can support individuals and their communities affected by Katrina and disasters that followed, most notably the BP Oil Spill. Use social media, blogs, and digital video to share your stories.
Some Numbers
It's been nearly seven years since hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, leaving thousands of US-American citizens homeless and displaced. Since then, impoverished communities still struggle to recover. Perhaps more than any other city located in the Gulf, New Orleans continues to struggle to rebuild neighborhoods severely affected by the storm. Among the most devastated neighborhoods in NOLA is the Lower Ninth Ward, comprised of 98% African Americans.
According to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, "there are an estimated 35,700 blighted homes and empty lots in New Orleans (down from 43,755 in September 2010)". Last year, I spoke to native resident Kellen Smith, who told me that "New Orleans is actually worse because the jobs are less, which means more crime."
In 2011 alone, NOPD reported a 10% increase in overall crime (however, murders were significantly down during the 1st quarter of the year).
Though the government has spent $14.5 billion in floodgate and levee reconstruction, neighborhoods like Lower Ninth Ward remain noticeably neglected. With hurricane Isaac currently barreling down the Panhandle and towards NOLA, one can only hope that this high priced infrastructure will be worth the cost.
Despite these statistics, many NOLA residents I've spoken to remain optimistic. Though there is a sense of indifference to tourism's impact on the economy, NOLA's rich culture remains strong primarily because of resilient residents and their stories.
We believe that storytelling can inspire social change and impact policy. So in efforts to continue the national dialogue of remembering our neighbors and rebuilding communities post-Katrina, MMC invites you to join us and follow the conversation on Twitter all this week at @mediamakechange #RememberKatrina.
Related stories
On Katrina's Anniversary: A Bit of Homework (Melissa Harris-Perry Blog)
Vast Defenses Now Shielding New Orleans (New York Times)
From Virtual Volunteers of Katrina to Cyberactivists of Arab Spring
Story Melodies Vol. 2: A Tale of Two Cities
Teaching The Levees (Teachers College, Columbia University)
Image Source
An Educator's Guide to Pinterest [Media Literacy]
The National Association of Media Literacy Education defines media literacy as "a series of communication competencies, including the ability to access, analyze, and communicate information in a variety of forms, including print and non-print messages."
More specifically, NAMLE breaks down media literacy into several definitions:
- Media refers to all electronic or digital means and print or artistic visuals used to transmit messages.
- Literacy is the ability to encode and decode symbols and to synthesize and analyze messages.
- Media literacy is the ability to encode and decode the symbols transmitted via media and the ability to synthesize, analyze and produce mediated messages.
- Media education is the study of media, including ‘hands on’ experiences and media production.
- Media literacy education is the educational field dedicated to teaching the skills associated with media literacy.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the newest darling of social networks, Pinterest, is valued at over $1 billion. As the online pinboard platform grows in influence, media literacy educators may want to consider ways in which the platform can be used to incite conversations about representation on the web.
Below are some ideas for using Pinterest in various formal and informal learning settings. These general activities are grouped according to some of the main components of media literacy education outlined by NAMLE above, including; Decoding, Encoding, and Communicating Messages, and Media Production. Please feel free to share and expand on these ideas in the comment section below.
Decoding, Encoding, and Communicating Messages
Questions: Who/what is source of the message? How is the media message conveyed through Pinterest? By whom is the message received? How might the source information and platform itself impact how the message is received?
- Students can begin by creating pinboards that represent social, community, and political issues they care about most. Make use of the search function within Pinterest (not only the categories section) to explore topics of interest.
- Students can create 'counter pinboards' in response to controversial posters as a way to incite discussions within the platform and extend conversations offline.
- Debate! Use comment sections to debate content on Pinterest (see Kate Moss 'Skinny' poster).
- Cross curate with other social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, & alternative SMS and personal blogs). Post, tweet, embed images and videos from Pinterest to incite further discussions about how media messages are represented on the web.
- Organize "Media Lit Pint-Ups" or Pinterest meet ups, to showcase, discuss, and debate content popularized by way of Pinterest.
- Organize Pinterest scavenger hunts with media literacy education principals in mind. For instance, incorporate Google Maps to also explore how (and in what ways) users curate using geographical spaces. See Google Maps images on Pinterest.
- 'Fundraise for a cause' using Pinterest. Create original pinboard content having to do with an issue for which you wish to raise money. Include donation information in the caption section of the images.
Media Production
Questions: What can I create to make Pinterest better? What can I produce beyond the confines of Pinterest's platform ? What tools can I use to produce media influenced by content found on Pinterest and/or influenced by the platform itself? How might the design of my media influence the message I am trying to convey?
- Design a 'copy cat' Pinterest platform with a specific aim to interrogate/investigate media representations in online spaces.
- Storytelling with images: Create boards that tell alternative stories. Involve commenters to help create narratives.
- Produce, publish, and compose other types of online media (digital video, wikis, blogs) inspired by content found on Pinterest
- Create and curate "Media Lit" content in the DIY and Education categories on Pinterest. Create "Media Lit" pinboards as resource pages.
See also:
Keep Watching Vo. 2: Police Pepper Spray Protesters
Police officers pepper spray UC Davis students with countless digital recording devices capturing the event. Digital counter surveillance--namely what we see happening as protesters become citizen journalists by turning digital cameras on the system that is meant to protect them, can arguably be seen as a tactic of the #OWS movement. Time will only tell if, in fact, these are tactics of the movement that can work to transform policies in the long run. In the meantime, keep watching.
"A police officer uses pepper spray on an Occupy Portland protester at Pioneer Courthouse Square, Oregon" (via The Guardian).
Video of UC Davis students being pepper sprayed by the police.
Media Make Change Wants to Partner with YOU!
Media Make Change is currently seeking to partner with community and non-profit organizations to provide media literacy and technology training services to underserved and youth communities. Some of the key highlights of our curriculum include:
- Social Media for Social Justice (See past workshop outline for Allied Media Conference).
- Media Literacy Training based on media education scholarship from Teachers College, Columbia University and Temple University.
- Video and Film Production lead by documentary media maker and founder of Media Make Change, tara l. conley. See more of conley's work on Vimeo.
- Photography lead by local photographers and artists in the NYC metro area.
- Computer Literacy Training lead by founder tara l. conley whose work experience with child and adult learners spans over several years.
Media Make Change wants to build a culture of learning through media and technology. As we transition into a new season Media Make Change will focus on partnering with organizations that believe media are effective tools for advocacy, creativity, and learning.
If you are an organization seeking to expand your services and outreach to the community through media and technology, please contact us at tara (at) mediamakechange (dot) org.
See more of our work at Media Speaks!