{"id":178,"date":"2026-03-26T18:28:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T18:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/chapter\/witnessing-online-meanness-and-cruelty-complications-2\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:59:09","slug":"witnessing-online-meanness-and-cruelty-complications-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/chapter\/witnessing-online-meanness-and-cruelty-complications-2\/","title":{"raw":"Witnessing Online Meanness and Cruelty: Complications","rendered":"Witnessing Online Meanness and Cruelty: Complications"},"content":{"raw":"Have students access the student chapter <a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploringstudentwrdsb\/chapter\/witnessing-online-meanness-and-cruelty-complications\/\">Witnessing Online Meanness and Cruelty: Complications<\/a>, or share it on a digital projector or digital whiteboard.\r\n\r\nHave students watch the video and then answer the multiple choice question: What can you do to help?\r\n\r\nHighlight to students that because you already know Jody wants you to help, there are <strong>three <\/strong>possible right answers and just <strong>one<\/strong> wrong one (Report the post).\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\nIt's important not to worry about doing the <strong>perfect <\/strong>thing when you see online meanness and cruelty: it's almost always better to just do <strong>something<\/strong>, so long as you know it won't make things worse.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAt the end of the video is an open text question: Was Amelia wrong to post this photo? Why or why not?\r\n\r\nHave students write a short answer (this can be done in pairs if you like) and then share their opinion with the class.\r\n\r\nPrompting questions:\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Should Amelia have known that the photo would be embarrassing to Jody?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Does Amelia have a right to post a photo of herself even if it will embarrass someone else?\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>If so, is it more important than Jody's right to decide what's done with a photo of herself?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What duty does Amelia have to control what people say in comments on her posts?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nDo not try to bring students to a consensus. Instead, point out to students that it's easy to make a decision when it's clear what's right and what's wrong (as in the first video); what's harder is when you have to choose between two things that you think are right.\r\n\r\nThis is called a <strong>moral dilemma <\/strong>because we have to weigh two moral principles against one another - such as Amelia's and Jody's rights.\r\n\r\nPoint out that because moral dilemmas have no single \"right\" answer, we have to pay close attention to the specific facts of the situation.\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Ask students: <strong>Would your opinion change if...<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Amelia knew that the other girls often teased Jody?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Nobody had ever seen that photo before?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>If the photo had been taken at a place where Jody would expect to have privacy, instead of a public pool?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;","rendered":"<p>Have students access the student chapter <a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/exploringstudentwrdsb\/chapter\/witnessing-online-meanness-and-cruelty-complications\/\">Witnessing Online Meanness and Cruelty: Complications<\/a>, or share it on a digital projector or digital whiteboard.<\/p>\n<p>Have students watch the video and then answer the multiple choice question: What can you do to help?<\/p>\n<p>Highlight to students that because you already know Jody wants you to help, there are <strong>three <\/strong>possible right answers and just <strong>one<\/strong> wrong one (Report the post).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<p>It&#8217;s important not to worry about doing the <strong>perfect <\/strong>thing when you see online meanness and cruelty: it&#8217;s almost always better to just do <strong>something<\/strong>, so long as you know it won&#8217;t make things worse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the video is an open text question: Was Amelia wrong to post this photo? Why or why not?<\/p>\n<p>Have students write a short answer (this can be done in pairs if you like) and then share their opinion with the class.<\/p>\n<p>Prompting questions:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Should Amelia have known that the photo would be embarrassing to Jody?<\/li>\n<li>Does Amelia have a right to post a photo of herself even if it will embarrass someone else?\n<ul>\n<li>If so, is it more important than Jody&#8217;s right to decide what&#8217;s done with a photo of herself?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>What duty does Amelia have to control what people say in comments on her posts?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Do not try to bring students to a consensus. Instead, point out to students that it&#8217;s easy to make a decision when it&#8217;s clear what&#8217;s right and what&#8217;s wrong (as in the first video); what&#8217;s harder is when you have to choose between two things that you think are right.<\/p>\n<p>This is called a <strong>moral dilemma <\/strong>because we have to weigh two moral principles against one another &#8211; such as Amelia&#8217;s and Jody&#8217;s rights.<\/p>\n<p>Point out that because moral dilemmas have no single &#8220;right&#8221; answer, we have to pay close attention to the specific facts of the situation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Ask students: <strong>Would your opinion change if&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Amelia knew that the other girls often teased Jody?<\/li>\n<li>Nobody had ever seen that photo before?<\/li>\n<li>If the photo had been taken at a place where Jody would expect to have privacy, instead of a public pool?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-178","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":175,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":490,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/178\/revisions\/490"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/175"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/178\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=178"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/explore-teacher-wrdsb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}