Today the internet is about 20 years old and the world wide web of connected computers about 40 years old with exact ages depending on when, IE what event you start counting from.

Popular usage of the internet is much less than 20 years. For youth and scientific types not much but for a significant portion of older adults the internet age has not even started yet.

As one advances in life the tendency is to advance in positions of power. That is most people in significant position of power have never gone through the learning experience of basic internet social learning. They are completely clueless as to what, how. and why internet social actions take place and even less if that is possible able to comprehend the results. There is a complete lack of understanding what any action will produce as results.

In 1900 it took 2 weeks to travel 200 miles by wagon. In 1920 this same 200 miles could be accomplished at 20 miles per hour in 10 hours and in 1950 at 50 miles per hour in 4 hours. The knowledge and skills required in 1900 were of little value in 1920 and of no value in 1950. Knowledge acquired from over five thousand years of travel was of no value in a mere 20 years and completely forgotten in 50.

Looking at age demographics shows that in modern times average life expediency has increased from 40 years to 70 years in the same time frame. So if one was 20 years old in 1900 with the transportation skill required for existence in 1900 then in 1920 one would be 40 with the same skill set and 70 in 1950.

The 1930s are generally thought of as a great depression but there is another view that is equally valid. It was a time of great invention. Great advancements were made in transportation, in airplains, in cars, and in trains and in communication, in radio and in TV.

Now if one combinds the labor requirements of 1900 transportation with the shipping requirements of 1930 is easy to see that there was a significant number of individuals that were unemployable because they had the 1900s skill set when the 1920s skill set was required as a minimum.

It is widely assumed in economics that the 1930 was an era of insufficient demand and it was the government who provided relief by supplying jobs to the masses. What is little appreciated is there was little demand for goods as there was insufficient individual income because the individuals did not have the skills required for that age. Job requirements were for aircraft mechanics. Available labor talent was mule skinning. Not a good match. From this one can easily see that mot only was the 1930 a period of high unemployment but an age of high job availability. Manufacturing based on 1,00 year old consumer demand [wagons] was out and new upstart in [cars].

The WinkiLeak has fiasco has significance way beyond way beyond security. The world is now experiencing the exact same social situation as the world experienced a 1930 style transportation advancement in communication.

Thought process that sufficed for thousand of years are completely obsolete. The idea of an individual operating on his own meeting all challenges and accomplishing a task are as quaint as a Lewis and Clark or a Shackleton expedition would be today. In amazement today Shackleton boat sank. To rescue his stranded men he took part. a very small part, of his crew and rowed across the Weddell Sea to South Georgia then hiked for 36 hours across the island to reach a whaling station at Stromness. In modern times a group of trained mountain experts tried the same hick which they only managed to accomplish is twice the time despite being well rested at the start instead of months of starvation and fatigue as Shackleton was. The old skill set required for such rugged survival no longer exists. The world had changed.

The world is experiencing another such change in communication and thought.

-> how do you teach people to avoid being bullied? Any tips?

It would be great if there was a solid answer to this question… But as the bully can now remain invisible behind the technology of a mobile phone or a hacked Facebook account, a good answer becomes harder to find

However, we can offer young people new ways of looking at bullying through the sharing of stories that they can empathise with.

http://vimeo.com/7642029

You make it sound like it’s a good situation when you’re forced to pay your own way as a minor. While I dislike this fad of encouraging kids to report every single mean thing someone says to them, you should never condone harassment. And that’s essentially what you’re saying: that being forced into miserable situations is better than preventing those situations from happening. It isn’t- kids aren’t “spoiled” if they aren’t miserable during high school; they’ll be perfectly well adjusted if they’re merely exposed to the fact that people are insensitive. And that’s what bullying is, for the most part- either gender policing (which may easily evolve into gay-bashing) or simple insensitivity.

I know from experience that being “bullied” is unpleasant, but upon reflection I realize that bullies don’t necessarily understand what they’re doing is wrong; they have fun at others’ expense, and every social group does it. The jocks bully the nerds, and the nerds in turn are hostile and sometimes downright vicious to anyone they perceive as higher on the social ladder.

I suppose that my solution would be just this: realize that bullying will always happen. But do the best you can to moderate behavior so that you don’t allow a system of dominance and submission to form. While it’s true that “real life” sucks, high schoolers are stuck in a situation they had no say in- much different than in a company where you may have the option of quitting. Don’t fall into the trap where you essentially tell vulnerable teenagers to suck it up- what kind of rolemodel are you if you’re saying that they have no valid reason to make a complaint for any reason? Sometimes “emo pansies” actually have a reason to be concerned.

I would just like to say that I do not believe that bullying is nessesarily doing something that some doesn’t like because the latter may dont have legitimate reason for why they don’t like what you are doing to them