Reject Facebook

Marissa Perszyk

Deputy of the Prime Minister

“Social networks are bad and should be rejected”

Introduction:

“32% of online teens have experienced some form of harassment via the Internet, a problem also known as cyberbullying” (Perez, 2010).

A. The opposition side claims that Facebook is not detrimental to society, but Speaker I am here to prove to you that social networks such as Facebook play a negative role in not the lives of adults but if even more so in the lives our children and thus should be rejected.  

B. Preview Speech

Negative impact that cyberbullying has on our children today because of the use of social networking sites

C. Transition: before I answer some of what the other side has said, let’s look again at the strong reasons that my partner gave in support of this resolution.

II. Rebuild Government Case outline:

A. Defining Cyberbulling

1. The President of cyberbullying.org defines cyberbullying as" the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others” (Belsey, 2010).

2. It is important to notice that Cyberbullying is online harassment that is: 1.repeated over time and 2. it involves a power imbalance between a perpetrator and a victim (Perez, 2010).

3. According to recent data, 15% of online teens have had private material forwarded without permission, 13% have received threatening messages and 6% have had embarrassing photos posted without permission (Perez, 2010).

III. Now let me respond to what the other side said in trying to refute our case.

A.    First, they said that Facebook “Helps to refine and develop social skills.”

B.     But this isn’t a good argument because…

C.     Second, they said that Facebook helps keep “existing relationship/aids in long-distance relationships.”

D.    But, this isn’t a good reason because ….

IV. For my team’s third point: Social networking sites play a Negative impact on our children today.

A.    Montesquieu: "If we only wanted to be happy it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which are almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are." But social networking may be making this tendency worse (Copeland, 2011).

B.     Currently, cyber bullying is one of the fastest growing problems facing school administrators and local governments around the country.

C.     With this, in today’s society, we see a dramatic increase of depression and suicide rates in teens, tweens, and young adults (Cyberbully Alert, 2011).

a.       Suicide Rates

                                                              i.      The reality of these suicide has been linked to cyberbullying online has been strengthened through research showing how experience with peer harassment (most often as a target but also as a perpetrator) contributes to depression, decreased self-worth, hopelessness, and loneliness – all of which are precursors to suicidal thoughts and behavior.

                                                            ii.       There have been several high‐profile cases involving teenagers taking their own live in part because of being harassed and mistreated over the Internet, a phenomenon we have termed cyberbullicide – suicide indirectly or directly influenced by experiences with online aggression.

                                                          iii.      In a study done by the cyberbullying research center out of 2,000 random selected middle school students

1.      20% of respondents reported seriously thinking about attempting suicide and 19% actually attempted to commit suicide.

2.      All forms of bullying were significantly associate with increases in suicidal ideation

3.      Cyberbullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youth who had not experience cyberbullying.  (Hinduja, Patchin, 2010).

D.     Let’s take for example the abc news story of young Phoebe Prince.    

a.       Even in death, Phoebe Prince was bullied. On a memorial page dedicated to the Massachusetts teen who had recently committed suicide, Facebook members left taunting comments that had to be removed. The 15-year-old -- a recent immigrant from Ireland with a pretty face and a soft brogue -- was found dead in her South Hadley home Jan. 14, according to police. Afterward, her fellow students came forward to tell school officials that Prince had been teased incessantly, taunted by text messages and harassed on social networking sites like Facebook.

b.      Prince is not the only case of apparent bullying that has sparked national headlines (James, 2010).

E.     There are many stories like young Phoebe that are shared to shed light on the nature of the problem and the fallout that ensues when one young individual uses technology to hurt another person psychologically. 

V. Conclusion: Social networks are bad and should be rejected because of the negative impact that it is having on the children of today who are the future of tomorrow. This is why we urge you Speaker to vote reject and ban social networking cites like Facebook, so that we can help encourage, build up, and bring about a better future for the children today.

References

Belsey, B. (2010). "always on? always aware". Retrieved from         http://www.cyberbullying.org/.

Copeland, L. (2011, January 26). By helping other people look happy, facebook is making us         sad.. Retrieved from http://socialnetworkreject.blogspot.com/.

Cyberbully Alert, . (2011, October 13). Stories of cyber bullying. Retrieved from             http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/10/stories-of-cyber-bullying/.

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2010). Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide. Archives of Suicide     Research, 14(3), 206‐     221.

James, S. (2010, January 26). Immigrant teen taunted by cyberbullies hangs herself. Retrieved       from http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cyber-bullying-factor-suicide-massachusetts-teen-    irish-immigrant/story?id=9660938.

Perez, S. (2010, May 10). More cyberbullying on facebook, social sites than rest of web.     Retrieved from             http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/more_cyberbullying_on_facebook_social_sites_t            han_rest_of_web.php.

Self-evaluation of your impromptu speech

Topic of speech?

            The topic of my speech was “Is college life harmful to your health?”

 How did you develop your ideas?

            I developed my ideas by going through the outline that was given to us. First I stated a shocking statistical number to draw my audience in so that they would be interested in my speech, then I stated what the topic of my speech was, next I explained what I thought my topic meant, next I took a stand on my topic, next I gave my preview with two points (I road mapped out my speech so that the audience would be able to follow my speech), then I gave my first point, then I did a transition, then I stated my second point, and finally I gave a conclusion that summed up my speech and challenged my audience to take action. 

 What did you do well?

            I feel like I did a really good job on my transitions and my introduction. They were strong and followed the outline very well. 

 What could you do to improve?

            I would have to say that I really need to work on my conclusion. I feel like if I would have had more time to prepare my conclusion would have been stronger and more impacting to my audience. When giving my speech I also forgot parts of the conclusion and stumbled around a bit. Also I need to improve in my self confidence in my ability to speak in front of an audience. I can do this by practicing a lot and making sure that I have my facts down.

Links to 3 Articles for Debate

Bullying Statistics:

http://www.isafe.org/channels/sub.php?ch=op&sub_id=media_cyber_bullying

Cyber Bullying Info:

http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/08/cyber-bullying-statistics-that-may-shock-you/

Tons of social networking: Bibliography of Research on Social Network Sites

http://www.danah.org/researchBibs/sns.php

 

 

 

Commemorative Speech

Dad

Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad, and it takes a very patient, caring, loving man to be the dad of six. My dad, Joel Perszyk, is the dad to six children between the ages of two and nineteen. Being the father to a nineteen year-old daughter, an eighteen-year-old son, a thirteen-year-old son, twin four-year-old daughters, and a two-year-old daughter can be pretty crazy. Usually when people hear me rattle off the number and ages of kids in my house the general response is “Wow! That’s a lot of kids. How do your parents do it?” and my response to them is, “you know, I’m not sure.” When I think about how we do it, my thoughts stream directly to dad. He is our courageous leader. He was a strong pillar during my development throughout the past nineteen years of my life. He has wiped away my tears, he has corrected me when I was wrong, and he has taught me how to show love to others by demonstrating it himself. My father is a strong, godly man, and is always there for me when I need him most. No father better illustrates the definitions of faithfulness, encouragement, and love.

Faithfulness—my dad embodies this word. My dad has always been faithful to his promises. There is not a time in my past when that I can recall my dad not following through on a promise. Growing up my dad would take me to see professional ballets at Pacific Northwest Ballet up in Seattle. He was always in the audience at school plays, and ballet recitals.  He was always cheering me on at basketball games and would give me a dollar for every hoop I would make, all because he promised. I know that I can always count on my dad to be there for me.  My dad has always been faithful in his discipline. When we are young, we are not able to comprehend a parent’s reason for discipline. It took me many years to understand why a parent would punish their child. I used to think that a parent was supposed to love their child and make them happy. With this way of thinking I found myself asking the questions how could my father spank me when I was young, how could he expect me to wash the never ending supply of dirty, crusted dishes? How could he expect me fold heaping, mountainous of laundry?  How could he take away my cell phone, and how could he keep me home on the weekends? It took me nineteen years to understand why my dad was faithful in his discipline. It took me nineteen years to realize that he was showing me love through his discipline and that he was helping me grow into a responsible, respectable woman of character that I aim to be.  When I think back at my childhood, I am so thankful that  I persevered through my dad’s strict discipline and endured the rules of the household because no it has paid off. So thank you dad. 

Encouragement—my dad gives this to me. Growing up my dad has been the number one encourager in my life. He has always been there for me, especially when I needed him most. When times of troubles come my way, my dad was the first person to drop everything to come to my rescue. My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person—he believed in me. My dad taught me to never quite but to take any challenge head on, telling me “You can do it, I believe in you.” These are the words that I hear echoing throughout the crevasses of my head and these are the words that carry me through the challenges that life hurls my way. My dad has taught me to fight through the storm and finish strong. It is easy to lose heart in times of trouble, in times of desperation, or in times of fear. However, with these hard times in life my dad has taught me that you can cower in fear and in self-pity or you can stand above the chaos and shout, “I will be victorious, I will persevere, and I will fight through this storm and finish strong.” It is because of my dad, and the words that he has wrapped in colors of strength, that I am able to pull myself up out of bed on the day of a gruesome anatomy test. It is because of  his words that I will never give up on my dreams and future plans. My dad is by no means perfect, but he is amazing in my eyes and it is because of his words that I will never lose heart.

Love—my dad exemplifies this. My dad always made sure to show me love and always made an effort to make me feel special. For as long as I could remember every valentine’s day growing up my dad would pick me up from school with flowers in one hand and chocolates in the other and take me out to lunch—just so that I felt special. Unlike some people, who throw away dead flowers, I found myself keeping the assorted kaleidoscope of flowers that my dad hand-picked just for me, and I would keep them in a vase on my dresser. Even though the flowers would be dead I couldn’t give them up. To this day I still keep the flowers that my dad gives me, because to me, those flowers still contain a sweet, sweet smell. As dead and mangled as these flowers may look to others, to me they are a beautiful, continuous reminder of my dad’s unfailing love for me. They are a constant reminder to me as they sit on  my desk, and when I am having a bad day, all I have to do is look at those flowers and remember that my dad believes in me, and that’s all I need.

                My dad isn’t a famous dad, but he is our family’s courageous leader. So thank you dad! Thank you for being my strong pillar. Thank you for being my lighthouse during my troubling storms. Thank you for holding me when I needed to cry. Thank you for always keeping your promises. And thank you for always pushing me, encouraging me, and believing in me to do the unthinkable. No matter what anyways else may tell you, believe me when I say that you are the best dad I could have hoped for. So thank you.