How the YouTube Generation Gets its Hate On

When online video is as new and as ubiquitously talked about as email back in the day, have you ever wondered what a new generation of kids are doing with it?  Some are using it in for media literacy.  Others are using it (and likely-pirated video editing programs) to create imaginative ways to get back at teachers they don’t like.  That’s right — rather than posting a teacher’s phone number in a bathroom stall, or posting up a nasty rumor, the YouTube generation is taking video, cobbling on a picture of a teacher’s head and uploading it to YouTube for all the world to see. 

While shocking to some (the teachers), I’m not sure if there’s much that can actually be done, save for ignoring it.  No amount of rules or regulations is going to prevent a kid who is earnest enough from taking video of some kind — whether or not its of the actual teacher — and editing it so they look foolish.  Nor is there any way to know who created the footage in the first place (unless they happen to appear in the video — which I wouldn’t always discount).

Although come to think of it, Google has been so compliant with their take-down efforts, I’m sure it wouldn’t take any more than the hint of an email for them to enforce some sort of “bullying” rule; whether or not it happens fast enough, however, would probably be another story.