It has now come to an end with blogging about my forum- CafeMom; however, I'm not ending my time on the forum. It is so interesting to hear about what other moms post: Their worries, concerns, frustrations, advice. It's as if there are so many women out there that I can turn to if I ever need somewhere to go. I wonder sometimes if these women on the forums have friends or family members that they can talk to on a daily basis. The last post I read from the Advice for moms forum was very intriguing! This mom was being verbally abused by her boyfriend and didn't know if she should leave him because she has kids with him. The amount of replies was amazing! There were over 200 replies. I couldn't read them all but there were a lot of other ladies putting in their two-cents! Most of the comments I read were positive and encouraging, but there's always that one or two that have to be so negative.
This leads me to my evaluation of the digital citizenship in my forums. I realized that women in these forums are like women around me: Some are loving and sympathetic, while others are blunt and rude. Many times I have noticed that the women love giving encouraging "hugs" that boost the original poster's moral, which is great since that's mainly the intent. Yet there are those few that always assume the negative like calling the original poster a fake or someone needing attention. Seldom does anyone lash back at these negative replies and it never ends in a cat fight (thank God), but I have noticed a few that just say what they mean and leave it at that.
Since I have an email sent to me daily, updating me on my forums, I will use what I've learned about digital citizenship and carry myself with dignity. When I had negative comments on my posts, I didn't like the feeling it gave me. I felt hurt and angry all at the same time, especially when I was called something I wasn't. Although, I'm not one to ponder over it, I can only imagine the impact it could have on children who are involved with social media. I want to be able to teach my students the importance of digital citizenship and the effects it can have on people.
