A Thin Line Quiz

After doing research on anti-cyberbullying campaigns, I looked more into MTV’s A Thin Line Campaign. The site provided a test that you can take to see if you draw a clear line between what is appropriate and what is cyberbullying. It consisted of nine questions and my results showed that I know 100% where to draw the line. The questions provided included situations where a teenager might need to draw the line. They were:

1. Your bf/gf texts or IMs you over 100x/day, usually to ask where you are, what you're doing, who you're with, etc. (then it asks you what you think about this)

2. You receive some eye-popping pics of the girl everyone loves to hate.

3. Someone you're hooking up with sends you a very personal dirty video & you're dying to show it to your friends.

4. Somebody posted an online poll for voting on the biggest loser in your class.

5. Somebody hacked into your Facebook or MySpace account and has been posting nasty comments everywhere, pretending to be you.

6. You're getting trashed by everyone online for no reason. It's getting worse every day and you feel like everyone is against you.

7. Your bf/gf gets angry if you don't respond to texts, even in the middle of the night.

8. You think your partner might be cheating. To find out for sure, you...

9. Your friend's new bf keeps sending her suggestive texts and is asking her to send him a nude pic back.

I think that this test is an effective way for teenagers to become aware of what to do when they draw the line and how to do it. For instance the “correct” answer for number six was “defriend the people trashing you, change your privacy settings to block them from accessing your profile, notify the online service provider, and tell a parent, teacher, or authorities that you're being harassed online, so they can get the comments taken down. Take that, losers!”. When many teens are getting harassed online they don’t know what to do. It’s nice that this quiz provides an effective solution. Also, this answer uses language that teenagers can relate such as in the last sentence “Take that, losers!”.

This quiz also included situations on texting or sharing pictures. I was not as aware of the extent that this behavior could turn into cyberbullying. The quiz also takes on situations where the person taking the quiz may cross the line. In question eight the quiz taker is asked what they would do to find out if their partner is cheating on them. One of the responses included hacking their online accounts and harassing their friends for information. The variety of situations provided in this quiz allows teenagers to not just see where their peers may be crossing the line but where they may be crossing the line.