How digitally civilized am I?

Haha :) When I first read this prompt I thought of what "civilized" means in terms of one definition: being humane. I am certainly humane when it comes to the digital world. I have never used digital media to intentionally harm another person, and I strive to make whatever I post digitally as morally and intellectually correct as I can (see 3rd definition of humane on AudioEnglish.net). The actual definition of "civilized" is as follows: 1. having a high state of culture and development both social and technological; 2. marked by refinement in taste and manners. In the classical sense, it seems that digital civilization has to do with both digital proficiency and digital etiquette. So the question of whether or not I am digitally civilized is a bit less clear to me. I am not the most proficient on the internet or with computers, but I can find my way around. I certainly can become more so, and will need to in this ever-increasing digital world. In addition, the line of digital honesty is somewhat fuzzy to me. Before I learned--midway through high school--the seriousness of citing online sources, I was guilty of infringing this rule of digital etiquette.

I remember hearing about a tragic case of cyber bullying that certainly demonstrates digital barbarity. In October 2006, a 13-year-old girl, Megan Meier committed suicide, probably in response to the cyber bullying of a neighbor woman, a mother of one of her former friends. (See http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.Twtsx1s83v0.) The mother created a false MySpace account, claiming to be a 16-year old boy, and started out as friends with Megan. In a month's time, the friendship changed into insults and electronic posts, such as, "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat." When the posts suggested that the world would be a better place without her, Megan took her own life. The sad thing is, this woman did not do anything "illegal," according to the U.S. court system. Even though she conveniently knew that Megan was on anti-depression medication, she got off as "Not Guilty." I think this is very sad, and very wrong.