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2016 - 5 - Cyberbullying

  • Cyberbullying

     

    Bullying as a phenomenon is not new, as we all know. There are, however, new forms of bullying that have appeared along with the rise of social media. Collectively these new forms are called cyberbullying. By definiton, cyberbullying is bullying is ullying that takes place using electronic technology. This can be anything ranging from insulting text messages to pictures in social media. Of the different platforms where cyberbullying takes place probably the most common one is social media, such as Facebook or Whatsapp. For example, in Facebook posting pictures against someone's will is a common example, and in Whatsapp bullying might occur by making groups intended for making fun of a single person or a group of people.

     

    Different examples of cyberbullying:

    • Starting rumors of somebody in social media
    • Making a fake profile of someone to social media
    • Sharing photos without a permission
    • Stealing someone's online account by finding out their password
    • Sending harrassing text messages

    How does cyberbullying differ from traditional bullying

    • Constantly present 
    • Visible to a larger audience
    • The bully can remain anonomoys
    • In many cases cyberbullying is worse than traditional bullying

    How can we prevent cyberbullying?

    • The privacy and security of social media sites can be improved
    • Individuals can avoid sharing anything that can potentially be used for cyberbullying
    • If you're being cyberbullied, you should always save the 'evidence'
    • Raising public awareness of cyberbullying will also help to prevent it

    Cyberbullying is one of the main issues the modern school system has to tackle. Along with different campaings to raise public awareness, schools should prevent cyberbullying by taking a serious attitude towards it and having proper punishments for those guilty of it. Social media sites, such as Facebook can also play their part in tackling the problem by improving their privacy policies. With most people using social media these days, cyberbullying is likely to become an issue even bigger than it is at the moment.