Technology, digitalization, and the labyrinth of social media and entertainment platforms are part of everyone’s life today. Be it for personal or professional work, one cannot stay away from it. It makes our everyday lives simple. It has become an essential part of today’s teenagers. They enjoy digital media since it is a great source of entertainment and allows them unlimited connectivity with friends. Apart from this, it also helps in learning and imparting knowledge. However, it does have a harmful side too. Hacking is one of them but the true peril is cyberbullying.
What is Cyber Bullying?
Cyberbullying is the use of electronic way of communication to bully a person by sending messages of intimidating and threatening nature. All social media and digital platforms like WhatsApp, email, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and many more are used as tools for cyberbullying. It is a way to make someone feel ashamed of themselves, to spread hate, and abusive messages or to make personal and emotional situations go viral or public.
Cyberbullying has one important differentiating factor from physical bullying. We all know that using digital media leaves a digital footprint. It can leave evidence of the bully. This traceable nature of the crime can help in stopping it from happening. In physical bullying, the bully can scare the others, leading the other people not to say or inform anyone about anything.
Cyberbullying allows people including others from one’s school, tuition/coaching class, friends’ groups, workplace, and total strangers to witness what is going on. It takes place not only for children but sometimes adults as well (mostly by blackmailing or posting personal information online.) However, since most adults already know about all these things, if it becomes beyond the bearing, they are sensible enough to get help when needed.
Children and teens are mostly the ones who pretend that nothing is happening since they think that if they inform someone, there will be a consequence. It is for this reason that it should be brought to notice immediately and brought under control since it has serious side effects.
Physical bullying has its space limitations. No such limit exists for cyber bullying. This leads to the person to believe that it is never-ending resulting in problems like self–hatred and even depression. The victims are also many times afraid that in public, people will find out about it and laugh or harass them. It results in mental and physical exhaustion. In some cases, the bullying becomes so severe that people at a young age start thinking that their lives are never going to change and lose the emotions of being carefree and happy. Suicidal thoughts resulting a person taking their own life also take place due to this menace.
Victims of cyberbullying refrain from informing anyone or speaking about this issue. This is due to two reasons. One, fear of the person acting as the bully, and second, the stigma attached to being a Cyberbullying victim. It is much easier for bullies to scare the victims due to the easy propagation of information on online platforms. The fear of becoming a topic of discussion or ridicule in online communities becomes all pervasive for the victims. This leads to loss of sleep and a serious change in behavior such as a bubbly and cheerful person being transformed into a quiet and introverted person. The personality change is also an easy and obvious way for others to understand that something is amiss.
Cyberbullying has an irreversible effect on a person’s mental well-being. If one is being bullied online, one can constantly feel insecure and embarrassed about many things that sometimes are very trivial or not done by the person at all. For example, a student who is being cyberbullied becomes conscious of others’ behavior. He/she imagines that others are looking or behaving differently while that may not be the case at all. A simple joke or animated discussion amongst friends in class makes the victim think that it’s about him/her only. In reality, it may not be true at all. It leads to heightened self-consciousness which is mostly detrimental to the victim. The person can start isolating themselves from others, avoid the people they love and care about, and start being alone most of the time. Loss of concentration in things like studies, sports, music, art etc becomes the norm. It leads to a never-ending cycle of self-doubt and may lead to the adoption of extreme steps like self-harm. Thus, Cyberbullying has become a grave concern, especially for teenagers and adolescents.
A few simple steps can go a long way in restricting the above like G.E.T.R.I.D –
G – Go and block or delete the identity of the bully or perpetrator. By doing this further assault by the bully can be stopped.
E – Ensure that evidence which may be a message, video, or audio is saved. Print it out or take screenshots or download it for later use as evidence.
T – Tell. Keep the people you trust in the loop and inform them about it at the earliest. They could be a parent, sibling, relative, teacher, or close friend.
R – Report cyberbullying. It must be brought to the notice of concerned authorities.
I – Initiate control. To break the cyberbullying cycle, choose not to respond aggressively or seek revenge.
D – Delete online messages and posts (after saving copies). Don’t forward it to others because they might forward it too.
Cyberbullying can be prevented and detected. The above rules would indeed help to prevent anything worse from happening. One must look out for sudden behavioral changes in their friends and ascertain if it is due to cyberbullying.
Every single human being on the planet Earth is of equal importance. No one has to go through this alone irrespective of whichever place a person belongs to. So, these victims must overcome this fear and report to lead a happy and stress-free life.
Cyberbullying is a real threat today. It has led to many losses of lives. All of us must ensure that technology is used as a tool for development and fostering harmonious relations. Its use as a means of harming others in any way must be stopped at all costs. We must stand united to tackle the menace of cyberbullying.
Being informed and educating others would go a long way in this direction.
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