Queens girls, 12, hangs herself as it's revealed school cyberbullies called 'her a slut and a whore'. read here
California case another three-part tragedy of rape, cyber bullying and suicide. read here
MP to introduce law against cyberbullying. read here
Cyberbullying, a newly discovered epidemic
which is all over the news, is causing great concern to not only victims of
cyberbullying but also to their parents and even friends. It’s a new trend
which is most popular among teenagers but surprisingly, adults too are not far
behind. It’s a shortcut to being an
internet celebrity and also to take down people whom you can’t physically, in
real life.
It is the use of social media to abuse, harm and
defame others in a repeated and hostile manner mostly done by a group of people
on an individual or on a weaker group. Most common way of doing it is by
showing your superiority over others and playing with words to showcase
yourself as a master of what the topic is. Mostly the term is associated with
geeks who wishes to grab all the attention to them in front of a virtual
audience. Victims are those who are impatient and newbies (Ironically, accused
are equally impatient). Statistics say 66% FB users suffered from it and every
one in five teen has suffered from being bullied online. The reason why it is becoming
alarmingly malignant is because of its psychological and emotional impact
rather than just being a verbal or physical assault. It is a behavior damaging
entity which must be dealt with in due time if not, will otherwise lead to a
rising growth of depressed anti-social individuals, insomniacs and even suicides
in extreme cases. In a stern voice, it is a virtual RAPE.
The cases are
diverse, the reason is however more or less the same. You all have heard of the
theory, ‘likes repel’ same is the
case here. Two people with equal amount of knowledge has to prove their
superiority over each other. People fight due to difference in opinions,
however the thing which is most surprising in the case of cyber bullying is
that fight starts even when they are on same boat. The very fact that they are
on same boat means that they have to run out of quality, meaningful responses
at some point of time and that is the moment when a gruesome psychological
warfare takes place. One of the biggest and most common reason people fight is
because of blind fanboyism. Be it mobile phones, video games, film directors or
even TV shows. The most ridiculous thing about it is that they seem to work
their life out for the brand of phone which they own or have contributed half
their savings in making games or movies they like. They will go to any extend to
defend them from others. ‘Either make
them like what you like, or make them your enemies’ that’s the bottom line.
I’m gonna break down the entire process into parts and show you exactly what
happens inside a battlefield. The whole article till now may sound appalling
but there is also a funny side to it (ofcourse until you are an audience).
Generally it
starts with a ‘this verses that’ post
or ‘suggest this and that’ post.
First two comments (from victim and accused) commenting the same or different
stories which doesn’t really matter at this point. Step 2 will be the most
crucial which is ‘the third comment’.
The third comment will always be a ‘suggestion to the one suggesting’ (which generally ends
with a cute smiley). There you go asking for trouble, digging
your own grave. Everything now depends on the mental state and amount of
patience which that guy has. Let’s just assume that he is not that patient
afterall. Guns will be raised and armies of hot blooded warmongers will march
from all sides for attack. Airstrikes of F-bombs and N-bombs will be exchanged
on both sides with thousands of links (supporting their stance) thrown at each
other like grenades. Well, that was just the sophistication part. If that didn't work out, it will be good old
fashioned sleeves rolled, collar up, desi
fight with all kinds of maa-bhen
slangs in their native language until someone interfere and delete the whole
post. What is even more humorous is the sophistication and psychological
torture portrayed by both parties. Leave apart teenagers, even adults behave like one of those
girlish boys with gentle tone, fragile nature and etiquettes with all the words in oxford dictionary memorized to them. No matter whether they
barely passed their English exam, they will quote enough idioms and quotes to
tongue tie their opponents. The amount of mental damage which the outnumbered suffered
is however nothing to laugh at. An outcast amongst own group, physical
fights and profile stalking are next to follow in extreme cases.
Even celebrities
and world renowned brands are not far behind. Just check KRK (Kamal R. Khan)’s
twitter feed or switch on TV for Apple and Samsung’s advertisements, mocking
each other like kids. These are supposed to be the role model of youngsters
(ofcourse excluding KRK). see here: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/keyword/krk
How to avoid cyberbullying?
From my personal experience, I've made a list which may really help to avoid and cope cyberbullying.
- Avoid an argument. Always remember Gandhi’s quote, ’Dogs will bark because they are dogs. Join them if you are one too’ (edited for current generation).
- Gather as much accurate information as you can from reliable sources before stepping in the warzone.
- Imagine the whole social media as a non-existent virtual world where there are no real people, just auto generated replies to yours. This is really the best way to deal with it. Imagine they are just a labelled photograph. How can something hurt you when it’s not real?
- Don't feed the trolls, just make them realize that they are the least you care about. Ignorance is a bliss.
- Take it in a positive way by thinking that this kind of bullying prepares you for real world challenges when you are one amongst many, sitting in a room and arguing over a common topic in GD while looking for job in companies. Aspiring MBA students will infact have an advantage as they have to go through such things throughout their life.
- No matter how heated it gets, there is always a flow of unprecedented amount of knowledge. It is an excellent and the most unusual opportunity to extract knowledge.
- Always inform your parents or someone whom you trust about it if you are depressed. Never hide it within yourself because you can never get rid of it. It is a permanent scar.
- For any physical damage or stalking, you have all the rights to sue the person and make his life miserable.
- Half hour argument is more exhausting than a day’s work. So always remember, it’s not worth it.
- For bullies, be more sensible and understand the meaning of difference in opinions. Beauty is in the eye of believer. No matter how hard you try, you cannot change someone’s opinion against their will. Moreover there is nothing to brag about, infact the joke's on you. Abusing someone on a social site, lame dude. Getting pounded for the same in real life, now that is something.(Not promoting physical assault in any case)
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