Source: Antimalware News

Cyberbullying

Purvashi Saxena
Sep 6, 2018 · 3 min read

“Unless and until our society recognises cyberbullying for what it is, the suffering of thousands of silent victims will continue.”
-Anna Maria Chavez

Cyberbullying has been in the papers for quite some time now, and it seems like it’s becoming a bigger issue. But what the society fails to understand is that ignorance is just as big an issue as the bully is.
What exactly does Bullying mean?
There’s no one definite answer that exists to this question, but the term ‘bully’ can be described as follows:
A person who uses his/her strength or power to hurt or frighten people who are weaker.
(A person who does this on a social media platform is referred to as a cyber bully).

Cyberbullying has been a life-threatening practice and can be extremely damaging to adolescents and teens. Bullying can often lead to anxiety, depression, and even suicide in a lot of cases. Cyberbullying damages not only the life of the victims but also the bullies, however, they fail to understand the consequences that they might have to face after committing this crime.
According to the cyberbullying statistics, it has been observed that:
1. More than 1 in 3 young people have experienced cyber threats.
2. More than 25% of the adolescents have been bullied repeatedly through their cell phones and the internet.
3. More than 50% of the teens and adolescents refuse to talk to their parents about their sufferings online.
4. Less than 1 in 5 cyberbullying incidents have been reported to law enforcement.
5. Mean comments and rumours are the most common type of bullying.
6. Cyber Bullying raised the risk of suicidal behaviour by 2.3 times.

On 3rd September 2018, Anam Tanoli, a Pakistani Model lost her life to Cyber Bullying. She had been receiving hateful messages and comments on her decision of pursuing modelling as her career. Anam had been depressed for quite some time and chose to end her life after a long battle with the bullies online.

We, as a society, might not be able to wash off this evil practice in a few hours or days, but we, as individuals, can do our bit in making the internet a safe platform for the people using it.
There are certain things that can be done to help somebody in trouble. These include:
1. Talking to the victims and providing them the comfort they need.
2. Encouraging them to talk to an adult.
3. Encouraging teens never to share personal information online.

However, an advice or encouragement might not help until we act as responsible users of the internet and not exploit it to damage somebody’s life and property. All of us shall make a promise of taking care of the following things when surfing online:
1. Sharing of no personal information.
2. Password Safety.
3. Avoiding strangers.
4. Being aware of unsecured websites.
5. Updating Security Software regularly.

The government also needs to take all necessary actions against cyberbullying. Parents need to educate their children and young adults on safer ways to use the internet in order to potentially avoid the risks posed by social media bullying.

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