Bullying has been around the world for a long time, but there is a new form in this 21st century – cyberbullying. It is so new that my Live Writer decides I have spelt the word wrong.
If you know nothing about cyberbullying, this is the bullying done on phone, text and social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo. One third of 11 to 18-year-olds now say they’ve suffered from it, according to the charity Beatbullying. And as one of the many social networking users, I wonder why this happens.
Do you put everything up on the web?
Most people do, well at least my friends on Facebook do. Yes, the whole point of social networking sites is that you are supposed to share what is happening in your life everyday. However, I don’t think many people realise, the second they finished uploading their photos and videos, it is LIVE on air for everyone to see. Therefore, it is actually really easy to find inappropriate pictures on Facebook, and they are waiting for your parents to look at them. You may argue only friends can see your photos, but do you actually know all your “friends”?
What can be done?
When more than 67% of us are browsing social networking sites right now, it is quite hard to stop and put charges on those bullies without allowing these sites to provide related information to the police. People argue this is a breach of their privacy – but as I said before, there are no privacy anyway, so I think police should get the information they need, just like how they are beating the piracy at the moment. For internet users, don’t upload everything to the web. Censorship in media are there for a reason.
Remember: You are the publisher of your own “newspaper” (or profile page)