Cyberbullying: how seriously should we take it?
From time to time I will come across, the usually nasty individuals in the YouTube comments section; promoting suicide to gay teens (amongst other things).
What I want to know is how seriously should we all take cyber bullying? Do most people just brush off online insults and think of it as just a bunch of cowards hiding behind a keyboard? Maybe a lot of us do think that. But maybe some people aren’t able to get passed the insults and promotion of suicide. If a person’s self esteem is low enough, maybe thats all it takes to push them over the edge.
I’m not sure if any of you have heard about Amanda Todd, who attempted to take her own life by drinking bleach, she then made a video about how she was mistreated. But finally actually went through with committing suicide and she was found dead in her parents home.
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13 Answers
Asimov’s Three Laws will prevent it from happening.
You seem to be talking about two kinds of cyber-bullying. One is people “just” saying random hateful things on the internet; the other is target bullying from a specific group to a specific person. The latter is generally how the term cyber-bullying is used and it has led to many, many teen suicides and even more just plain miserable teens. I think it needs to be taken very seriously.
I think we should take it very seriously. Us older generations I think are a bit more immune to online badgering due to growing up with more face to face interaction, but the younger generations are more saturated in the online world than we were, therefore I feel it impacts them more.
Bullying is easier to do online because the victims are simply reduced to a screen name. Kids, interacting less and less face to face, seem to be getting more desensitized to the effect words can have on individuals. They don’t physically see the sadness and hurt it causes. If this isn’t addressed and simply shluffed off as a mere annoyance and not treated as the massive problem that it actually is, our future generations are in big trouble.
We should take it as seriously as some of its victims take it which is very seriously indeed. It has led to young people taking their own lives and I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.
It is a chargeable offence here in the UK, or so I am told. I am really unclear of just how chargeable it is, since there seems to be so many trolls still doing it.
Very seriously. Since this kind of technology is popular among young people, this kind of bullying is popular. I’m not sure how we should go about this problem, though. Perhaps counseling. I think most people realize by now that punishing, while ethically questionable, is still only a short-term solution.
@LornaLove Yes I remember reading about the UK making it a legal offence to commit cyber bullying. Although it is going to be difficult to enforce it, in certain cases.
I’m sure all the schools include discussions of it in their curricula at this point – at least in the USA.
@janbb :: apparently, yes and no
I texted my sisters 16 year old girl. I called a few minutes later to get some clarification. She said the talk of it were to pretty much to tell your parents if it happened to you. But no mention about actually doing it. Entire conversation was under two minutes in her class.
@johnpowell I believe you but phooey! What are they waiting for?
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