Steering clear of cyberbullying

Think wisely before you click that button and help stop the rot

AS MUCH as technology has brought people closer, the intimacy of a mobile device has enabled a false sense of privacy – that what one might say on a device won’t be seen, alternatively the fact that it is on a device and not face-to-face may embolden people to say and do things that they may not otherwise normally say on a one-to-one basis.

These elements make it easy to bully others online. It is possible to hurt someone at a click without necessarily witnessing their humiliation, and because of the speed and things that can be said and done – there is often little pause for reflection or consideration of the possible impact on another person.

It is therefore hardly surprising that cyberbullying appears to be, on multiple levels, endemic to the society we live in. With increasing access to the internet, data and infor mation sharing, there are opportunities for both unintentional and intentional abuse of the online space.

Cyberbullying takes various forms and there seems to be little understanding of how to address these issues.

It can be understood to be “the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature”.

Cyberbullying does not only refer to intimidation or threatening messages online. It can also refer to the humiliation of a person through online platforms.

We have witnessed, yet again, another violent video of a young girl being bullied. The incident was filmed by peers and someone made adecision to upload the video to social media. Uploading the video essentially serves two purposes – to humiliate the victim further, or re-victimise, and to expose the person assaulting the victim. What complicates the issue is that both the victim and the bully are under 18. This means that there are serious legal implications for the distribution of the video.

Let’s be clear, identifying a child involved in or as a witness to a criminal act (such as assault) is a criminal offence. Which means that the person who filmed and distributed the video would be in conflict with the law. Not only are there legal implications when it comes to identifying both parties, but there are legal implications for media identifying both parties too.

There are a range of issues that need to be considered at this point.

Why the need to watch, like and share the video on social media? No one can deny that watching videos of children being bullied has an impact on the viewer. Whether it evokes some sort of emotion or allows for a slightly traumatic experience, it often leaves one feeling uncomfortable and upset. There are so many terrible events or stories happening daily that we could be sharing, so we need to ask why we choose to focus on bullying. Why do some feel the need to share the video and let others (usually our ‘friends/ colleagues’ on social media) experience the same? Do we feel that by sharing we afford the victim some sort of acknowledgement of her experience and therefore stand in solidarity with the victim, or are those who share, merely doing the same as the person who films such incidents – acting without thinking of the consequences?

We need to keep in mind that teenagers often do stupid things – it is a part of growing up. There are very, very few people who upon reflection will not recall something silly or hurtful we did as teens. The evolving capacity of the child is part of the reason that we have special laws governing children.

In this case, we need to remember that while there are serious psychological repercussions for the victim, the same can be said for the bully. What about the element of dignity? By sharing the video you are just as guilty of disregarding the dignity of the victim as the original content publisher. Currently, the law on sharing a video such as this is a bit of a grey area, but in terms of violating the victim’s right to privacy, dignity and subjecting the victim to further humiliation, it is quite clear. We need to seriously ask ourselves what pushes us to lose such elements of our humanity?

So what do we do about it? One of the most pressing challenges we see is that of digital literacy, not only among children, but adults too. First and foremost, we need to focus our attention on educating online users of the potential dangers as well as the exciting advantages of using the internet.

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) has a number of initiatives in place doing exactly that. Our online safety initiative “Hashplay’”(www.hashplay.co.za) teaches online safety in a fun and interactive manner.

Children who know about the video can report it to teachers or parents. Parents and teachers can raise these issues and ask what is being done in their communities around cyberbullying.

There are also a number of checks you can put in place yourself. Understand the risks of sharing a video containing abuse, assault or if you are angry, emotional or upset, don’t respond on social media. But perhaps the simplest and most effective thing we can all do is to simply think before you click.

Smith is the head of policy at Media Monitoring Africa.

Makoto, who requested that his last name not be used, poses for a photograph as he looks at his cellphone which became an instrument of mental torture that nearly drove him to suicide when he was a high school student in Tokyo in 2007. Picture:...