Bay law firm delivers talks on cyberbullying

Schools tend to neglect the legal implications of cyberbullying when educating pupils about it.

Therefore, many children do not understand what consequences they may face if they bully online.

This is the view of Gqeberha attorney Kirsty Frauenstein, who delivered a talk about cyberbullying to Charlo Primary School pupils yesterday morning.

Frauenstein, of Frauenstein and Beukes Attorneys, said schools often focused on the psychological and emotional impact of bullying, but not the effects of cyberbullying.

She said when children were aware of the consequences of their actions, they made better decisions.

Yesterday’s talk was part of a series of talks on the dangers of cyberbullying.

This comes after several incidents were reported of pupils across the country attempting to take their own lives after being bullied online by their peers.

At Sanctor High School in Nelson Mandela Bay recently, a pupil overdosed on medication after her photograph appeared on Facebook with derogatory comments.

Prior to that, in Limpopo, a pupil committed suicide after she was filmed being bullied by a fellow pupil, while others cheered the alleged aggressor on.

Frauenstein, who will be hosting the talks together with her partner, Emmielize Beukes, said children needed to be aware of the consequences of “posting that picture” or “sending that message”.

The Bay legal firm had written to several schools in the metro offering to give talks free of charge in an attempt to prevent such incidents from taking place in future.

“Schools can still make use of people like us because we deal with cases like this and have practical knowledge.

“They can contact us and we’re happy to share the knowledge,” Beukes said.

During the talk, Frauenstein warned the pupils to think carefully about what they chose to post on the internet and what they engaged in.

She advised them to use three principles — the billboard test, the six Ps and the tattoo effect — before posting on social media.

“If you wouldn’t want the content on a billboard with your face and details then don’t post it.

“Don’t post it if you wouldn’t be comfortable with it being seen by your parents, your principal, paedophiles, police, phisher and a potential school, university or employer.

“Social media content is like a tattoo because once you post it, it’s there permanently.

“Don’t post something you’ll regret,” she said.

Charlo Primary School principal Almorie Daniell said it was better to prevent bullying than to wait for a tragic incident to occur.

She said the school took educating pupils beyond the academic curriculum seriously.

“Most children don’t realise that by just being in a problematic WhatsApp group they could also get into trouble.

“We started with grade 4s for this talk because I don’t think the younger ones are ready for such a heavy subject, but hopefully in the future we’ll be able to cover that subject with them,” she said.

Beukes said by educating children from a young age, even adult bullying could be curbed.