Cyberbullying: The Unwanted Effect of Social Media
Internet is a playground for everyone. We can do almost everything we want. Entertainment, education, informations, and many other things you can get while surfing through the internet.
But as we all know, internet was a bit exclusive and limited for people to access until social media happens. We can trace back how social media appears for the first time on internet. According to Wikipedia, the first social media platform was Six Degrees launched in 1997, which created for real people using their real names and features such as profiles, friend lists and school affiliations can be used by users. Friendster, launched in 2003, was created with a “Circle of Friends” social networking technique to connect people with their friends in virtual communites and was massively used in Asia. Both of these platforms are no longer available for us to use despite their huge influence in social media revolution. These platforms were among the first platforms created for real people using their real names and profiles, and people used these to connect with other people.
At the beginning of 2010s decade, people were tend to be more dependent to social media. It acts as our diary, but we just don’t keep it to ourselves, instead we share it to our friends, family and maybe even strangers. People can freely comment in our posts, whether its positive or negative comments, we just can’t stop people for doing so.
Recently, I’ve been reading some articles about social media bully that happened to football players. Granit Xhaka, one of the players who got abused on social media, had to withstand critics from the fans that led to abuse towards his family. A few of other players also got racially abused through social media just because the color of their skins. These are the proves that bullying has expanded through social media.
The damage caused by the bullies could affect the victim for a long time, especially with social media really opened up more risk for cyberbullying to happen more frequently and therefore the damage will be worse. The bullying victims tend to feel angry, bitter, frustrated, and isolated from people, and they might use drugs or alcohol to numb their pain. If the bullying continues, they may develop more various mental disorders and even worse─contemplate suicide.
There may be some cases that the bullying victims could overcome the negativity to reach their full potential and be the best version of themselves. But it really takes a lot of courage, willingness, and endless supports from their family and friends to do it.
How can we stop Cyberbullying? Well, for starters, we can start thinking before we say anything on the internet. It will be easier when we choose our words carefully before send it to other people. Then, make use of the privacy features to block and restrict people that bothers you and report their account.
For all we know, Cyberbullying has to stop. These social media platforms are meant to connect people, spreading positive vibes and delivering informations in a quickest way possible. But instead, some of us used it to ruin other people’s lives and maybe we also contribute to the negativity around the social media unconciously. The social media firms have a bigger responsibility to tackle this issue, and we as individuals have to take our own responsibilty to make social media as a safer place for people to use.
