DEALING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA BULLYING

Zahra was called ‘’fat and ugly’’ at first and then it turned into people calling her a ‘’slut’’ long before she even understood the meaning of the word. When she had her hair cut because she wanted to feel good about herself, the name-calling changed to ‘’pretty boy’’.  This is not just a story of social media bullying but the ending. Zahra’s sister was the one who found her hanging in her closet by a scarf. The devastation that would have left her sister in a mess.

A research carried out by the Cyber Bullying Research Institute of Nigeria in the year 2015, 40% of adolescents and youths accessed the internet daily, 23.9% had harassed someone electronically, 39.8% had been victimized, and 21% were both victims and perpetrators. The research also found out that the common modes of bullying were via phone calls, group chats, and text messages.

Social Media Bullying otherwise known as Cyber bullying or cyber harassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means and they are also known as online bullying. Cyber bullying occurs when anyone, typically a teenager or a youth bullies or harasses other people on the internet and other digital spaces, particularly on social media sites.  Some of the cyber bullying activities include posting rumors about people, hate speeches, sexual remarks, posting a victims personal information without permission, and threats, to mention but a few, Cyber bullying can be identified by continually repeating these actions with the intention of causing harm to the victim.

Cyber bullying has harmful effects on the victims and some of the effects include experiencing lower self-esteem, fear, frustration, anger, depression, and worse of all suicidal thoughts which may eventually lead to death if the bullying is not stopped. However, cyber bullying can be dealt with by taking actions. First thing to do is to ensure that the victim does not respond immediately. The main aim of the bully is to annoy, confuse or upset the victim so that they can react immediately. Once this happens, keep in mind that the bully wants a response and a good way to avoid this is by not giving the bully attention, instead the victim should avoid the situation by not responding. Another way to handle social media bullying is by staying away from social media for some time for self-care purposes. A victim of bully sometimes feel like their bully is in the room with them and going back to the sites where the bullying  is taking place is not good enough as it will have negative effects on the well being of the victim, so the best thing to do is to stay away from all platforms that gives access to being bullied. Lastly, the most important way to deal with social media bullying is to report and block the bully. There are systems in place to deal with people who bully online. If blocking the bully is not working, the victim should gather as much information as possible, screenshots or photos as evidence, report to the social media service and let them take appropriate actions.

In conclusion, social media bullying can be avoided if we all learn to make use of the media properly, do not post rumors about people, do not give hate speeches, do not post a person’s personal information without getting appropriate permission, and do not pass illicit comments on peoples post. Treat a person the way you will love to be treated on the internet, and encourage someone who is being bullied to speak up and seek for help.

 

Name: Boluwatife Elizabeth Alabi

State Code No: OS/22A/0456

Course of study: Educational Management/Economics

Institution: University of Ibadan

State of Origin: Oyo State