Readers' Digest REFLECTION -- Leroy

~THE RISE OF CYBER BULLING~

Cyberbullying in Asia has became a hot topic recently with more frequent cases of cyberbullying occurring in Asia. Cyberbullying can lead to victims having depression and students do not like to report them for fear of embarrassment and parents overreacting.

In the past, before bullies evolve to the digital age, it is still pretty easy to identify the bully unless he or she masks his face which no one does in those days.

On the playground, seeing the stress and pain of the victim face to face
can act as an inhibitor to some degree; but in cyberspace, where there is
no visual contact, bullies may result in extreme behaviours when cyberbullying.

Thus, cyberbullies often go undetected after doing such evil acts and this is the main reason why bullies prefer the net. The bullies can be your good friend and after becoming a victim of cyberbullying, you find that you cannot trust anyone anymore which can lead to depression if that continues.

In addition, cyberbullies sometimes impersonate you and steals your identity in the net which then do some embarrassing stuff to further ridicule the victims. Cyberbullies may also disclose victims' personal and private data at websites or forums.

Cyberbullying can also lead to a drop in academic grades, it is a sign of distress to parents who notice that students often get angry or upset after using the computer and a drop in grades will be a tell-tale sign that he or she may have been targeted by cyberbullies.

I think it is very rare to have cases of victims of cyberbullying to resort to suicide. This only applies to more dramatic cases of cyberbullying. In less dramatic cases, it is more common for victims to suffer from depression.

I believe that Cyberbullying can occur in two ways: directly or indirectly.
In the case of direct bullying, one bully communicates with just one victim. The messages they trade back and forth are only between the two of them.
In the case of indirect bullying, others are involved with the process. Often adults are involved, and few of the bullies know the victim. Whether they manage to get the victim's IM account or blog banned or they encourage others to post horrible information about the victim, the danger is very real because so many individuals are ganging up on the victim. With more bullies comes more power and more damage.

Sometimes, I feel that cyberbullies are victims of traditional bullying and go to the net to bully others so as to feel powerful and take revenge of those who bullied them at school.

Cyberbullies may have also have lower self-esteem than other students in the real world.

After reading the article, I felt sad for the victims because I don't believe they did any wrong to deserve such treatment whether in reality or in the cyberworld. I believe cyberbullies may have gone too far to make schoolmates suffer by fabricating lies to make fun of him, taunt him, insult him. Cyberbullying hurts as much as traditional bullying, perhaps even more painful. I wonder why people resort to violence to solve problems, can't we just settle things, dispute in a peaceful manner? Cyberbullying is redundant, as a matter of fact, I believe the world will be much better without such acts.

One way to avoid cyberbullying is to simply avoid going online, though I would suggest that victims do not take the insults and comments to heart and simply ignore them and enjoy your life.

Done by: Lim Hong Quan, Leroy(34)

Class: 3D