Although the internet and communication systems may be blamed right now for what it has been believed to cause, they are not entirely at fault. Predators who started to cyber bully others have been caused by several factors. These predators, majority of which are students and young teenagers, have faced many situations and problems they are unable to overcome. In school, peer pressure and mocking may have caused mental turmoil and psychological harm towards the victim, and the victim, unable to retort or retaliate, will start to accumulate his animosity. Over time, when he is unable to take it any longer, he will vent it out, not physically in reality, but psychologically and virtually.
At the point of time where the victim starts to cyber bully others, he turns into a bully as well, continuing and seeing no point in stopping when he is being tormented in reality as well. This is when he falls into a deep obsession in cyber bullying, and starts to cross the borders and limits of harassments. He will find it a ludicrous to see others shrivel in pain psychologically, ignorant of the feelings of the new victim and the grievance he has inflicted. This starts another chain effect where the new victim himself, starts to rebel and vent his anger, taking it out on others through the cyber world. Repeating its cycle, this system will soon become a trend. I am inclined to think that cyber bullies not only work alone, they usually form groups such as cyber gangs and clans in order to team up against each other. This is an utterly foolish act as both sides will end up with emotional wounds, and I find it very brazenfaced of them to seethe over such feuds.
Nevertheless, actions have been taken to stop these cyber bullying. For example, in Singapore, chat rooms, forums and e-mails have been moderated by junk or spam filters, word filters, and people themselves as moderators, these will help to reduce the transmission of bad and unwanted messages. Also, the media filtering, such as the MDA (Media Development Authority), prevents users to access or upload sites that present rude, violent or hurting acts, such as mocking and insulting videos, pictures or even sounds. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, also have their own parent filtering. I feel that this attempt towards preventing cyber bullying and other forms of offence has greatly improved the security and privacy of many internet users, and I sincerely hope that cyber bullying will be nullified and voided like the epidemic of SARS, and break the chain effect of cyber bullying soon enough.
However, with the latest and advanced technology, computers and their systems are brought to a certain level that these cyber bullies take advantage of them, to keep anonymous and unidentified. Examples are internet proxies where these bullies are able to access into communication systems anonymously and start to act towards the victims, with them being unable to trace back the into details of the bullies. Such acts indubitably show how immoral and malicious the teenagers of today can be.
The impact of cyber bullying has created many problems in the victims. Examples are the two cases of suicide by the 13-year-old boy whose psychological strength broke down when he was unable to cope with his friend's online mocking, and the 15-year-old girl who received relentless silent prank calls which lasted until the middle of the night when her limit was crossed and took her own life. These two, alone is already traumatising enough to display the intense effects of cyber bullying.
I believe there are already many laws put up against cyber bullying and it is deemed illegal. Nonetheless, one should never neglect what we have learnt through lectures and talks. There are several ways to deal and not to deal with cyber bullying. Firstly, we should not get involved in cyber bullying or retaliation. "Laugh at it and you're part of it", that is what yp.direct.gov.uk quoted. We should never laugh or encourage any form of offence or threat sent through the cyber world, as we may soon get involved. We should put ourselves in the bullied's shoes, and think how would we feel like if we were aimed at instead.
We should also talk to someone we trust about the matter, like our parents or teachers, and should not keep it to ourselves or deal with the problem alone. Being unable to cope may lead to further problems which may be harder to solve. Also, revealing too much personal information can cause our identities to be leaked over the net and cyber bullies may easily locate and act towards their targets.
In conclusion, although cyber bullying may be a form of illegal act, there are many ways to prevent it and deal with it. We should never get involved in cyber bullying in any way, for it is hard to shun, as every action has its consequence. If we stay out of it, we will not become a victim of it, or a predator. My opinion on it: Mind our P's and Q's.
At the point of time where the victim starts to cyber bully others, he turns into a bully as well, continuing and seeing no point in stopping when he is being tormented in reality as well. This is when he falls into a deep obsession in cyber bullying, and starts to cross the borders and limits of harassments. He will find it a ludicrous to see others shrivel in pain psychologically, ignorant of the feelings of the new victim and the grievance he has inflicted. This starts another chain effect where the new victim himself, starts to rebel and vent his anger, taking it out on others through the cyber world. Repeating its cycle, this system will soon become a trend. I am inclined to think that cyber bullies not only work alone, they usually form groups such as cyber gangs and clans in order to team up against each other. This is an utterly foolish act as both sides will end up with emotional wounds, and I find it very brazenfaced of them to seethe over such feuds.
Nevertheless, actions have been taken to stop these cyber bullying. For example, in Singapore, chat rooms, forums and e-mails have been moderated by junk or spam filters, word filters, and people themselves as moderators, these will help to reduce the transmission of bad and unwanted messages. Also, the media filtering, such as the MDA (Media Development Authority), prevents users to access or upload sites that present rude, violent or hurting acts, such as mocking and insulting videos, pictures or even sounds. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, also have their own parent filtering. I feel that this attempt towards preventing cyber bullying and other forms of offence has greatly improved the security and privacy of many internet users, and I sincerely hope that cyber bullying will be nullified and voided like the epidemic of SARS, and break the chain effect of cyber bullying soon enough.
However, with the latest and advanced technology, computers and their systems are brought to a certain level that these cyber bullies take advantage of them, to keep anonymous and unidentified. Examples are internet proxies where these bullies are able to access into communication systems anonymously and start to act towards the victims, with them being unable to trace back the into details of the bullies. Such acts indubitably show how immoral and malicious the teenagers of today can be.
The impact of cyber bullying has created many problems in the victims. Examples are the two cases of suicide by the 13-year-old boy whose psychological strength broke down when he was unable to cope with his friend's online mocking, and the 15-year-old girl who received relentless silent prank calls which lasted until the middle of the night when her limit was crossed and took her own life. These two, alone is already traumatising enough to display the intense effects of cyber bullying.
I believe there are already many laws put up against cyber bullying and it is deemed illegal. Nonetheless, one should never neglect what we have learnt through lectures and talks. There are several ways to deal and not to deal with cyber bullying. Firstly, we should not get involved in cyber bullying or retaliation. "Laugh at it and you're part of it", that is what yp.direct.gov.uk quoted. We should never laugh or encourage any form of offence or threat sent through the cyber world, as we may soon get involved. We should put ourselves in the bullied's shoes, and think how would we feel like if we were aimed at instead.
We should also talk to someone we trust about the matter, like our parents or teachers, and should not keep it to ourselves or deal with the problem alone. Being unable to cope may lead to further problems which may be harder to solve. Also, revealing too much personal information can cause our identities to be leaked over the net and cyber bullies may easily locate and act towards their targets.
In conclusion, although cyber bullying may be a form of illegal act, there are many ways to prevent it and deal with it. We should never get involved in cyber bullying in any way, for it is hard to shun, as every action has its consequence. If we stay out of it, we will not become a victim of it, or a predator. My opinion on it: Mind our P's and Q's.
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