Cyberbullying

In the recent years, the Internet has become a new platform for violence, which resulted in the appearance of cyberbullying. The distance and anonymity of users made it easy to express one’s opinion and sometimes say things that would not be said face to face. So-called haters assault people they envy or dislike. They do not think about the consequences of their actions, which are sometimes horrible.

I don’t know anyone who has been cyber-bullied, but there are many mournful cases on the web. Amanda Michelle Todd, for example, was a 15-year-old Canadian student and victim of cyberbullying who hung herself at her home. Before her death, she posted a video on YouTube in which she used a series of flashcards to tell her experience of being blackmailed into exposing her breasts via webcam, and of being bullied and physically assaulted afterward.

What is even worse is that because of current events in the world, the issue grows bigger. There has been a 70% increase in the amount of bullying and hate speech among teens and children in the month since the Covid lockdown began. This can be explained by an even tighter connection and the necessity to spend a significant amount of time on the web, which makes the problem of cyberbullying especially disturbing and important to solve.

Luckily, social networks have recently started detecting and deleting hate speech and added an option to report other people’s comments. However, this is still not enough. We should educate children about digital privacy to make sure personal remains personal by making the most of privacy settings.