The increasing
use of social media has brought about many problems, one of them being cyber
bullying. Singapore is ranked second in the nation of cyberbullies. (Family
& Life, 2014). It is reported that one out of four secondary school
students have admitted to bullying their friends and one out of five primary
school students have been bullied online (Tan, 2014).Through the use of social
media, there is an increasing number of cyber bullying cases among youth aged
between 8 and 17 in Singapore. This is extremely detrimental to the Singaporean
youth’s development due to the psychologically effects that is brought about
from cyberbullying. The Media Literacy Council (MLC) and SingTel has both
launched cyber wellness programme to combat cyberbullying. The issue on cyber
bullying among youths in Singapore has to be solved to prevent more harm to the
growth and mental health of the youth.
Cyber bullying
includes sending unpleasant photographs and messages by mobile phone or online
messaging. Deleting a person name from a group or not replying to people’s
messages on social networking sites can be a form of bullying as it can be seen
as ostracization. (MLC,2015) It is important to combat cyberbullying as youths
who are cyber bullied often suffer mentally. They will face lasting emotional
damages like depression, loneliness, unhappiness and poor sleep. (Caudle, 2015).
These problems will disrupt youths’ daily lives, causing them to grow up to be
people who shun away from interaction with others and this will greatly affect
their lives, career and academics. To make matters worse, the adverse effects
from cyberbullying are often not shown explicitly by the victims. The victims
will grow up to become more introvert, avoiding people due to the lack of
confidence and the fear of being bullied. For the bullies, the continuous abuse
on others will lead to them becoming more aggressive and more narcissistic.
This will also hinder the development of the perpetrators as they are growing
up to becoming people who are not appreciative of others.
One solution
that organizations in Singapore has implemented is the use of cyber wellness programmes
to educate both youths and their parents about the harmful effects of cyber
bullying. MLC has launched a site together with Facebook called the Bullying
Prevention Centre. (Hui Zhen, 2015) .It is a site that offers guidance to those
the bullies and the bullied. The
aim is to ensure that interactions online is relevant and user-friendly for the
youths. People will be able to report suspected cases of bullying online and
learn how to differentiate signs of cyber bullying. SingTel has come together with
TOUCH to create an application called “notAnoobie”. It allows parents to keep
track of their children activities on the internet and protect their children
from online risks. There are also stories of victims from cyber bullying. “NotAnoobie”
aims to educate and empower parents with information on what their children are
doing. This is important as parents play a huge role in the upbringing of
youths.
The two examples
mentioned are both cyber wellness programmes organized by the relevant
organizations. Cyber wellness programmes are effective in combating cyber
bullying as it empowers people with information that they may not have known
previously. It heightens the awareness of people and it allows them to
identify, prevent and report possible cases of cyberbullying. This is effective
as people know about the consequences of their actions and they will reconsider
their actions. People are able to prevent themselves from getting bullied as
they are able to recognize signs of cyberbullying and then stopping it
themselves. However, due to the anonymity the users on social networks, youths
are able to repeatedly post harsh and cruel comments or even cyberbully without
being caught if they are not reported. It is difficult for social media
platforms to constantly monitor their users and it is difficult to establish a
common standard to distinguish between what is cyber bullying and what is not. The
programmes may be effective to some, but different youths have different
motivations to cyberbully. (Varjas, Talley, Meryers, Parris and Cutts, 2010).
These people may be motivated by anger or entertainment. Some youths may even
do it to enhance their social status in school. Youths may be educated about
cyber bullying, however, it may not be the solution as cyber bullies have
different types of motivations. Cyber wellness programmes only helps to curb
cyberbullying of certain type of motivations.
Another solution
is passing of the anti- harassment laws in Singapore by the parliament. The new
law aims to protect the people in Singapore from the “social scourge”
(Shanmugam, 2014). Harassment in the online sphere like cyberbullying is
included in the anti- harassment law. This is effective as victims of cyber
bullying now have legal protection. Moreover, people will be deterred from
cyber bullying due to the possible implications with the law. This will lead to
a reduction in cases of cyberbullying. However, as mentioned above, it is
difficult to constantly monitor social media and the protectors of law are
unable to cover the whole social media to keep track of these perpetrators.
Cyberbullying is
an important issue that Singapore has to solve. The above solutions are
effective only to a certain extent as both aims to educate and then deter
people from cyberbullying. However, the most effective way to prevent people
from cyberbullying and being cyberbullied would be to take these electronic
devices away from there. With the rise of the status of social media, there is
an increase in the importance of handphones and computers to youths. It will be
difficult to take these things away from them now. Therefore, it is important
for parents to enforce rules at home. Meanwhile, policies by schools, Singapore
and the organizations like MLC has to continue to aid in resolving cyberbullying
effectively. (Kraft and Wang, 2009)
Reference
Ellen M. Kraft and Jinchang Wang (2009). Effectiveness of
Cyber bullying Prevention Strategies: A Study on Students’ Perspectives.
Retrieved from http://www.cybercrimejournal.com/KraftwangJulyIJCC2009.pdf
Family and Life (2014). Singapore is the Second Highest
Nation of Cyberbullies. Retrieved from http://familyandlife.sg/Nurture/2014/03/Singapore_Second_Highest_Nation_Cyberbullies
Hui Zhen (2015). Facebook, Media Literacy Council launch
site to combat bullying. Retrieved from http://news.asiaone.com/news/science-and-tech/facebook-media-literacy-council-launch-site-combat-cyber-bullying
Janice Tan (2014). 1 in 4 secondary students ‘admits to
cyber bullying’. The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/education/story/1-4-secondary-students-admits-cyber-bullying-20140714
K Shanmugam (2014). Anti- harassment laws to fight ‘social
scourge’. Retrieved from http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/anti-harassment-laws-fight-social-scourge?page=1
Kris Varjas, Jasmaine Talley, Joel Meyers, Leandra Parris
and Haley Cutts (2010). High School Students’ Perceptions of Motivations of
Cyberbullying: An exploratory Study. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941365/
