Essay Draft 1

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 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 and it will cause them to grow up to be people who shun away 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.

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 between youths 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

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

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