The increasing
use of social media has brought about many problems, one of them being
cyberbullying. Singapore is ranked second amongst nations of cyberbullies
(Family & Life, 2014). It is reported that one out of four secondary school
students has admitted to bullying their friends and one out of five primary
school students has 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 psychological effects that are brought about
from cyberbullying. The Media Literacy Council (MLC) and SingTel have both
launched cyber wellness programmes 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 with the help of Singtel, Touch
organization, MLC and the Singapore law.
Cyberbullying
includes sending unpleasant photographs and messages by mobile phone or online
messaging. Deleting a person’s name from a group or not replying to that
person’s messages on social networking sites can (also?) 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 could disrupt youths’ daily lives,
causing them to grow up to be people who shun
interaction with others, and this might greatly affect their school
lives, academics and future career. To make matters worse, the adverse effects
from cyberbullying are often not shown explicitly by the victims. For the
bullies, the continuous abuse on others could lead to them to become more
aggressive and more narcissistic. This might also hinder the development of
these perpetrators as they are growing up to becoming people who are not
appreciative of others.
One solution
that organizations in Singapore have 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 (Asiaone, 2015), which offers guidance to the
bullies and the bullied. The
aim is to ensure that interactions online are relevant and user-friendly for
the youths. School students will be able to report suspected cases of bullying
online and learn how to differentiate signs of cyber bullying. Also, 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
to protect their children from online risks. There are also stories of victims
from cyber bullying on the website. “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 their children.
The two examples
mentioned are both cyber wellness programmes organized by the relevant
organizations. Cyber wellness programmes are effective in combating cyber
bullying as they empowers netizens with information that they may not have
known previously. The cyber wellness programmes heightens the awareness of
people and allows them to identify, prevent and report possible cases of
cyberbullying. This is effective as people learn about the consequences of their
actions and they will reconsider their actions. People may be 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 of
the users on social networks, bullies 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 degree, but different bullies have different motivations to cyberbully
(Varjas, Talley, Meryers, Parris & Cutts, 2010). The bullies may be motivated
by anger or entertainment. They may even do it to enhance their social status
in school. Educating netizens on cyber bulling may not be the solution as cyber
bullies have different types of motivations. Cyber wellness programmes only
help to curb cyberbullying of certain type of motivations.
Another solution
is the passing of the anti- harassment law 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 of the law. This should 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 aim to educate and then deter people
from cyberbullying. 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
law and the organizations like MLC and Touch has to continue to aid in
resolving cyberbullying effectively (Kraft & Wang, 2009).
Reference
E. M. Kraft and J. Wang (2009). Effectiveness of cyber
bullying prevention strategies: A study on students’ perspectives. Cyber Crime Journal.com. 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
Facebook, Media Literacy Council launch site to combat
bullying. (2015). Asiaone. Retrieved
from http://news.asiaone.com/news/science-and-tech/facebook-media-literacy-council-launch-site-combat-cyber-bullying
J. 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’. Today Online. Retrieved
from http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/anti-harassment-laws-fight-social-scourge?page=1
K. Varjas, J. Talley, J.Meyers, L. Parris and H. Cutts
(2010). High School Students’ Perceptions of Motivations of Cyberbullying: An exploratory study. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941365/
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