According to a study by The Journal of American Medical Association, one out of every four teenagers in India experiences cyber bullying. Aruna Sidkar, a city based psychiatrist states that Cyber bullying is the major culprit behind alarmingly increasing number of teen suicide cases in India. This shows that ardent steps should be taken to stop cyber bullying and for enhancing cyber security.
Traditional bullying VS Cyber Bullying:
I still remember my school days when I fell prey to bullying in my school backyard by rich and popular spoiled brats at my school. The bullies were stupid enough to judge me on the basis of my limited pocket money or no fancy stationery yet sly enough to tell me that complaining against them would make me a coward. I conveniently let them keep the game going and as a result I grew up to be an introvert. They never hit me at any point but I never knew it will leave long term scars on my brain. Traditional backyard bullying has now been transformed drastically and those bullies who somehow had the threat of being reprimanded can now choose to operate anonymously through multiple platforms like Social media, Instant messaging Apps or emails. This gives confidence to every mean kid to try and harass other kids once in a while and get away with it easily and hence it has become more difficult to stop cyber bullying.
How can you break the cycle?
While the fact is true that it can happen to anyone, you, me or celebrities like Anushka Sharma getting the blame of Virat Kohli’s poor performance but teens are at leading risk. So, when you help your teen in preparation for their exam, also prepare them for any potential cyber bullying. Tell them why they need to report it at their earliest and also teach them online safety tips like not getting in touch with strangers online and always blocking the bullies immediately and reporting them online as well as offline and implying advanced cyber security measures. Make sure that you do your best to identify the bully as sometimes taking help from police can trace the unknown bully for you. Furthermore, counselling helps the victim cope up better with the after effects.
Why you must break the cycle?
It is extremely crucial to instantly take a step to cyber bullying because early identification leads to early counseling and it ensures it leaves minimum psychological impact on the victim. Moreover, reporting cyber bullying will help identify the culprit and sometimes it is not only a victim who needs help but the bully also needs help because there is something terribly wrong going on in his brain that makes him, do this. Getting them identified will lead to identification of their mental state and which will help them getting treatment and hence they can also lead a normal life.
While Cyber Bullying has many negative aspects, there is one positive aspect too. The famous saying of Chris Colfer tells how Bullying is sometimes a blessing in disguise as it states, “When people hurt you over and over, think of them like sand paper; they may scratch and hurt you a bit , but in the end, you end up polished and they end up useless”
She is a passionate writer who has been writing Poetry, Essays, Articles, Website content, and Literary Reviews. She has been managing blogs and websites independently. A feminist at heart, she has coached various writers as well. Her works in various niches and genres have been published in print as well as online ezines and websites.