Ooh baby baby it's a wide world...

In my opinion the Internet is kind of the most wonderful thing to happen to the human race since agriculture, transportation and medicine. It allows us to meet new people, purchase lovely new things, watch interesting films and shows, travel the world, carve out a new identity and be whomever we want to be, all from the comfort and safety of our homes. It’s an agoraphobes dream come true! But have you ever considered the fact that there may be people out there who are using they Internet to fool you; because they have ulterior motives; because they are sinister and cruel and feel secure behind the veil of their monitors...

I don’t mean to go all fear-monger-ey on you but it’s happening right now and it’s likely you’ve even experienced it yourself. I’m online everyday and I see it every day. It’s called cyber-bullying and it comes in all shapes and sizes.

SOURCE: http://270c81.medialib.glogster.com/beccam666/media/1f/1f17f53fcf5af4d5e780896f2ec5229f881c2a46/iphone-cyberbully-1yo7t8a.jpg

 Now if you haven’t been living under a rock for the last few years you’d have seen articles like this one on theaustralian.com.au and heard of the growing endemic of cyber-bullying and it’s devastating effects on our youth. You’ll know that children as young as 13 and 14 years old all over the world are taking their lives because of the embarrassment and shame caused by disgusting comments littering their profile pages. At the best of times our world can be mean and nasty, throw in a little anonymity and the worst human traits appear to grow exponentially.

Now if you’re sitting there thinking ‘it’s not that bad, I’ve never had that bad an online experience’ you have to bear in mind that you are just one of over 2.4 million Internet users. But if you are thinking that, well I am a little bit too. We’re the lucky ones. I’ve never been on the receiving end of a purely hateful message but I have seen them and they can range from humorously offensive to downright sickening. I often find myself in a ‘comments box vortex’ where I can’t tear my eyes away from the screen because it seems the trolls have kicked off a troll-off. Its like a virtual car accident, I’m walking past ever so slowly watching the horror unfold thinking ‘how can these people be so cruel?’ and ‘what exactly do they think they’re achieving?’

Well according to Mishna, Saini & Solomon, trolls, cyber-bullies, whatever you like to call them, behave this way for all the same reasons as regular face-to-face bullies but the results are far worse. The ever-present and non-stop nature of cyber-bullying means there’s no safe place for victims to rest, it’s often faceless and forceful and of course our children have no reference with which to defend themselves or deal with it.

But it’s not always children bullying children; sometimes it’s adults bullying children. At other times it’s adults actively preying on children but studies and initiatives like this one by the Australian Institute of Criminology and this one by the Terres De Hommes International Federation for Children are actively cracking down and making a difference. 

Some online personalities have had enough. Lindsay Bottos, courageous and spirited woman and blogger, is holding a mirror up to her online community, simultaneously shaming those who have left her negative remarks whilst successfully showcasing her innovation and guts. Bravo Lindsay! I applaud your approach and can feel a full online movement a-brewing.

SOURCE: http://lindsaybottos.tumblr.com/

There’s so much more I could say, so many more sad and awful facets to the dark side of social media. But I’m going to finish with this: it has to stop. And the only way to stop it, as with bullying in real life, is to stand up and make a difference. Don’t let those trolls hi-jack that beautiful page with their vomitus. Don’t let that child feel neglected and alone. Pay attention to what’s happening out there because we’re all connected and all a part of it. In the words of the late Michael Jackson “heal the world, make it a better place” – that goes for the digital world too.

REFERENCES:

Bahadur, N 2014, ‘Blogger Lindsay Bottos is using her internet haters’ own words to fight back’, huffingtonpost.com, viewed 2 February 2014, <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/lindsay-bottos-tumblr-anonymous-comments_n_4703344.html>

Bottos, L 2014, lindsaybottos.tumblr.com, viewed 5 February 2014, < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/lindsay-bottos-tumblr-anonymous-comments_n_4703344.html>

Carswell, A 2013, ‘Parents take extreme action on faceless bullying’, theaustralian.com.au, viewed 5 February 2014, <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/parents-take-extreme-action-on-faceless-bullying/story-e6frg6n6-1226646307704>

Cuneo, C & McDougall B, 2013, ‘Madeleine Milne didn’t know how much she was loved’, The Daily Telegraph, viewed 5 February 2014, <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/madeleine-milne-didnt-know-how-much-she-was-loved/story-fncvk70o-1226637189275>

‘Cyberbullying causes another teen suicide’, 2013, essentialkids.com.au, viewed 5 February 2014, <http://www.essentialkids.com.au/older-kids/education-for-older-kids/cyberbullying-causes-another-teen-suicide-20130807-2rekx.html>

Grosskopf, A 2010, 'Online interactions involving suspected paedophiles who engage male children', Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice, no. 403, viewed 5 February 2014, <http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current series/tandi/401-420/tandi403.html>

Internet World Stats, 2012, internetworldstats.com, viewed 5 February 2014, <http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm>

Mishna, F, Saini, M & Solomon, S 2009, ‘Ongoing and online: Children and youth’s perception of cyberbullying’, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 31, Issue 12, pages 1222-1228

‘Stop webcam child sex tourism’, 2014, terredeshommes.org, viewed 5 February 2013, <http://www.terredeshommes.org/webcam-child-sex-tourism/>

‘Suicide of Megan Meier’, 2014, wikipedia.org, viewed 5 February 2014, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier>

Troll (Internet), 2014, wikipedia.org, viewed 5 February 2014, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29>