Cyberbullying Is A Form of Self-Denial Says Carean Oh | Carean Oh Writers Studio | Carean Oh Yee Yin
Cyberbullying is a form of self-denial says Carean Oh | Carean Lisbeth Oh | Carean Oh Writers Studio | Carean Oh Yee Yin
In an article,
Carean Oh who heads Stomp out Bullies in Singapore, a cyber wellness group,
wrote about the merits and demerits of social media. Social Media can lead to
cyber bullying as the platform has become popular for cyberbullies to seek out
victims and interact with others to further the bullying.
Why
People Bully Others Online
Janice Lam, a
psychologist graduate who responded to a survey conducted by Carean Oh’s
LEADnovate magazine team, shares that cyberbullying is a form of self-denial.
“Cyberbullies have a need to fill. A desire to be seen and heard and gain
popularity. Or they might feel that they do not have the attention of a person,
and cyberbullying a person online through shaming them will perhaps get them
the attention.
“But this is very
sad,” she added, “because it shows everyone that the cyberbully is just
suffering from extremely low self-esteem. For adults who cyberbullies another,
it also points to the fact they have not matured in life. Is life all about
victimising others? It is saddening to see abled adults shrinking behind
screens and doing all this when they could have spent time on meaningful
things. There are so many needy people to help.”
Anyone
Can Be A Victim
Online users of the
internet can be innocent victims of any cyberbully who decides to make them a
target. Carean Oh of Writers Studio adds that scathing remarks made towards
younger people can promote low self-esteem in the victim because many of them
seek self-validation from the comments of others. If a comment is good, it
would point to popularity and we will be able to feel good about ourselves. On
the other hand, a bad comment will also imply that we are not adequate in our
thoughts and make us doubt ourselves. As such, over time, this self-doubt will
make us less and less confident and cause us to have low self-esteem.
Cyberbullying
Has Become A National Concern
Besides the above
repercussions, carean oh yee yin,
Carean Lisbeth Oh of Writers Studio adds that it is also apparent that
cyberbullying has become a more dire issue day by day and actually thrives on
social media. Research has shown that cyberbullying in Singapore is on the rise
and older adults, even parents, are drivers of cyberbullying. “This sheds light
on a society we should be concerned about. If fathers of kids are
cyberbullying, it is worrying. They may also impart wrong values to their
children,” add Priti Haneja, a respondent to a LEADnovate magazine survey.
Priti is a computer analyst from an IT audit firm based in Singapore and Delhi.
How
Hyberbullies Work
Furthermore, social
media promotes herd mentality. It gathers likes and comments for each post a
person makes and the more likes a post has gathered, it represents how popular
a post is. Not only has this, but the number of shares on a post also signified
how many people agree with or like the post. This shows that decision-making
can be influenced on such a platform as social media, people would tend to like
the posts that are popular among people. Even if they may not fully agree with
it, they may swing towards supporting it eventually by the sheer number of
positive responses.
Social media is a
good platform that promotes connections among humans. However, it can also be
subjected to abuse and exploitation such as promoting negativity and
cyberbullying.
Carean Lisbeth Oh of
Writers Studio advises, “carean oh writers studio”
“In order to fully benefit from social media, it is everyone’s prerogative to
be respectful and behave in a way that is civilized online. What we will not do
in public such as shaming others, should also not be carried out in an aggressive
way online.”
Comments
Post a Comment