The next time you see a seven or eight-year-old with their head bent over a device, think again before you marvel at their expertise in gaming or discovering the right app for YouTube. These kids are also potential victims to the cyberbullies that stalk the internet. Cyberbullying is being cruel to others by sending or posting harmful material using a cell phone or the internet. Cyber bullying can boast that it is more widespread than traditional bullying forms and is more perilous, as it violates a person’s privacy and sense of well-being. Cyber bullies are often motivated by the anger, revenge and an indefatigable hunger to target people usually weaker than them.
The Year of Zayed espouses respect – a value, when implemented by people in a community or society, aids them in accepting people of different compositions. Our late Founding Father, Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, promoted inclusion through respect – a vital ingredient in the utopian sustainable society.
The Internet is fascinating enough to quickly grab the attention of today’s youth, however, it is also the most excellent example of your typical two-faced brat. The recent wave of deaths that shook the world from the Blue Whale Game – the epitome of a chill inducer – proves how peer pressure can be a factor that pressurises today’s youth to invite peril by joining unsafe online chatting portals among others.
Social media – the ultimate haven for cyber stalkers – is yet another example of bait where users, tempted to publicize every moment of their lives, do not realise that they are feeding the cyber bullies, who, later, utilize the ideal opportunity to blackmail victims with their personal information and compel them to do their bidding.
Many internet users have admitted to being cyber bullied through negative comments and such, with a large proportion of the youth not having informed their parents out of fear.
There are, however, many hands to help and we must reach out to them if we find ourselves caught in a whirlpool of internet perils.
