Today, I would like to talk about something very important to me : cyber bullying.
As you may or may not know, many teenagers have been the victims of bullying, especially online.
A survey has been launched by the phone company Vodafone in 11 countries, to see how many teens are affected by cyber bullying...
1 in 4 teenagers in Ireland have been cyber bullied, whereas in ten other countries, 1 out of 5 teenagers have experienced it. Some admit they have had suicidal thoughts as a result and that cyber bullying is worse than face-to-face bullying.
29% of Irish teens said they feel completely alone when they were the victims of online bullying. But others say they feel completey helpless when it comes to helping them and they would find it easier to express their support by using emojis, in fear of not finding the right words to say.
The Irish Minister of Education, Jan O'Sullivan cooperated with Vodafone and created the #BeStrong anti cyber bullying initiative to tackle cyber bullying, help the victims and build strong emotions amongst teens online. They have also released special emojis to help other teenagers express their feelings towards the victims.
Mrs. O'Sullivan said :
"No one who is experiencing bullying of any form should suffer in silence, and this is particularly true in terms of cyber bullying."
A lot of people have heard of this, and so has Grainia Long, the head of the ISPCC (Irish Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Children). She said :
"This campaign demonstrates how this can be achieved and utilises mediums that people can connect with."
In this video, Dacher Keltner explains how useful emojis can be :
Usually, teens are scared and ashamed to talk to their parents when they are being bullied. But, if you are being targeted or you know someone who is, don't be afraid to talk to someone. Here is a free number you can call in case of bullying : 3020.
Thank you for reading, Sarah. :)
Love your article ! It's a really good idea to create emojis to help !
ReplyDeleteI loved your oral about it as much as I love your article. It is such a serious problem and we should talk more about it.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how the different generations of OIB always come back to some ideas... we also had an oral on cyberbullying last year.
ReplyDeleteYes, although I think we don't talk about this enough..
DeleteTo have been cyberbullied, I found your article quite true (even though I didn't go to extremes like suicide). But again, some may say again that I'm dumb or anything, but smileys won't help more than a real campaign to learn to people how to deal like cyberbullying, but that's just my opinion. Also, if you guys and girls want to go depress, you can still watch the Amanda Todd's video before whe comited a suicide, she's a martyr and an icone of cyberbullying.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't know either how important smileys can be. I don't know, I'd really prefer words. Though, it's true that SOME images can help express feelings, but I think they should be used alongside a written message (e.g. : I rarely send a (hug) emoji on skype by itself. I most often say (hug) for [insert reason]. I know, the only link between these is the emoji part).
DeleteHi, I'm the person who doesn't like symbols ! :D
DeleteI totally agree with you, Kellian. I think it is a great thing to fight against cyberbullying, but maybe an emoji is not the best solution... Though I think that it could be considered as a first step, and they'll start to make things bigger avery time they act to help cyberbullied people. I hope it is how they think it.
Of course, I totally agree with you Dana. I am not saying that emojis are the ultimate solution to stop cyber bullying, but as you said, it is considered as a first step. I know that in this article, I talk about it a lot, but emojis are not the most important thing ; it is that people react to (cyber) bullying and try to alleviate it (and not make it stop completely because we all know there will always be mean people who continue it, which means I agree with Kellian on the fact that bullying will never really disappear).
DeleteKellian, I agree with you that emojis/smileys do not solve all the problems in terms of cyber bullying. But it is just to bring a little help, for people who are not at ease with words. ;) I saw Amanda Todd's video a year ago and you're right, she has been (and still is) a martyr of cyber bullying (glad you mentioned her). And I'm also very sorry you have been cyber bullied...
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you, this is to bring a little help for people who are not at ease with words..It's great because I wasn't there when you did your oral presentation but I can read a little part of it ! :)
ReplyDeleteKellian, I don't think at all that it won't help, as you said, because showing support always help ! I would agree with you if there weren't any campaign, but this is ABSOLUTELY not the case !! I was very surprised when I read your post ! There are so many campaigns ! I even had a lesson on that last year with my english teacher, and when I was 12 someone came in class to explain us what is cyberbullying and how to react to it ! Maybe you didn't know about how to react ect when you have been bullied (and I am sorry about that), but there are a lot of campaigns now..! Have you typed "campaign agaisnt bullying" in Google ? This is absolutely not an ignored subject.
Anyway, I think that this initiative is great and original ! Although, I agree with J.A N (sorry I don't know what your real name is ^^), they should be used alongside with a written message.
I'm not saying that campaigns don't exist, there are some and it's cool. But we all know, I guess, that humans are curel by nature, and even with all the efforts we put in it, I'm almost sure that cyberbullying won't never disapeard. But I support a lot the actions did to help (cyber)bullied people
DeleteLoved your article on cyber bullying it was as good as your oral presentation. Bullying should completely stop there's no point in making others feel bad to make you feel better about yourself.
ReplyDelete