Social Media and Cyber Bullying (Problem-solution Essay Draft 2)

          The use of social media has entrenched itself deep into people’s daily lives that it has become the cause of many social problems in recent years. According to the statistics (Chua, 2012), it shows that Singapore has the second highest level of cyberbullying in Asia. Cyber bullying can be defined as the use of electronic media to intentionally spread negative connotations about a person (Media Literacy Council). It can come in many forms such as posting negative remarks on social media, creating hate accounts or even sexually harassing someone online. Although there are laws implemented as deterrence and people are educated since young about cyberbullying, these solutions only target the surface of the issue. It requires the cooperation from the society as a whole to banish cyberbullying once and for all.

         Cyber bullying can diminish a person’s self-worth and depriving one the environment to properly grow as a person. Very often, the remarks posted online condemn a person for not conforming into a social norm in order to make one feel out-casted by the society. Thus, the victim has to undergo changes in order to fit in, even though he may not be comfortable with it (Hinduja, 2010). This is because humans are social creatures and interacting with people around us is crucial (Vrticka, 2013). Without interaction, humans would feel lonely and in the case of the victim, it creates an environment of negativity. If it gets too overwhelming, some victims may resort to extreme measures that may have negative consequences. For instance, eating disorders is one of the many because of cyberbullying (McCarthy, 2013), and in severe cases - deaths.

         The most common way to prevent a crime from happening is the implementation of laws. In Singapore, a new ‘Protection from Harassment Bill’ (2014) is passed to help combat cyberbullying. The Bill emphasizes that cyberbullying as an offence and there would be penalties for it. This method is useful as seen from the conflict between one of Singapore’s bloggers, Xiaxue and the anonymous Facebook group named “SMRT (Ltd) Feedback”. SMRT defamed Xiaxue for bribery, insulting her chastity and her family members. Eventually, Xiaxue (2015) applied for the ‘Protection from Harassment Act’ against SMRT to prevent them from writing any more negative remarks against her and her family. However, it does not mean that SMRT cannot prey on someone else instead. Does that mean that every time SMRT starts bullying another person online, he has to go through the same process to protect his interests? This bill would only work as a safety net to deter potential bullies from targeting more victims but it does not completely eradicate the issue of cyber bullying.

         Another solution is the use of education to teach students from young about of cyber bullying. In Singapore, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has implemented a series of curriculums that are incorporated into the Citizenship and Character Education (CCE) (Yang, 2014). This method attempts to raise awareness about cyberbullying in students and also to prevent the likelihood of them committing cyberbullying. However, this method is only effective when students treat this type of lessons seriously. Some students feel that it is a waste of time attending because it is not graded like their core subjects. This defeats the purpose of implementing it and thus, it will not be helpful in preventing cyberbullying if students are not interested.

         In order to eradicate cyberbullying, parents play an important role to teach their children about the effects of cyberbullying. Parents can first talk to their children about the possible dangers of using social media to protect their interests. Also, discuss if they have witnessed cyberbullying or experienced it to understand the situation. If their children are being bullied, they can take the necessary actions against the bully but if they witnessed it before, they can use it as a valuable lesson to teach their children not to become a cyberbully and the implications of being one. However, this method may not be completely effective because not all parents are able to spend the time to discuss with their children about cyberbullying because of their hectic schedule. This is where education in schools can come in to complement the parents. The MOE can emphasise the importance of CCE by encouraging schools to introduce more school events such as CCE day, cyberbullying talks. They can make it more interesting by introducing games about the important values or talks by relevant personnel in the specific area. However, this method requires a lot of planning and it would be hard for schools to set aside time for other events. Also, there would still be students who refuse to attend because they are not interested.

         The problem of cyber bullying is not one that can be easily solved in the long term even with the use of laws and education. Support from parents and the participation of school events would improve the situation but these are not feasible if there are no victims speaking up about being cyberbullied. It is only when someone is being bullied, then actions would be taken. As cyberbullies tends to target people who do not fit into social norms: it is vital for people to understand that norms do not define who we are and it is time to redefine social norms because everyone is different in their own way. Only until norms have changed, cyber bullying would be eradicated.

References: 

Chua, M. (2012, June 25). China, Singapore, top charts for cyberbullying among youths. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://www.networksasia.net/article/china-singapore-top-charts-cyberbullying-among-youths-1340639968 

McCarty, T. (2013, June 5). Bullying and Body Image: How Bullying Leads to Eating Disorders. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tennie-mccarty/bullying-and-body-image_b_2812718.html 

Vrticka, P. (2013, November 11). Evolution of the 'Social Brain' in Humans: What Are the Benefits and Costs of Belonging to a Social Species? Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pascal-vrticka/human-social-development_b_3921942.html 

Yang, C. (2014, September 20). Students in Singapore alerted to cyber bullying in revised cyber wellness curriculum. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/education/story/students-singapore-alerted-cyber-bullying-revised-cyber-wellness-curr 

Protection Order Against SMRT Ltd (Feedback). (2015, February 6). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://xiaxue.blogspot.sg/2015/02/protection-order-against-smrt-ltd.html 

A new Protection from Harassment Bill to be introduced to strengthen the laws against harassment. (2014, July 2). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from https://www.mlaw.gov.sg/news/press-releases/a-new-protection-from-harassment-bill-to-be-introduced-to-streng.html 

Cyber Bullying. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://www.medialiteracycouncil.sg/online-safety/Pages/cyber-bullying.aspx 

Hinduja, S. (2010). Cyber bullying and Self-Esteem. Cyber Bullying Summary. Retrieved March 4, 2015, from http://www.cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying_and_self_esteem_research_fact_sheet.pdf