WyzGuys Tech Talk

The internet comes with plenty of possibilities. As robust as the opportunities are, so are some of the negatives that accompany it. One of such downsides is cyber-bullying. A lot of internet users have suffered several forms of cyber-bullying, and the act has left many with scars that may never heal. Similarly, several others have injured themselves physically, being unable to bear the emotional trauma.

Over 80% of victims of cyber-bullying have also had an experience of abuse in real life, and cyber-bullying continues to add to this issue as reports indicate that self-harm rates have doubled recently. Cyber-bullying does not have any boundaries and affects all ages, colors, and genders.

The astonishing fact is that over 65% of people admit to partaking in cyber-bullying at one time or another. What is even more worrisome is that less than 16% believe that their actions reflect cyber-bullying.

Cyber-bullying and Cyber-stalking

Cyber-bullying refers to all forms of bullying that take place via the internet or any digital device. It can be done through various means such as texting, images, videos, games, forums, and social media. While cyber-bullying may not be a criminal act on its own, it can take on a more severe form of behavior, such as cyber-stalking.

Today, cyber-bullying is on the rise, with cyber-bullying statistics indicating that more than one out of three internet users experience cyber-bullying. A number of reports have been done to show the rising problem cyber-bullying poses and why everyone conversant with the internet should be concerned.

While most people usually group cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking as one, it is essential to understand that cyber-stalking is more severe than cyber-bullying. The former is the act of deliberately stalking someone online to carry out cyberbully activities to them.

Forms of Cyber-bullying

Cyber-bullying occurs every day, sometimes in pronounced ways, but other times in subtle ways. To help us understand it better, let us explore a few forms of cyber-bullying.

Doxing

Just as deception occurs in real life, it also occurs on the internet. Doxing involves gaining the trust of a victim by acting as a friend with whom he/she can share private information. This information could be confidential images, videos, or personal knowledge about the victim. Once the cyberbully obtains this information, he/she then shares it with the public without the victim’s prior permission.

In some cases, the bully may venture into cybercrime by using the said information to blackmail the victim.

Flaming

This constitutes a significant aspect of cyber-bullying and involves the sending or posting of swear words, curse words, and insults at users. It sometimes causes both users to get involved in a fight on the internet.

Victims of this form of cyber-bullying are usually LGBTQ users. They are at a higher risk of experiencing flaming as even strangers attack them because of their sexual preferences.

Harassment

It covers a far-reaching aspect of cyber-bullying in which the victim receives continuous and persistent messages of threat that conveys intentions of physical harm or hurt to the victim.

Catfishing

It is a form of cyber-bullying where the cyberbully assumes a fake identity to make a fool or embarrass the victim. It usually takes place on social media platforms, where a male can pretend to be female and vice versa. Also, the cyberbully can pretend to have a status he/she truly lacks. In some cases, this type of cyber-bullying occurs between users with some familiarity.

Framing

This is when cyberbully uses a victim’s social media profile to post inappropriate content. The bully does this in a bid to tarnish the victim’s image and reputation. Securly Blog discusses extensively on other forms of cyber-bullying.

Challenges in Dealing With Cyber-bullying and Cyber-stalking

Cyber-bullying proves very difficult to handle and deal with due to the many issues surrounding it. Since the world is now one big global network, we are always on our phone, continually texting, chatting, on a call, and jumping from one social media platform to the other. What this means is that we are always online, making it easy for us to be a target of cyber-bullying.

Information shared across the internet is mostly permanent and open to everyone. If an activity like cybercrime is not addressed, it portrays a bad image and impression of victims to the public at large. Also, those who perpetuate the act may have problems with things like gaining admissions to school or securing a good job for themselves.

It is important to point out that cyber-bullying is hard to detect as most victims of this crime do not speak out, and those who witness it also keep mute. Since cyber-bullying is not a “punishable crime” per se, victims do not get justice, even when such crimes are reported.

Conclusion

Cyber-bullying is a menace plaguing the internet today, constituting a lot of nuisance and harm. It takes on several forms, such as cyber-stalking, doxing, flaming, and framing, among others.

The difficulty of detecting it and the ease of spread of information on the internet are among the various challenges faced in dealing with cyber-bullying. However, there are measures one can take to protect oneself from these internet predators.