I was concerned to read an article in an Australia newspaper recently which highlighted concerns from a UK parliamentary led probe that many children were being pushed to the brink because of cyber bullying by online cowards.
Emphasising what I wrote in one of my blogs ‘Social Media Abused By Online Cowards‘ – the probe stated that the mental health of many children was being put at risk because tech companies were not doing enough to minimise the risk of cyber bullying by online cowards.
The issue of online bullying is not a trivial issue that can be swept under the carpet considering that there is numerous documented cases of children around the world who have committed suicide due to being bullied by some online coward.
We cant stop social media and technology; its a very large part of society now and will only grow as technology advances. But my concern is that because social media is so widely used, our children will use it frequently and unless tech companies do more to stop cyber bullying, and police and the judiciary do more to identify and prosecute cyber bullies, then cowards will fester and use social media to bully others online whilst knowing that their anonymity is safe.
I personally place people who hide behind fake identities on social media and abuse, troll and bully others, in the same lowlife status as child sex offenders who groom children on social media. Both use use social media to prey on people whilst feeling empowered from their anonymity; both in many cases are social misfits and both lack the personal quantities and testicular fortitude to be able to confront others in a face to face manner.
But unlike myself who cares little for the online coward who lurks in detritus of the Internet, children don’t have the cognitive ability to cope with the social and emotional demands of social media.
Online Bullying is a growing problem. We all need to act more responsibly to ensure that we don’t use social media in a negative way and we need to ensure that we protect children from being abused.