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Last week was Anti-Bullying Week in the UK, coordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance.
Gone are the days of bullying stopping at the school gates. The everything everywhere nature of social media often makes it difficult for people to escape their tormentors.
And it’s not just children, adults can be bullied too – this year’s Anti-Bullying week theme was “Let’s stop bullying for all”.
Last year we spoke to Luke Roberts from the Anti-Bullying Alliance on the rise and impact of cyber-bullying.
He spoke to us about how smartphones and tablets allow someone to post something online immediately, wherever they are, without them necessarily giving enough thought to the implications of what they write.
This year we want to hear from you – we want to know which social network you think is the worst for bullying.
Perhaps you think that’s where most online bullying occurs, maybe you think it doesn’t do enough to stop bullies, or you may have first hand experience of bullying taking place on a particular social network.
We have 50 T-shirts to giveaway as a thanks to those who take part – just leave your email address at the end of the survey, and we’ll pick the winners out of a hat.
>> Take the survey <<
If you’ve got children, here are 7 apps and websites parents should be aware of.
And, if you think someone close to you is being bullied, or is bullying someone else, Luke Roberts from the Anti-Bullying Alliance offered some tips on how to help.
All the crying about bullying. Just click the “ignore” link and don’t feed the trolls. Does anyone else notice that the more anti-bullying programs there are, the worse the problem gets?
Your statement leads me to conclude that you were never bullied in your life or you were a bully yourself, and now you hear something about it and that bothers you. The fact of the matter is bullying has always been a problem, and now it is even harder to escape with electronic devices. According to your theory the kid at school getting bullied can click ignore on Facebook but could still get bullied by the same kids at school. Ignoring the problem did not solve anything thirty years ago and does not do so now!
You’re right, Blake, but Andy has a point as well. Hitting the ignore button WOULD work. But, many, especially younger people are still bothered by the words they see about them.
So, I would say Andy is right, but his answer is incomplete. In addition to a way to quickly block things, people need a way to relieve the feelings that the bullying caused. Further, there needs to be a way to clamp down on bullies.
How? That’s the million dollar question. How about a clearinghouse for IP addresses? Independent from the social networks, but used by them. Sort of like email blacklists.
Would that work? Yes, I know there are technical hurdles, and IP anonymizers. But, is the concept sound?
There’s a number of hurdles. Many (mobile) devices don’t have a fixed IP. Behind an IP can be more than one (NAT’ed) device and user (though you could argue that the other users are likely to some extent related with the bully).
Furthermore, if it doesn’t work perfectly it might boost the feeling to get haunted and aggravate the problem.
A blacklist isnt the answer, It leads to an echochamber. A lot of GG supporters are being blacklisted by SJWs on tumblr and auto-ignored, just because they support the movement.
I don’t think the problem is getting worse. I think it’s been /reported/ more frequently lately. More’s been done to make people aware that it is a problem, and to be more vocal about it’s impacts and its unacceptability.
I used to be told, “Kids will be kids,” but that doesn’t mean kids aren’t naturally cruel twats. Some grow out of it, others continue to be bullies into adulthood where they have higher rates of domestic violence and assault — things society generally tries to discourage.
We’re talking about more than just hurt feelings here, too. Severely bullied kids often do poorly in school, which often leads to poorer wages and lack of confidence in adulthood. People that could have offered the world a lot give up trying and squander their gifts.
Then you get kids who snap. Some implode into substance or behavior abuse, or outright kill themselves (a friend of mine was bullied to death in high school). Or they explode like the shooters at Columbine and other school shootings. I think we can agree that these are not things we want people to do. They also impact those around them, especially other children.
Children don’t have the experience or emotional maturity to always understand how their actions effect others. They don’t understand how trivial things that mean everything to them really are. Or that the very things they’re being bullied about now may be the things they’ll be respected for as an adult.
Before I say this, I don’t condone bullying. That being said, I think it in some, lesser forms is society enforcing a safe and established norm. I know when I was bullied, it was because I was a dweeby kid who couldn’t connect socially, but that was my fault. I learned how to connect with my peers and what was and wasn’t socially acceptable that way. Perhaps it is related to the lack of parental structure/ institutional structure? Mostly the former, if it’s either.
If they click “Ignore” then they won’t be able to cry about it and become a victim, and therefore won’t get all the attention they are looking for.
Tumblr is literally the biggest perpetrator to “cyber bullying” I’ve ever seen.
Tumblr is a hate-filled social network aimed at promoting sexism towards the male gender, whilst defending their claims by false “personal experiences”
I have personally been attacked by Tumblr for being a white male. I have a blog on Tumblr myself simply dedicated to my day-to-day life, and that my life is that of a cis white man is apparently enough for them to harass me.
Excellent post – there needs to be a stronger awareness of bullying online, that is for sure. Great campaign! I for one find YouTube to be a top contender for bullies, although I would agree that Tumblr would come in as a strong second. I recently finished reading an excellent book on this topic by Nancy Omeara called, Creating Hate: How It Is Done, How To Destroy It: A Practical Handbook. Her book gives you new information you’ve never read anywhere else, and is very enlightening on how to stop harassment in any setting.