Cyberbullying can be more psychologically savage than schoolyard bullying

Cyberbullying can affect kids badly
my paper
Thu, Apr 14, 2011




 




By: Lei  Jiahui

SINGAPORE - They made malicious remarks about her and ostracised her.

But Rina (not her real name) was tormented not only in school.

The bullies went one step further and posted slanderous comments about the 17-year-old, calling her nasty names on her Facebook wall.

All this, with no apparent provocation by Rina. In great distress, she turned to a counsellor last year.

"(Rina) felt very wronged. She felt she didn't deserve this (treatment)," said Mr Winston Seah, a senior social worker at Crossroad Youth Centre, as he recounted the teen's story.

In a Singapore Polytechnic survey on privacy and online security, it was found that young people spend a lot of time online, with 55 per cent of respondents aged 15 to 35 visiting Facebook and spending nearly four hours on the social-networking site daily.

But they are unsure what cyberbullying is. Two out of five respondents did not think that a password being stolen and used, or being made fun of online, are forms of cyberbullying.

The New York Times noted in a recent report that cyberbullying can be "more psychologically savage than schoolyard bullying".

Ms Jaslin Peh, 35, operations manager of Coalition Against Bullying for Children and Youths, said that parents need to be aware of the dangers that young people face on the Internet.

It's a fine line between playing gatekeeper and giving "due respect to a child's personal space", she added, but parents should monitor their children's online activity to help shield their kids from instances of cyberbullying.
Asia online