The evolution of media and the progress of communication have made it easier than ever for young people to share their private information, pictures and other. More people are encountering the risk to be bullied when they share their private pictures, their statuses and their life.
“Bullying occurs when a person or a group repeatedly and intentionally use or abuse their power to intimidate, hurt, oppress or damage someone else”. Bullying can be physical, verbal, social, or on the cyber space.
On Social Media what we witness is a replication of the bullying done on the traditional media such as TV shows. Prime time comedies such as Wajdi w majdi in Lebanon are what we can categorize as social bullying. “Repeated mimicking,” “nasty pranks”, using homophobic or racist slurs damage the reputation of a whole community such as the LGBT.
Usually teenagers, children and communities that are bullied are “ill-equipped” and do not know how to respond.
In my opinion parents and teachers should clearly explain to their children and students the importance of the privacy settings of social networks , such as facebook.
With the progress of the education system in Lebanon and the use of tablets and internet since primary school, teachers and responsible should create groups of the children for them to put the norms of ethics. And a sharter of responsible use of the comment part of the social networks and platforms such as Facebook and twitter.
Moreover they need to talk to them and teach them to never post or say anything that they wouldn’t want the whole world to know. One day the boss may check the profile of a person. As the ex-girl friend of Mark Zuckeberg said in the movie of the social network: “the internet is written in Ink and not in Pencil.” What you post, send or publish can never be deleted, and can easily go viral so be aware!
Rita Chemaly
PS: I wrote this post after doing research for the episode of CASES that hosted me and my long time friend Hussein. .
TO WATCH the full episode: http://youtu.be/Vv960GiW85g
Below is the description published on You Tube: “The show CASES, produced by Aly Sleem and Shant Kerbabian and hosted by Shant Kerbabian, deals with human rights violations, regardless of any political affiliation and agenda. We stand by the oppressed people everywhere, so we aim at tackling their cases professionally from both humanitarian and legal perspectives. Our objective is to raise awareness and to speak out for those who have no voice
We were glad to host:
In our studio in Beirut: Rita Chemaly, Author and Researcher on Human Rights
Via Satellite from Beirut: Hussein Itany, Human Rights Activist and Advocacy Trainer”
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