#Burnsteem25 || Steemit Engagement Challenge S4-W1 | My view on Cyber Bullying - by @lhorgic

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Hello friends and famz in this communinty, although it's my first time of visiting this community, the fact is,there is always a first time to everything in life and I already feel at home here. Yes! am super happy to be here,I also believe am very much welcome here.

Having gone through the contest topic,I decided to contribute my quota via this entry. I hope you all find it Interesting.

Lest I forget,I will like to invite my very good friends @olabillions @ruthjoe @josepha @yakpeace to come check out this amazing contest

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What is your understanding on Cyber bullying?

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Cyber has to do with anything that involves activities online which includes internet interaction or communication. The internet has really being a huge blessing no doubt,we can all attest to this fact.

But it quite unfortunate that many now use it as a tool to take advantage and pick on people. This is where the concept of bully comes in. Many are victims of these activities online and have suffered greatly from it.

There are so many context to this this subject,"Cyber bully" as they can be seen as coward who want to perpetrate malicious act but hide behind their computer, concealing their identity to pick on people.

They can also be seen from the stand point of some persons who use their technical know-how and understand of how the internet work to bully people. Many are in the cyber space today but don't really have profound knowledge on how to operate here nor co - exist with these people.

These so called cyber bully ride on the wings of people ignorance to exploit them. The truth is they always have a leverage on people they successfully bully and get away with.

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Have you ever been a victim or perpetrator of Cyber bullying?

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Well to the best of my knowledge I've not been bullied before. I believe it's because I am always very careful when it come to my online activities. I know there are many good and bad actors in this space. The bad actors are there for their selfish Interest and will do anything to get it at the detriment of others.

I don't joke with security when it comes to online activities. I try as much to avoid links am not familiar with and ignore spam comment or invitations of all kind.

I believe the reason why many click on links that they don't trust is because of the bait which is always in form of incentives. This bait work more often than not, people get caught up and then suffer in the hands of this people. We see all those kind of links and posts on social media.

We need to be very careful of this bait,these bully like I mentioned earlier knows better than whoever falls into their trap through their bait and you have to be equipped with knowledge to outsmart them.

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Give an instance (if any) wherein you or someone you know felt bullied in cyberspace, and what spiked such a feeling. (It could be throughout any social platform)

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Yea I know of a friend, a very good one at that whose social media account was highjacked. It was a very unpleasant moment. He didn't even know it had been penetrated until some friends including myself started contacting to know if he still has control over his account.

It was obvious the person behind the account wasn't communicating like him. The person was sending direct messages to all his contact telling them about one money (doubling and trippling) scheme he was into and would want us to benefit from.

I think I need to mention that not all bullies are directly after your money or asset. They could as well use you as a bait to get others. That was what they did in my friends case. They wanted to use his personality and integrity to pick on his friends and follower.

As far as I know, we we ended up not retrieving that social media account. Maybe now, he might have resolved it but one thing am sure of is that he opened another account and contacted all his friends about the highjacked account.

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How did this encounter affect this said person?

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My answer to this question won't be any different from the answer you will get from any psycological being who also has blood running through his or her vein. The effect was negative.

He felt really bad about it. It was an account he has been using for a very long time. It funny how these guys target accounts that has existed for long (at least from 5 years above) for their malicious acts.

He moved on because we couldn't keep crying over a spilt milk. He just couldn't recover it as at the time I followed up. Things might be different now because knowledge they say is power he might have researched on how to get back such account.

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*How safe do you feel on Steemit? And have you ever felt bullied at any point in time? (on Steemit)

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Percentage is always measured with 100 but with steemit I would say I feel safe and secured here 200% which means am double sure of what am saying.

I could remember months ago while signing up here, I was given useful tips on how to live here...(lols). Yea, steemit is like my second house or should I say virtual house where you can always reach me.

So one of the useful tips given to me was to keep my Keys very safe. Infact keeping it outside my device so that it doesn't get tampered with. I was also told to avoid links that could jeopardize my account.

The truth about this stared at me in the face when I personally witnessed some highjacked account myself on the platform. These were people who got caught in the bait anyways. I hope you've not forgetting the bait I talked about...the incentives

I was new then but this confirmed the lecture we were given about security on the platform. If you don't share your keys with anyone,no on will gain access to your account neither will your account be tampered with if you avoid any link that promises you heaven and earth even Jesus didn't succumb to this, who do I then take after with my selfish act...lols

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What lessons did you gain from such a scenario? And what advice can you give to your audience?

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I learnt that security is everyone's business. You have to be security conscious online and offline. We should avoid being carefree about our activities as it relates to the cyber space.

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My advice.

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Arm yourself with relevant knowledge and information. This will go a long way in protecting you from these bullies. They only thrive on your ignorance. That is the leverage they have over you

If you have active social media account do well to enable the "authentication" feature that make it difficult for them to just badge in and do whatever with your account.

You should also try as much as possible to avoid links whose source you ain't sure of. They could harm you. Look out for bait that sounds or looks too good to be true. They could just be another bait.

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Conclusion

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Cyber Bullies could be called cowards but don't underestimate them. They could do you damage that will take a very long time to recover from. Get relevant knowledge to be ahead.

I want to believe you have learnt a whole lot form this write up. Do comment,upvote and resteem if you got value. Thanks got your time.

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Regards:
@lhorgic♥️

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