Steemit Engagement Challenge S4-W1 | My view on Cyber Bullying - by @temitopef

Cyberbullying can be seen to be the combination of two different words that is it is formed from two words. To have a better understanding of the two, I will be explaining the two words one after the other.

Cyber can be defined as information technology that can only be done virtually through a computer, mobile phone, television, and so on while Bullying can simply be called harassment, it's an act of threatening, insulting, harming, intimidating, passing round rumor or abusing another person to render them weak, fearful and vulnerable.

With these two being said I can now explain the meaning of cyberbullying as the form of harassment being done virtually with the use of technology devices such as computers and mobile phones. The harassment can be in form of insult, threat, hacking of another person's account, and defrauding them or people around them while posing to be the owner of the account.

There are many factors influencing cyberbullying and I have categorized them into three which are:

Personal Trait: Personal trait include age, social behavior, empathy level, and the rate at which the internet is being used. Bullies lacks the etiquette of leaving peacefully with humans or maybe their upbringing was bad or not enough which makes their background a bad one. Most of them started using the internet as a kid so that they can not allow another person to outshine or be a threat to them rather they become the threat.

Family Issue: Most of these cyber bullies or perpetrators resolve into becoming like this to show a facade that they are strong because they lack parental love and support, lack of this love makes them to be aggressive toward others to hide their problem and emotion.

Digital Citizenship: This is when someone is threatened because of his/her race or country. We all understand racism and how people are being treated harshly and unfairly because they belong to different race and their skin color. Even though there was an awareness that condemns and speaks against racism but we cannot accept that even though it was reduced, there are still people suffering from it, whether online or in real life.

Research made it known that most of this cyberbullying is done because the perpetrator wants revenge, while some said perpetrators bully when they are bored and need someone to pick on and frustrate to overcome their boredom. Furthermore, bullies believe in supremacy and they don't anyone else to do better than them so they use their bully nature to bring people down to discouragement or depression.

The effect of cyberbullying on the victim is low self-esteem, depression, distress, phobia, loneliness, and suicidal behavior.

No, I have not been a victim of cyberbullying, and also I have never and can never be a perpetrator of cyberbullying. I have always been on my own and I don't talk much on a group page because I don't like being a center of attraction, also I do opt out of any group page that contains people that are aggressive with their words and doing.

The experience I'm going to talk about happened to a lady of my age whose mother's shop was beside my mom's own then. She gained admission to study at a polytechnic and there she met a guy that asked her out but she turned the guy down.

One day, the guy invited her to a party and she was convinced to take an alcoholic drink not knowing the drink was spiked, the next day she met herself in a room alone, she quickly checked herself and she was relieved when she realized they didn't take advantage of her, she thought they only helped her cos she was drunk.

A week later, someone opened a new Facebook account in her name, sent a friend request to all her Facebook friends on her real account, and after a day sent a series of nude pictures on that new account. The incident was a saddening one for her.

The incident affected her so much that she couldn't step out of her hostel, many people were disappointed in her and criticized her, and she was suspended from school and was only able to come back to our town at night because of fear and shame.

The incident cost her her education because she did not go back to school. She was depressed and tried to harm and kill herself once before her family stopped her. She later died almost 2 years after the incident. It's a sad thing to know that 21 years old lady died of Hypertension and Diabetes.

I've always been safe on the Steemit platform and I have never for once been bullied on the platform. To me, I believe the Steemit platform is a social media that contains people with mature minds and high level of reasoning. Here we are all ready to learn from one another, make friends, and interact with one another with love.

Furthermore, foul words are not tolerated and we correct one another with maturity and also accept the correction with love. I have no record if any threat, bullying, or harassment since I started this journey on Steemit.

I learned a lot of lessons from the scenario and some of them I would be stating below.

You will only get to know your true friend when you are facing a problem. All her best friends did not stay with her, they left and criticized her.

Setting One's Priority and Avoiding Distraction: She came from a very religious family and she know she cannot go to such parties if she happens to be home but she forgot her upbringing and her purpose for being in school, she believed she was free from home rules and can do whatever that she like not knowing she would meet her doom in the process.

Family is Everything: The people she saw that encouraged and show her love during that time are her family. Though they were disappointed in her, they stood by her. They did almost everything for her to make her happy and come out of her depressed state.

My advice for my audience is divided into three parts, the cyberbullying victims, perpetrators, and people that have no personal experience of cyberbullying.

Cyber bullying victims should seek help, go for therapy, do what they love doing the best to avoid depression, and stay away from the internet for a while.

These people that bully other people all around should embrace love and tolerance for others and contribute to the manifestation of unity everywhere they find themselves, there is no joy in bringing sorrow to another person's life. Some wounds are inside and they don't heal, so don't bully.

Do not post all your personal information online because this is where cybercriminals usually see all the information needed to defraud the victim.

Watch your surrounding, and environment, and do not go to places where you are not comfortable.

Do not try to impress anyone by doing what you are not used to.

Lastly never forsake your family for anyone because in times of trouble it's only family that would stay.

Cyberbullying is a very sad experience that no one prays for. It leaves the victim in sorrow, and distress and also causes depression. It usually leaves the victim with scars that they would not forget for the rest of their lives. Some victims are lucky to overcome the pain and trauma while some shut themselves out of the world because they were not able to overcome it.

Steemit is a wonderful platform where one learns interesting and educational things daily. The bloggers on the Steemit platform are of good behaviour and people of high understanding, that's the reason we don't have cases of bullying. This is where I will be stopping at the moment, thank you for reading.

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