Social media and online bullying

Social media is a great way to keep up to date with everything that is happening in the world, and to help us make new friends. It can be great for keeping in contact with people, and gives us the chance to see things from new perspectives. Though social media can also contribute to one of the worst parts of being online; cyber-bullying.

When we post online or comment on other posts, much of what we do can be anonymous. Though whether we choose to share our personal details on Twitter, Instagram, and so on or we use pen names, we can still be victim to bullying. Or be the bullies ourselves! When we feel like saying something unkind, or don't think before we speak, it is an entirely different experience saying those words face to face than over the internet. Face to face, most of us would pause and think, but online the impact of those words perhaps doesn't feel so strong to the bullies. Though to those being bullied, whether their real name or their pen name is used, the impact can be awful.

So what is cyber-bullying, really? It is the kind of bullying that uses digital technologies, including social media. Bullying can include spreading lies, sharing embarrassing photos, sending hurtful messages or messages encouraging someone to hurt themselves, and impersonating someone sending cruel messages in their name. This can happen to anyone online, child and adult alike.

The impact of bullying ranges, depending on the individuals involved. For some, it can be a physical thing like losing sleep, stomach ache, and headaches. For others, bullying can result in feeling upset, angry, embarrassed, and all sorts of other negative emotions. And in some cases continued bullying means a person will lose all interest in the things they once loved, as well as trust in those around them.

Social media is beginning to take cases of bullying seriously. On Facebook and Instagram, we can send anonymous reports, and on Twitter users are encouraged to report bullying accounts. Cyber-bullying can be a very lonely, frightening experience, and it can feel like these platforms are doing little to help. They aren't doing enough, but as awareness of cyber-bullying increases, hopefully our understanding of what it means to be bullied will as well.

Our online lives have become equally important to our offline ones, so when things like cyber-bullying happen, the answer isn't as easy as just walking away. The answer is that we work together, as members of the public choosing better ways to express our disagreements with strangers online, and social media platforms like Twitter doing all they can to make their spaces safe.