“Blowing out someone’s candle doesn’t make yours shine any better” - Anonymous
Cyberbullying; or better known as cyber harassment, is an action wherein one person is using the means of the social media platform to spread the hurtful words, actions and posts to its victim. It could be anybody: your classmate, teacher, friend, or even you. Everybody is susceptible to be involved in a potential case of cyberbullying. Either you are the bullied, or you can be the bully. No one is safe from this world of technology and advancement. There already exist different laws and movements today that all have the same goal: to end cyberbullying and punish the responsible in doing these crimes.
In every case of bullying, it doesn’t matter if it’s verbal, physical, or emotional, there are always two kinds of people when faced as a witness in this situation: someone who has the courage to stop the bullying and a bystander.
Out of those two people, which one are you? Are you that someone who has the ability to stop the impending bullying? Or are you that someone who can’t have the courage in their hearts and watch as one of their schoolmates or neighbors get bullied? Perhaps you spread the information about the rampant cases of bullying but can’t even bat an eye on the victim?
If you are the person being depicted on the second and third questions stated, then that means that you are against the act of bullying but you simply do not know what to do, but there is still a way in order for you to stop being a bystander and do big changes for your community, neighbor, and yourself.
Cyberbullying, along with the other kinds of bullying, yields into the same results: lowered self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and the worst of all, suicide. Being a bystander, it is not easy to contact or comfort the victims because their initial response would be to decline an offer of comfort and easiness because they want to be left alone. Being a friend of the victim and someone who is being held dear by them, the first thing to do is to let them know that you are there for them if they ever need some help. Over time, and the victim will slowly open up to you on what’s happening to him/her and that’s where you can come in and help them restore their former selves. The first is to comfort the victim and make them forget temporarily the malicious comments made to them in the internet. Always check on them and constantly remind them that if they panic and show any signs of overreaction, they are falling for the bully’s little mind games. Second, if the both of you want to stand up against the bully, breathe deeply and respond with intellect and calm tone when the bully commented on the victim’s posts. Lastly, if the act of bullying still persists, save screenshots of the hurtful comments and malicious messages and send them to the authorities for legal actions so that it can finally be stopped. The victim, after experiencing, bullying, will never be the same. He/she can have anxieties and depression from the comments and messages but as a friend, your role is to guide them and do not allow them to do unnecessary things that means harm to their well-being.
romaincrisis
areudirty
ellievsbear
dailybridgerton