The newstory that I found was "Bullying of teachers' increasing in Northern Ireland'." This news is about cyber-bullying of teachers in Northern Ireland. There was a worrying trend of teacher bullying in NI. "Teachers also risk being recorded or photographed on mobile phones carried by pupils into classrooms." First of all, we need to clarify the definition of Cyber-bullying. It is the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others. According to National Crime Prevention Council of the USA, cyber-bullying has been defined as “when the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person”.
People can be simply to send e-mail to someone by saying things that make the victims feel uncomfortable. Moreover, cyber-bullies may disclose victims’ personal data at websites or forums, like what the members of golden forum in HK often do. There are two notable overseas cases, first is Ryan Halligan, who was committed suicide in Vermont after repeatedly bullied by his classmates and being sent messages accusing him of being gay. The second one is Magan Meier, who was committed suicide after bring bullied on MySpace by one of her friends’ mother, and a neighbor.
It is very true that the cyber-bullying is a serious problem, which may have psychological effect of the victims. This is different from the physical bullying, but the effects may be as far as what we imagine. Some researches had demonstrated a number of serious consequences of cyber-bullying victimization. For example, victims have lower self-esteem, increased suicidal ideation, and a variety of emotional responses, retaliating, being scared, frustrated, angry, and depressed. One of the most damaging effects is that a victim begins to avoid friends and activities. But when facing these kinds of cases, how to balance the freedom of speech and cyber-bullying?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13005767
No comments:
Post a Comment