Ok, so maybe I have a biased view of social networking since I don’t use Facebook, Twitter any other form of social media, but are these sites more trouble than they are worth?
Crime that is conducted via the internet is known as cybercrime (Marsh & Melville, 2009, pg 154).A type of cybercrime is Cyberbullying. Recently, there was a landmark ruling where the Victoria's Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal concluded that Allem Halkic’s death was caused by an act of violence and awarded his parents compensation (Fogarty, 2011). Allem who was just 17 years old, killed himself in 2009 after he was bullied on a social networking website. No amount of money will bring their son back, but at least people are starting to recognise that cyberbullying is a growing problem that needs to be prevented in order to protect children. It was a landmark case because cyberbullying is finally being recognised as an act of violence. It is not just suicide because someone else’s direct actions have caused another person’s death. People need to realise the seriousness of cyberbulling and its impacts on young people. Cyberbullying is not the same as traditional bullying in the playground. The internet has allowed people to anonymously inflict harm on one another. The effects are detrimental as teenagers all over the world are committing suicide over these hurtful comments. How many of these people who bully online would do so if the internet did not exist and it was not anonymous? Cyberbullying is surrounded by the idea of deindividualisation where people lose their sense of individual identity and engage in anti-social behaviour. They are less inhibited because they are less personally identifiable. People who bully online think they can get away with it because there is less chance of getting caught.
The new technologies created are not always beneficial. Yes, they enhance communication and allow people to keep in contact with friends around the globe, but deaths are also resulting because of them. Susan McLean, the director of Cyber Safety Solutions, said studies showed that between 15-30 per cent of young people have been bullied online (Fogarty, 2011). This figure is too high. Even though schools are educating children about cyberbullying, there needs to be more done to help young people so they feel like they can talk to others about being bullied because they cannot handle it on their own.
Cybercrime only exists because of the internet and therefore cyberbullying only exists because of the internet. I often wonder what life would be like without the internet. Would it be better or worse? Personally, I depend on it way too much. There is only the small minority (I hope) that choose to abuse the internet for serious crimes such as cyberbullying and it is those people who deserve to live without life’s luxuries.
References:
Fogarty, D. (2011). Tribunal find cyberbullying is violence, 30 May 2011, Sydney Morning Herald
Marsh, I & Melville, G. (2009). Crime, justice and the media, Routledge, USA
Some more context to your early example would have been good ie what is the relationship between Halkic and cyberbullying? Can you elaborate? Does this issue relate to any of the materials discussed in class?
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