Bullies have been around forever.
But the advent of the internet changed what bullying means to many people, especially young people.
Social media is the change-maker here, and not in a good way. Everyone in our newsroom is of an age that we didn’t grow up with the internet. It literally didn’t exist for us. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no Snapchat, no Instagram. When you left school for the day, you were no longer in touch with your fellow students, unless you picked up the telephone (maybe even a rotary dial one!). There were no chat rooms, no texting, no instant messages.
Bullying has never been pleasant, but people used to, in this way, at least be able to largely leave it at school when they left. That reprieve no longer exists. Traditional bullying has given way to cyberbullying. With cyberbullying, a victim often can’t escape, even at home. There have been well-known cases where changing schools or even communities didn’t free victims from their bullies, as social media can be used to track down and continue to torment well after the person is physically out of range. It’s even possible for bullies to victimize people they’ve never met, from far-off places (I find this bizarre).
There’s a sense of anonymity online that makes people feel sheltered behind their screen. They will say and do things online they would maybe not do otherwise. Computers, for all of the great things they’ve brought to our lives, make it really easy to cause harm. It’s just a click of a button or a few keys. You don’t see the immediate result. But for those on the other end it can be something that affects them for life.
A pack mentality also seems to develop all too easily on social media. Bullying by one or two people can quickly turn into dozens or even hundreds or thousands of mostly strangers piling on. Many do not think before putting in their two cents.
As we prepared the section for Pink Shirt Day, I told my colleagues that I’m really glad the internet didn’t exist when I was a kid. Navigating the social scene was hard enough without hate posts, photo sharing and sexting.
We see daily how adults behave online on our website comments and Facebook and Twitter. While we love the discussion that happens there, sometimes, I’m appalled. These are folks who presumably have more of a filter than generation now who practically grew up with a smart phone in their hands and a seemingly totally different view of privacy.
But just as the internet can be used to spread negativity, like bullying, it can also be used to spread acceptance and love. And that’s what we should be teaching the next generation.