Words Are Like Loaded Guns: Cyberbullying



The Philippines is one of the early adopters of blogging and social media, though relatively with smaller internet population compared w/ it’s ASEAN neighbours,  PH was recognised as the social media capital and home to at least one of the selfie capitals of the world. (H/T www.cyberbullying.ph)

I believe there are actual occurrence of cyber bullying but remain unreported. It is a threat to our kids BUT unrecognized and unaddressed. The following factors are contributory:

The victim will keep the experience/problem to themselves  because parents may not be able to relate.
The family of the victim would prefer to keep quiet, sharing their story is like rubbing salt to the wound and it can make two families at odds with each other [if perpetuator is identified].
The school don’t recognize this yet as a problem, thus, there are no policy and process to handle this.
The school assume that the parents are taking care of cyber wellness education [base on my experience, the parents are equally clueless as the schools were] and vice-versa
Most of the school’s curriculum and extra curricular activities are not relevant to the rapidly changing technological environment where kids are growing.

Here are my proactive suggestions [as shared in this blog time and again] until an anti cyber bullying law is passed. Preventive is better than cure as they say.

Incorporate online GMRC in the curriculum.
Inculcate respect and cooperation rather than competition on the school’s culture thru various intervention.
Instead of blocking internet access in school, keep it open so you can log student’s online activity
Roll-out a cyber wellness program for parents-teachers, nannies and students.
For public schools, partner with internet cafe’s so student online researches will be endorsed to them. In return, the parents and school can check the online log of the kids.
For LGUs, pass an ordinance requiring internet cafe operators to
Provide poster size warning of online threats
Provide poster size safety tips
Provide poster size warning of cyber bullying
Serve only age appropriate online games.
Keep yourself updated with different anti-cyber bullying tools.

Can you think of other ways to raise awareness on cyber bullying and how to prevent this?