Internet use is increasing at an incredible rate. People of all ages are using the internet as it has improved our lives in different ways. With ball the advancements and the introduction of social media, it is unfortunate that there has been an increase in the number of cyber bullying cases. Cyber bullying is where technology is used to embarrass, humiliate and threaten other people.
There are different methods used when it comes to cyber bullying. You can discover more by having a look at this post.
- Harassment
There are different ways to harass someone over the internet. These include the following.
- Using messages to embarrass and threaten someone else.
- Using social media features meant to protect others to get victims in trouble and have them kicked off groups.
- Posting embarrassing information and rumors on social media.
- Text wars where a group of bullies attack one person with lots of messages.
- False impersonations
This is where someone poses as the victim and takes on their identity. They can use the victim’s identity in various ways including the following:
- Using the victim’s identity to share comments that are considered rude, racist and inappropriate.
- Stealing the identity of the victim and sending hurtful and insulting remarks to their contacts. This will anger the friends who will think the victim did it.
- Using the victim’s identity to post on sites used by child molesters, dating sites and hate groups. They are also known for cat-fishing where they pretend to be the victim to trick a person into dating them.
They usually provide the personal information of the victim to the chat rooms they visit and the victim is later contacted.
- Using photos
There are different ways photos can be used in cyber bullying.
- One can take nude and degrading photos of others without their consent. The bullies use the photos to blackmail the victiminto doing what they want.
- They can send the photos to other people and put them up on different sites making them accessible to anyone. The photos can be sent to sites that contain pornographic content and they can even give out the contact of the victim.
- They can also tease, shame and ridicule people by the way they dress. This is mostly used on women where they shame the girl based on her dating history and the way she dresses.
- Creating avenues to share information
Cyber bullying mainly involves sharing other people’s information that is often sensitive, embarrassing and degrading. For information to spread, there need to be a channel. Creating an avenue where lies and rumors concerning the victim are circulated is considered to be cyber bullying. Websites can be used to post and provide the information of the victim. They can also use any anonymous blog to insult and ridicule the victim.
Internet polls can also be used where the questions are used to embarrass the victim like making fun of their bodies and the clothes they wear. People vote on the poll which is meant to ridicule the victim.
They can also send viruses to the victim’s device so they can spy on the person and have remote access to their device.
- Video shaming
In the era of smartphones, everything can be recorded. Bullies can take videos of the victim being bullied and post it online.
They can also post embarrassing videos of the victim where others can watch and ridicule them. The video can be shared on various platforms like You Tube or mass emails.
They can also cyber-bait the victim. This is where they create a fake incident that affects the person then they record the reaction and post it to humiliate the victim.
Cyber bullying can affect the victim and others in different ways. It can even endanger the victim’s personal safety since their contact information is accessible to anyone. The victim can also get into danger with the law when their personal information is used to commit crimes. Everyone needs to be accountable when it comes to using the internet. While there are laws in place, it is often difficult to trace the bully especially when they use anonymous accounts and blogs. At the end of the day, it is up to us to be responsible when it comes to using the internet.
