Cyberbullying in India : A 21st Century Phenomenon

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With the growth of social media platforms, the world has been witnessing a rapid increase in cyberbullying. It can include psychological, social and even physical harm. Cyberbullying refers to bullying that takes place through social media and platforms or through electronic ways. Read on to know more.

“Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.” -Benjamin Disraeli

People tend to cyberbully others through abusive texts, emails, hurtful messages, images or videos, imitating others online through nasty comments and conversations. bullying is no longer a problem that is isolated to the playgrounds, hallways and lunch rooms of schools. Advancement of technologies have led to harassment through cell phones, social media websites and other online means. This leads to an increase in suicides and hence makes the situation alarming. 

Cyberbullying and teens

With the technological advancements and teens getting engrossed in social life in the 21st century, Cyberbullying has found a new way to flourish its negativity. Teen cyberbullying generally takes place between two or more teens or involves an individual who is a teenager. In such a case, the teen is harassed or sent abusive texts or vulgar pictures through social media accounts either from another teen or an elderly person, which may or may not involve any reason in particular. With the rise of image-oriented apps like Snapchat and Instagram this type of bullying has become common. Social media cyberbullying is most prevalent on Instagram (42%), followed by Facebook (37%) and Snapchat (31%).

Platforms where teen cyberbullying happens

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• Teen cyberbullies have been using social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and so on to shame and embarrass the teenagers by asking them hurtful questions and bullying them.
  
  
• Gaming forums or during online video game playing, where teens play gaming characters in multiplayer formats.
  
  
• Instant messages delivered via social media messaging features, smartphone apps, and other messaging services.
  
  
• There has been a growing trend of anonymous messaging apps and sites for example, Sarahah and AskFM. These websites and apps allow strangers to send messages and feedback without identifying the source. 
  
  
• Temporary messaging and picture apps like Telegram and Snapchat.
  
  
•  Emails, although this is less common since teens now see email as being somewhat old-fashioned.
  
  
• However, to combat this, some platforms have developed stricter policies and reporting platforms. For example, on Instagram there is a page to report Instagram frauds with specific guidelines. Further, Snapchat has developed a Snapchat Safety Center which makes reporting any abuses on the platform faster and easier.

Laws against Cyberbullying in India

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• In India, there are no particular legislation where anti-cyberbullying acts and laws are written down. Yet, in the existing laws, there are various provisions to check the stop of cyberbullying in India.
  
  
• Chapter 11 of the Information Technology Amendment Act consists of offences. Though there is no clear definition of the offence of cyberbullying, the act provides remedies against the same under Section 66 and 67.
  
  
• Section 66A provides an opportunity to the genuine victims of cyber harassment to obtain immediate relief against content that may be insulting or injurious in nature.
  
  
• Section 66C deals with identity theft.
  
  
• Section 66D deals with Cheating by personation by using the computer resource. Section 66E that    deals with Violation of privacy. Section 67B that deals with Punishment for publishing or transmitting of material depicting children in any sexually explicit act, etc. in electronic form.
  
  
• Section 72 that deals with Breach of confidentiality and privacy Section 354C, a cyberbully can be punished for taking pictures and can be held liable under this section along with other sections if he transmits or publishes the same.

Ways to Cut down Cyberbullying

• Know about cyberbullying: In order to stop cyberbullying one must be aware of what cyberbullying is. Research what constitutes cyberbullying, how and where it occurs, and talk with your friends about what they are seeing and experiencing.
  
  
• Protect your password: Safeguard your password and all private information from inquisitive peers. Bullies should not be given the opportunity to post false or private or embarrassing information or any pictures on social media platforms.
  
  
• Think before posting: If you are posting a picture or any information, be sure if you actually want to post it. Think wisely, if that particular post can make your life miserable or disturbing if falls under the hands of bullies.
  
  
• Raise awareness: Bring awareness to cyberbullying whether it be through a movement, a club an event or campaign. Knowledge is power.
  
  
• Set up your privacy: Control who are the ones who can actually check or look up to your posts. Restrict your audience.
  
  
• Search yourself: Once in a while search for your name on all major search engines and look if your personal information appears. If you find something that cyberbullies, can you to target you, take action and remove it.
  
  
• Don’t open spam messages: Delete all messages without reading them if you suspect a spam. These messages can contain viruses and it may infect your computer. The same goes for  messages from known bullies. It is best to not engage and ignore them.
  
  
• Don't be a cyberbully: remember the phrase your parents instilled in you as a kid "treat other as you want to be treated".
  
  
• Keep yourself logged out: Log out of your accounts on public computers. Do not give cyberbullies the slightest chance to threat your privacy. Logging out of your accounts would stop the bullies from accessing your account.

Anti-Cyberbullying Apps

Courtesy: Mobicip, NearParent, and My Mobile Watch Dog

1. Mobicip

Mobicip includes a wide array of parental controls, including category blocking, time limits, Internet activity reports, blocked phrases, and YouTube filtering. There are three restriction levels: The elementary school level blocks social networking, gaming, shopping, entertainment, clothing, and news content. The middle school level blocks

online shopping, gambling, dating, liquor, and chat sites. The high school level blocks adult, sexual, weapons, violence, proxy, virus, and hacking sites.

2. Near Parent

NearParent allows families to build a trusted network of adults who can assist children when they are in need. The app has three views -- "kid's," "alert," and "helper's."

3. GoGoStat's Parental Guidance

This app lets you see posts from your kids containing drug references and vulgarities, know when they post photos and profile details that should not be public, and check when they add new friends that are out of a predetermined age or geographic range.

4. My Mobile Watchdog

Get alerts on your mobile phone and computer that include updates about questionable texts, photos, videos, and unauthorized phone numbers. A master contact list for mobile phone can be created by the parents which only they can access, add and make changes. 

 Author:

Rupa Jana