Burcu shared this video on Facebook. It’s a video of a YouTuber. I ❤ watching beauty Youtubers. If you have ever read my blog, you probably know that whilst I am a workaholic teacher, I do enjoy watching my beauty YouTubers talk about lifestyle, makeup, food etc. I even blog about it from time to time cause I am a wannabe fashionista. But this video was different.
The video, which is the focus of today’s post, is about looks and mean comments. It’s about (cyber-)bullying and loving yourself. I am going to focus on the bullying. By cyber-bullying I mean, hiding behind a fake (or real) internet name and being mean to someone you do not know. I really, really don’t get that. I mean, do people look themselves in the mirror before that start vomiting hate messages? Since when is cyber-bullying or any type of bullying kinda ….OK? It just seems to be going on and on. When does it stop? How does it stop? What are we, as teachers, doing to stop people from being mean?
Back in the Flintstones’ days, when I was a kid, back in Sydney, I was called four eyes cause I wore/ wear glasses. That hurt. But it wasn’t plastered all over the internet. No Facebook, no YouTube, no ‘likes’.
Today, social media have taken bullying to a whole new level.
I don’t have children, I only have students, which I call my kids. They tell me stories about their ‘friends’ (online/offline-people they know and people they don’t know) and my kids make fun of them, they laugh. They say they post hurtful messages on social media cause, “Well, just for a laugh, Miss” They think it’s hilarious! I have actually told a couple of my kids off for being so hurtful on social media. I have actually called a parent out of concern.
Since when did hurting someone become funny? Seriously, where does all the hate come from? How can it end, and what can we as teachers do about it? Is the fact that our ‘kids’ are becoming so used to ‘impersonal’ communication why this is happening? Why are our kids becoming bullies? Why are we victims of cyber-bullying? I don’t know. I have no answers. Just a bunch of questions.
My next question is, how do you cope and learn to love yourself when you are made to feel like you are a nobody and this becomes viral? How does the bully learn to become more sensitive?
Once again. No answers guys, just a concerned ramble…..
Take a minute and watch the video
This video is taken from the YouTube channel My Pale Skin
Till next time……
My Elt Rambles 
It’s hard one to deal with. These people are probably in a lot of pain and have not found a way to integrate it and so lash out. They’re probably being or have been bullied at some point too. It doesn’t make what they do ok, but if on some level some understanding was felt and less attention paid to the bullying and more to the bully in that person., then maybe on a level of consciousness thing might begin to shift.
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Hi Tanya,
I think that everyone has been a victim of some type of bullying more or less, so we probably all know what it feels like. Understanding why someone is bullying is very important. The problem with social media is that you don’t really know who is behind the screen. The thing that worries me the most as a teacher is that I have witnessed some of my students be bullied and then bullying. It’s a cycle. Do you know that there is page called ask where young people go and very often tell each other off?
I really feel I need to look into this a bit more.
Thanks for leaving a comment.
Joanna
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Well, hate has always been here; only the way in which it’s disseminated has changed dramatically. Bullying is humiliating but when it goes viral, it can be devastating. You ask good questions because they make us teachers think of ways of changing this situation. We will probably never be able to eradicate hate completely, but in the meantime, we can be there for those who need it. Also, we can share stories like this and discuss them with students to make them aware of all the pain that is caused by bullying.
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Hi Hana!!While I do love all the possibilities and benefits of technology and social media, I do think that it is making some people a bit insensitive. Some people think that they are talking to a computer not a person. I think next year (school year) I am going to address this problem with more force. I think that maybe we need to go beyond language learning……
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Hi Joanna,
Once again an interesting post. It’s something that is important to highlight as there are sometimes consequences to face. This article gives one example. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/19059088/police-arrest-teenager-over-tom-daley-twitter-message.
When you post on the internet it doesn’t belong to you any more, but you are still held accountable for what you post.
It can be hard for teenagers to realise that what they post can go far beyond their circle of friends.
T
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Hi T., Thanks for the link.I think that this year I am going to try to raise more awareness. It is necessary! Joanna
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