NewsWrap: Cyber-bullying remains a concern

Social media can be a nasty place, and cyber-bullying, even unbeknown to those doing it, can lead to words of hurt toward victims. The latest now is that people are wanting to be first in the comment section, no matter the cost. This has resulted in a hoard of negative and somewhat hurtful comments on social media posts. For example former Miss South Africa Liesl Laurie Mthombeni has hit out on Instagram expressing her frustration with people who are persistently commenting on her body and those who want to be seen for outing people first. She said in a post that this culture of wanting to be seen or wanting to be first needs to stop. It comes after some nasty comments surfaced on her socials around her recent slight weight gain. Some commentators on the socials said they speculated that the former Miss South Africa was pregnant. She however lashed out saying that people should mind their own business and that she admits to having picked up a few kilos but people should think before they type and if they don’t have anything nice to say then they should remain silent

Now Cyber-bullying remains a concern in South Africa as the country has been coined as the world’s most internet addicted country. Previous stats had revealed that 51,5 percent of children had been cyberbullied while 54percent of children were able to access inappropriate content via digital platforms. Experts are urging parents to constantly check in on their children’s and their teens digital activity to ensure they are safe as reports have suggested that there has been an uptick in suicide due to cyberbullying amongst the youth.

Meanwhile….

The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) says it condemns the repeated targeting of female journalists on social media platforms. Women in media, politics and any public facing profession are most at risk with 49% of women journalists experiencing some form of online abuse through hateful language at some point in their career. SANEF says that the state of cyberbullying in South Africa is alarming with female journalists having to be moved because of threats.

And finally int.

Mobile phones are currently banned in all Australian state schools and this is a trend which is occurring in several other countries as well. There its pros and cons to outright banning phones at school, with countries like Canada quickly allowing for phones in the classroom again while New York City revoked its bans saying its too hard to implement. However four studies reported a small reduction in bullying in schools following phone bans, especially amongst older learners. However, the studies did not specify whether or not they were talking about cyberbullying.