Cyber bullying in the Corona era

 Friday, June 18, marked the International Day Against Violence and Cyber Bullying, namely Stop Cyber bullying Day, which was endorsed by the United Nations in 2012. 

According to the website page of this international day, 60 per cent of Internet users have been exposed, in one way or another, to acts as well as signs of bullying, exploitation or harassment. Therefore we must act, as the website page says, to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to deal with modern technologies, to be able to be educated, as well as to communicate with others and express oneself confidently and without fear. The website page gives important percentages, namely that 59 per cent of the world population uses the Internet, that 60 per cent of internet users have been exposed in one way or another to acts of bullying, harassment and abuse, and that 51 per cent of the world population are active users of social media networking sites.

The question arising two years after the emergence of the global pandemic is that: Has the percentage of cyber bullying declined or multiplied? UNICEF has made a straightforward answer stating that cyber bullying aimed at children has multiplied by about 64 per cent during the corona pandemic. This is quite comprehensible yet not acceptable, since during lockdown periods people relied on technology and social networking sites to simultaneously ridicule on and bully others. Several (prejudices have been associated with infected people at the outset of the pandemic or have been aimed at officials who were at the forefront of media particularly in its early months.

A few days ago, I was honored to participate with “the Opinions without Borders Center for Sustainable Development” in Jerash in launching the center’s study on cyber bullying towards people infected with Corona virus in Jordan. The study regrettably included several manifestations of bullying in several circles in our society towards those infected in the first months of the spread the pandemic.

Thus, the Corona pandemic has generated another global pandemic, namely the proliferation of cyber bullying, which is represented in the misuse of social media networking sites to assassinate personalities, to exploit children, to tamper with people’s emotions. Its consequences, of course, include instilling fear, anxiety, and insomnia towards the bullied person. There is need to put in place new legislations to protect human dignity, to preserve one’s personality, and not to shake one’s self-confidence in relationship with oneself and with others, especially with one’s family, children and co-workers.

I remember that an official who was subjected to electronic bullying following a media statement attributed to him last year, which led him to losing his position. He said: “I am ashamed to look in the eyes of my children.” So why do we drive any person to this situation by being exposed to shame in front of children? Are we not all in one boat while challenged by waves and storms? Why then resorting to bullying and why resorting to the media networking sites to turn them into a  source of destruction rather than being a servant to human dignity?

Finally, we reiterate our call to any person who presses the button for a new tweet saying: Dear tweeter, before you tweet think a little. Is what you want to publish correct? Is it necessary? Is it useful? Is it inspiring and nice? In short, does it reflect truth and love? And is it free from the venoms of bullying with its two facts, namely the physical and the electronic?

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