Cyberbullying… a problem getting out of hand

Cyberbullying | Wepurify

Social media comes with many useful benefits. But it has some disadvantages, such as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is using social media or electronic communication to bully someone. Intimidating people or degrading someone’s self-esteem down. People would do anything to make people feel intimidated. People have gone to the point of emailing people to threaten them. When they do get caught they never intended any ‘harm’.

Body Shaming

Body image is affecting the social media users. They want to meet the beauty standard. If you do not have the perfect features or body type, then you are not part of the ‘cool kids’ and will be oppressed to get the perfect features or body type. Rigth now the new trend is BBL, brazilian butt lift. Using cosmetic surgery to get the figure eigth body shape. Social media is promoting that trend through models and fashion. According to dosomething.org, they stated that females are more likely than boys to become victims of cyberbullying. I believe girlls are more vulnebral than boys and like to please people. If society wants them to be a certain, they are most likely to adjust to please society.

Dosomething.org | Cyberbullying

Effects of Cyberbullying

Mental health is a big issue. Depression and anxiety can occur. When someone is bringing down their self-esteem, they will feel sad. The sadness may prolong and turn into depression. They will be afraid to go out or have doubts about almost everything they do. According to the Verywellfamily organization, they stated that in a study about 93% of victims reported they do feel depressed. Self-harm can occur, and cyberbullying can go far to the point that they could ask themselves to harm themselves or even commit suicide. Academic issues can happen as well, you tend to see their grades dropping because they have problems with people online bullying them. These are the effects of cyberbullying on social media, but there are ways to deal with it.

Four ways to deal with cyberbullying

1. Avoid posting private stuff: On social media, you are allowed to post anything you want, but it is best to avoid posting personal things. On social media, people can say anything they want to say even if it is nasty.
   
2. Avoid certain topics: Avoiding sensitive topics will help you avoid the harsh people on the internet. You can state your opinion on social media, but many people are not open-minded. If they do not like your opinion they would have a negative reaction, which can end up badly.
   
3. Report and block: If someone keeps harassing you or others, you can report them to Instagram and block them. One update Instagram made is you can block them and all their unknown accounts with one button.
   
4. Turn off the phone and take a break: If you are being bullied on social media constantly, you can turn off the phone and take a break from social media. Refresh your mental health and protect your energy. Social media can drain your energy.

Effects of Cyberbullying | Social Media Victims Law Center

Cyberbullying someone is harrasing online, many people say different thing about celebrities being bullied. The question is do celebrities get cyberbullied?

Are They Spying?

There are many conspiracies about people watching, is it the government or the people in the “running the world” or the Illuminati. In my opinion, I do not think the government is watching everyone. Canada has a population of about 38 million. The government has bigger issues than watching the people. The FBI might be using tools and devices to watch criminals, but not the whole population. So who is spying?

The Spies

The real spies are social media apps. If you read through the Terms and Conditions of some companies, you will notice that if you sign up they will have permission to look at your personal information. Recently, Whatsapp has stated in their policy that they will use information obtained from their customers. Since Whatsapp is under Facebook/Meta, they will have to follow their policy as well. Some companies may lie about not spying but they are spying. Facebook got caught selling people’s personal information. They had to go through a court process, in 2019.

Stalkerware: The software that spies on your partner | BBC

Facebook spying?

Facebook was accused of conducting mass surveillance through its apps, according to Guardian.com Article. Facebook owns about 91 social media apps, such as Instagram, Whatsapp, and LightBox.com. I can tell through the ads. When you speak about a product and you see multiple ads on the product. It can become very annoying, but there are ways to reduce spying.

Facebook accused of conducting mass surveillance through its apps | Guardian Article

How to control the spying

1. VPN

VPN, meaning Virtual Private Network. It protects you from hackers or spies. It will protect your location by changing the location name. You might be living in Canada, but it says you are in Mexico. It might be expensive, but you can survive on free trials.

2. Manage your Cookies

Many people accept Cookies but do not know what they do. A cookie is like a reminder for your browser. When you search for something, it will remember what you searched up. This also applies to websites as well. You searched up a website once, and you keep seeing ads for the website you searched up. You can go to your settings in your browser and manipulate it, to reduce the spying.

3. Anti-Malware

Anti-Malware is software that protects your computer from viruses. People could put a virus on your computer that can help them extract personal information from you.

Source: PUREVPN

The question is, are they using our information for good or bad?

TIKTOK… THE NEW ADDICTION

From Musical.ly to TikTok. TikTok is a digital platform that is shares videos for people to view and watch. It is a way to express yourself. The app is mainly used for dancing videos. I have said I will never download TikTok or become a tiktoker. I have to admit I lied to myself. The pandemic made me do it. People kept pestering me to get TikTok. After I downloaded it, I noticed had an account. I found out I was a TikToker by accident. I found my old Musical.ly videos when I was in middle school. EMBARRASSING. After scrolling through videos I became addicted to it. I just kept scrolling and scrolling. This was a sign of Social Media Addiction and many people are affected by it.

What is Social Media Addiction?

Social media addiction can be compared to any addiction such as drug or alcohol addiction. Social media addiction is when the victim is dependent on social media, it becomes a weakness. Usually, people with this addiction has a ‘FOMO’, Fear Of Missing Out. Is a type of anxiety that makes them feel excluded on the new trends. The addiction can be bad to the point you struggle with online vs. reality. But there are ways to defeat Social Media addiction.

Here are 5 ways to overcome Social Media Addiction:

1. Put your phone on Do not Disturb (DND): this has helped me a lot. After I become productive I tend to forget about my phone being on DND.
2. Remove your phone from your morning schedule: Make sure your phone is not close to you when you wake up. Make sure it is where you cannot reach it from your bed. This way it is easier for you not to scroll on your phone while on bed.
3. Find other ways to entertain yourself: There are other ways to entertain yourself, such as reading a book or working on a puzzle. You can also find a new skill while you are entertaining yourself.
4. Do not worry about your social media presence: Many people tend to worry about what they will post or what their caption will be.
5. Detox yourself from Social Media: Completely, boycotting social media and focusing on yourself. I tend to have these once in a while. It is nice, but sometimes they do not last long for me. I plan on doing it for at least 2 weeks.

Have you ever become addicted to Social Media? Let me know in the comment section below…

References:

https://www.familyaddictionspecialist.com/blog/is-my-daughter-addicted-to-tiktok-signs-of-digital-addiction-and-methods-of-treatment

6 Ways To Beat Social Media Addiction

Copyrigh Claims issues? Here are 2 solutions….

Social media can be used for entertaining, known as content creating. There are multiple platforms used for content. It has been scientifically proven that humans tend to understand more with graphics such as pictures or videos. It takes more time to process a paragraph than a video. Content creating has been around for a long. The problem is getting a copyright claim for using a sound, picture or sound you do not own. Usually, you have to get permission from everyone who owns the content. It could be multiple people owning it. You can’t ask 15 people to use their project. Some might say yes, some might say no. How do we fix that? I suggest using this 3 software that won’t get you in trouble.

Pexels has free photos and videos, mainly used for a Pinterest feed or an aesthetically pleasing social media page. I personally have not tried Pexels. This is a great tool for a free copyright claim because I am always looking for a stock-free image. Looking for an image without getting in trouble. There have been a couple times where the social media page I was handling was in dangered of being removed. But when I do find an image it usually has a watermark or the quality is not so great. With Pexels I can find the image I am looking for with high quality.

PEXELS https://www.pexels.com/

Another tool for copyright issues is Canva. Canva is free editing software. You can do almost everything on it. I use Canva for everything. I use it for TikToks, Instagram pages and photography portfolios. It is free but it has some limited features. It is limited due to copyright, the free versions are free to use and no problems with it. The ones that are not free have to be bought to avoid copyright claims.

CANVA https://www.canva.com/

Getting a copyright warning can be discouraging. This 3 editing software are beginner-friendly and free problem-free. Enjoy this easy-to-use and copyright claim-free software.