A recent news report has come out showing the increased number of students that are being victimised in cyberbullying through private group chats on Instagram and Snapchat. Videos of them being beaten up are being shared with other children.
These platforms allow children to make group chats to supposedly make socialising with other children, easier, but instead they’re being misused to humiliate victims to an even larger extent.
One Canberra mum described that she has been seeing “an emerging trend of high school students attacking one another for the sake of filming and sharing the violence on social media platforms.”
She also mentioned that her son was able to walk away from an attack, physically unharmed but mentally traumatised, because it came with the added insult of knowing some of his peers were sharing, liking and enjoying the video long after the incident itself.
This form of bullying is then being turned into a form of cyber bullying as the videos are receiving numerous likes and comments from other children supporting or finding the bullying amusing and entertaining. This form of cyber bullying all begins with the physical and verbal violence but then
results in the victim and their family feeling the impact even more.
Children, young teenagers especially, need to become better educated on the impact that their actions on the internet can have on the victims and their family. The people that are involved in these groups and pages are gaining a following which is providing them with a motive for the unacceptable behaviour to continue without even considering the trauma it’s causing the victim.
We need to encourage our children to always be open and talk to a trusted adult about these type things that go on because they need to understand that it is not ok to be a part of.
By learning karate or martial arts this would provide the students with the capability to defend themselves if ever involved in these type of situations. At AKKA Martial Arts we build on our students self confidence and perseverance in case bullying incidents like these or of any kind happen to them. We hope that this would then allow them to have the strength (mentally and physically) and ability to stand up to the bully and then speak to a trusted adult about it afterwards.
AKKA Martial Arts is also a member of Martial Arts Against Bullying and our training locations are a Bullying Free zone! The classes provide students with an escape mentally from the social and peer pressures around them and provide a safe, secure and confidence building environment
Written by Emma S
