Coronavirus isn’t the only thing to worry about as a minor boy got arrested in connection with the ‘Bois Locker Room’ case in India and students in UK universities were caught posting extreme pornography in online lectures this week. Young girls, women, parents and men alike have been alarmed to the core. How can innocence be lost so young? What is social media doing to amplify such cyber criminal behaviour?
Crux of the Matter
What is ‘Bois Locker Room’? It was an Instagram chat group in which teenage boys from prominent Delhi schools, shared obscene snapshots of girls. They discussed their body parts and sent each other sexually explicit messages, including gangrape and sexual assault threats, which are punishable offenses.
‘Bois locker room’: Delhi Police arrest admin of online chat grouphttps://t.co/p5ZMDgtdrh — scroll.in (@scroll_in) May 6, 2020
The unfortunate incident came to light after a girl shared the screenshot of their chats on social media, exposing similar groups on online platforms. Thereafter the Delhi Commission For Women (DCW) issued a notice and the admin of the aforementioned group was arrested by the Delhi Police Cyber cell under section 66E of the IT Act for Cyber Bullying. The devices of the identified group members were later seized and sent for forensic analysis.
A 14-year-old boy in Gurugram committed suicide late on Monday after being accused by a girl of molestation on social media (report by @leenadhankhar)https://t.co/icKPlvX4vC — HT Gurugram (@HTGurgaon) May 6, 2020
Another tragedy struck the grieving public when a 14-year-old boy committed suicide over reportedly false allegations of molestation by a girl on social media. In the post, the girl mentioned how she was attacked two years ago by the minor and was tired of keeping it a secret. A new probe has been launched by the police officials to deduce further details.
Looking at Online Harassment Numerically
According to an in-depth analysis by an American Research firm, online harassment is defined as a personal occurrence of one of the six: name-calling, efforts to pointedly embarrass, physical threats, harassment over a sustained period of time, sexual harassment, and stalking. Men and women have different experiences with online harassment, wherein the former gets name-called and issued physical threats while the latter gets stalking and sexual abuse warnings.
Sexual harassment faced by the LGBT youth, as recorded by US Statistics a decade back in 2011.
Cyber Crimes across India measured in thousands (Source: Statistica 2020)
Cyberbullying includes tactics, like posting vicious comments (including text messages), spreading rumours, manipulating people to kill themselves, impersonating someone through a fake account, and creating a social media account to harass someone. As derived from the graph above, the overall number of cybercrimes across India has increased exponentially during the period 2017 to 2018.
Social Media Addiction, The Real Culprit?
It all started with the Facebook Addiction Disorder, discovered by Cyberpsychology experts
Topping the charts in all online forums, Social Media has come out to be the most common venue for such harassment activities, by a substantial margin of 58%. Declared as a global consumer phenomenon in 2011 by an International Communications Market report, global usage of social media sites like Facebook and Instagram is highest in 18-24-year-olds, with eight in ten of the lot visiting them on a daily basis.
Adam Leventhal, a psychologist suggests that during adolescence, the brain is developing neural pathways that underlie impulse control, attention, planning and other higher-level functions. Increased exposure to social media could interfere with teens’ ability to delay gratification as their impulses are immediately rewarded with likes and comments. This reward circuitry gives a huge dopamine high, similar to the boost obtained by substance abuse by drug addicts and pathological gamblers.
Remember the paper finding that "screen time" was just as correlated with well-being as potatoes? Zero in on devices & social media, and links to well-being are stronger than for hard drugs, obesity, and sometimes even heroin use. Hold the french fries! https://t.co/DkV12lkmIc pic.twitter.com/TrHlv80fMw — Jean Twenge (@jean_twenge) May 5, 2020
A study published in the Journal of Behaviour Addictions further added how a 7 day abstinence from any of the online forums induced classic withdrawal symptoms like insomnia, depression, and anxiety in the participants. This inability to self-regulate emotions leads to a relapse and continued addiction.
The Culture of Blame-Game: Who Else to Blame? The boys involved in the aforesaid case are undoubtedly at fault and denying any aspect of their wrongdoings would be minimalizing the power of consent of the sufferer. However taking forward our drugs analogy, those who commit crimes under substance influence are culpable for their actions but so are those that supply them to the society for usage. Responsibility of causing harm to the victim lies with both the perpetrators and the system that they are part of.
Credits: Cartoon A Day
Anger-driven lynch mob only satiates a selfish need for temporary, vindictive “justice” but the larger picture is often missed. The copycat cases created in the long run cause another wave of disappointment for the public. The root of the problem that needs to be solved, lies in resolving the age-old patriarchal mindset and a sexist attitude in handling every issue thrown from one generation to another. Be it a man or a woman or any gender form, we need to find ways for them to coexist. We would need to question the role of every educational institution, every parent and every source involved in the mental growth of our children. If a question paper isn’t designed for the smartest kid, the social a,spect of schools shouldn’t be made for only those with strong value systems.
Plan of Possible Actions: What Can We Do About It? Nearly 60 percent of kids don’t tell caregivers they’re being cyberbullied, as per a survey conducted by Pew Research Centre. Warning signs ought to be recognized by the ones around them, that include a significant increase or decrease in online activity, becoming withdrawn to avoid social situations and changing screens the moment an adult walks in. Online activity and social media handle of a minor should be monitored by parents, lest the former are silent victims of a predator lurking on the web.
Credits: PS78Teachers
Inclusion of compulsory mental health awareness workshops for children in the academic schedule by educational institutions including schools and colleges.Similar to parent-teacher meetings, an interactive discussion with the certified counsellor/class representative, would make talking about online issues faced by youngsters, a regular part of their student life. In the aforementioned Delhi case, school principals have now started holding one-on-one discussions. We wouldn’t have to wait for another unfortunate incident to happen, if it is given equal importance as any other subject in the curriculum.
Credits: BullyingNoWay Artwork
Informative movies and documentaries could sensitize children on cyberbullying. Without being preached upon, they would form opinions about what is ethically right and what action or word of theirs could go wrong.
This is such a powerful video. It is relevant to everyone. @jk_rowling said via #Dumbledore "Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it."#bullying #bekind #DoitforDolly #DollysDream https://t.co/k6kctZl5O3 — Liss Caldwell (@CaldwellLiss) May 1, 2020
Curiopedia
“Blue Whale”, also known as the “Blue Whale Challenge”, is a social network phenomenon dating from 2016 that is claimed to exist in several countries. It is a “game” reportedly consisting of a series of tasks assigned to players by administrators over a 50-day period, initially innocuous before introducing elements of self-harm and the final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide. The game is a perfect epitome to understand the heights cyberbullying can achieve.
Facebook has even unveiled a suite of tools, including a Bullying Prevention Hub, developed in partnership with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. The hub provides information and help to young people, as well as for parents and educators. Additionally, Facebook-owned Instagram offers its own Help Center.
One of the earliest cases of cyberbullying occurred in 2007 when 13-year-old Tina Meier committed suicide after neighbors created a fake Myspace profile under the name “Josh Evans” to harass her. Meier’s case spurred her home state of Missouri to pass an anti-harassment law encompassing acts of cyberbullying.
Curated Coverage
The Guardian – Harassment fears as students post extreme pornography in online lectures
Indian Express – Delhi: School holds session for parents on cyber bullying
TIME – A Radical Idea for Predatory Men: Confession, then Amnesty
MDPI – Online Social Networking and Addiction—A Review of the Psychological Literature
Medical Xpress – Even brief abstinence from social media causes withdrawal symptoms
New York Times – How to Safeguard Children Against Cyberbullying
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