Has cyberbullying gotten worse or improved over the years?.I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels it's gotten worse, as use of social media platforms has grown exponentially in popularity. As a result, opinions of ‘random people’ are interjected onto your comments or in your posting..The online world became real back in the 90’s and social media took off in 1997 with a site called ‘sixdegrees.com’. You don’t remember that one? Then, let’s jump forward to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in 2005/06. These platforms started with good intentions of connecting family and friends to share messages, current pictures and videos for all the right reasons. But, over time, online networking became a popular communication platform along with video game chat, and text messaging that allowed you to connect with almost anyone..Hashtags became a useful tool for everything from aligning yourself with like-minded people to enhanced business uses for sending marketing promotions to consumers. And, I dare say to also influence people in your network. These enhancements were introduced with the best intentions, but sadly what grew from this was a worsening division between people, and a dramatic increase in cyberbullying... Primarily, because people can remain anonymous..And, because of this anonymity, ‘Doxing’ became ‘a thing’. So, what is doxing? It is “the action or process of searching for and publishing private or identifying information about a particular individual on the internet, typically with malicious intent.”.If it wasn’t getting worse, we wouldn’t have Bill C-13 which took effect March 10, 2015; the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act which was introduced by the Canadian government to take aim at cyberbullying (online bullying). Since then, reliable statistics have been kept to better understand the impact of our heavily connected world..Depending on the age group, cyberbullying affected upwards of 35% of Canadian adolescents, 17% of young adults aged 18-25 and at least 7% of adults. The figures could be even higher because people are less likely to admit these infractions are happening. This could include posting embarrassing photos of someone online, sending threatening or cruel direct messages or emails, creating a website to embarrass someone, or pretending to be another person by using their name and other personal information, and worse..This can have a significant impact on people’s self-esteem and, in some extreme cases has led to suicide. While less than 20% of cyberbullying incidents are reported to police, some actions are illegal and are considered offences under the criminal code..I’ve had conversations with acquaintances online about their anonymous profiles. They’re good people, but they cite some of the reasons I mentioned (and more) for maintaining their anonymity. Doxing was cited often by people who had their home address posted online for every cyberbully to see. Even their place of employment has been doxed. Their employer got involved which caused issues at work all because of a vengeful troll on Twitter..I’ve also chatted with people whose public profiles has rendered threatening messages telling them to “kill themselves” or saying, “I hope you die.”.Why? Because they disagree with their opinion, or they are jealous of their personal and business success. In one case, the bully was confronted and was remorseful. Likely because they were caught, or they aren’t as tough as their comment or threat when they are challenged face-to-face..It’s all truly disheartening, and a disgusting reflection of how online interactions have deteriorated. And, also likely why more are ending up as ‘cases’ for authorities to investigate or appearing in front of the courts..So, why not make people register with some government issued ID when opening an online or social media account? Or require adolescent’s parents to endorse their online gaming or chat accounts with their identification? Would that not make it safer and hold people accountable? Using LinkedIn as an example with their professional profiles on the line, people become more respectful in their comments. Primarily because users authentically know who they're speaking with, and disagreements are handled with professionalism (most times.).So, maybe a form of digital identification is the right direction to move towards? No, I’m not talking about what governments have suggested that appear to be accompanied with a social credit score tying back to your bank account, job, car, or grocery purchases. Nor one to be regulated by another division of the government. We’ve seen how well that’s working with passports..Perhaps the solution is an online fee-based digital ID regulated by the media company which could protect you from identity theft and anonymous cyberbullies. Regardless, something must dramatically change because the digital world is not going away..Beyond that, my only other suggestion to tackle cyberbullying is for individuals to follow that old saying; “If you wouldn’t say it to their face, then don’t say it at all!”
