POLOKWANE – It is not limited to posting rumours or gossip about a person on the internet, it also includes insults on social media.
The amount of suicides linked to cyber bullying have greatly increased in recent years. I can’t remember how many times I’ve logged onto Facebook and saw a barrage of insults aimed at someone I know.
Comments such as “You’re so fat” or “You’re ugly” seem to be acceptable nowadays. This happens more times than I care to admit, it is like I went to sleep one day, woke up, and being nasty was the norm.
What really bothers me is that people do not see anything wrong with it. Some people actually find it funny, which begs the question: Have we as human beings lost our humanity?
I understand having freedom of speech but how liberal we are does not depend on the amount of insults we can send someone’s way.
The fact that we hide behind our computers and cell phones and find it so normal to just be mean to strangers is just weird to me.
Cyber bullying is not exclusive to us common folk, I have seen celebrities come forward to express their dislike on this particular subject. MTV Base even covered this topic in one of their I am episodes.
One celebrity who is the victim of cyber bullying is Somizi Mhlongo, who says he is called all sorts of names despite being who he is in society. What compels one to want to hurt someone to the core?
