Teens’ Chat Club - Cyber-bullying Case Files

Eason: Welcome all to the show. The theme of this episode is bullying. First let us welcome our guests, Carmen and Bryan. From what we know, Carmen and Bryan were victims of cyber-bullying. Bryan, would you like to share some of your past experiences and situations?

Bryan: Of course. I remembered there was one time when I was dozing off in a school trip bus ride. Apparently I was drooling quite a lot, so my classmates took photos of me. The photos ended up being posted on social media sites, and it wasn't just one or two of my classmates, but a lot of different classmates did the same. What made it even worse was when they attached emoji of pig noses, commenting that I slept like a pig. The posts got a lot of “likes”, becoming trending on the front pages, so it spread like wildfire and very soon the whole school knew about it. I was extremely upset about it.

Pop: So, did you ask the classmates who posted the photos to delete them?

Bryan: No I didn't. It was difficult because there were a lot of them. Moreover it was kind of pointless then because it was so widely shared, and knowing them they might have saved the photos to laugh at me at any time. I felt I could do nothing at all, and I wanted to play truant that very few days. I wanted badly to escape from attention.

Pop: So what happened afterward?

Bryan: Eventually the whole school was aware of this incident, my class teacher came to counsel me. Then my class teacher got a hold of the situation, he explained to the class that this was cyber-bullying, and my classmates learned how someone could be hurt over the simple acts of making fun with editing photos and giving a “like” in social media. I also shared with my classmates how I felt about that, and they apologize to me on the spot, so I have begun to recover from the incident.

Eason: That's right. In the Internet, it is common to hold the attitude of “it's just a joke” or “we just want to make some fun out of it”. Yet, each and everyone of us has our own bottom line on joke and fun, and online, we cannot see how well other takes this “joke”. It can end up with a situation where the joke is taken too far, like in Bryan's case, where he felt so upset that he wanted to escape. So, in the Internet, whenever we want to make a post or send a message, we need to think from the perspectives of the people we are making fun of and check how they may feel when they become a laughing stock or the subject of criticism.

Carman: Yeah, I wouldn't like it if I were mistreated on the Internet. I will avoid liking the jokes made at the expense of other people, because when you “like” these jokes, you are approving of them and that's like taking part in the act of bullying.

Bryan: My case wasn't the worst. I have a friend who took many intimate photos with her boyfriend when they were dating, but they finally broke up for argument over money matters. Her boyfriend posted these intimate photos on social media, going so far as to defame my friend as a “Hong Kong girl”, a gold digger who dates for money.

Pop: That's a tough situation for the girl to be in. She must be extremely hurt from this.

Bryan: Lots of Internet users thought the same way, so they took the fight back to that boyfriend, and gave lots of “dislikes” on his post. The boyfriend tried to retaliate at first, but his account was flooded with so many messages that he deleted his account in the end.

Pop: That took a complex turn. So the bully became the bullied.

Eason: That's right. On the Internet, there will always have users-turn-moral judges, and this can spin a couple's argument into a full-fledged online war. When facing a group of online bullies, it is best not to retaliate. Instead, try to avoid fanning the flame to prevent even more attacks and argument.

Pop: So, what about you, Carmen? What sort of experience you would like to share?

Carman: So I expressed my view in online forum. I never expected the Internet users who disagreed with me would threaten me and even curse me and my family for that matter. I even found out that I had been “doxxed”: my personal information was leaked, including my full name, the school I went to, the class I was in. They even posted the photos I took with my friends in the open forum

Pop: This must have caused a lot of disturbance for you.

Carman: Of course, I was extremely pissed off. I mean, it's one thing to disagree with me, but to resort to threats, curses and even doxxing is too far. I even concerned about my own safety at that point.

Eason: Over the Internet, it is very common to disagree with another person. We must be rational in an online discussion, because the cloak of anonymity makes us think we can get away with doing harm to others. So Pop, you're often online. If someone was trying to dox me and you have my information will you share it out?

Pop: Well, no I won't, because we need to be responsible Internet users. If we see someone being cyber bullied or even threatened, we mustn't stand idly. We should do what we can to stop these acts, and report them for what they are.

Eason: So Carmen, did you seek help in that incident?

Carman: No, I didn't know whom to turn to.

Pop: The first people to turn to would be your parents or your teachers. At the same time, try to save the details of the online bullies as evidence for future use. We can also turn to the Internet service providers or mobile service providers for help. If the situation truly gets out of hand, we might even report to the police.

Eason: That's correct. A lot of young people may have experience similar to Carman. They become very passive when they are bullied online, thinking that there is no one to help. However the truth is quite opposite, we should not stay quiet and should seek help immediately if we are cyber bullied. And if we happen to see others being cyberbullied we mustn't fan the flames or complicate matters. We need to be careful about what we do and express on the Internet, be it posting, sharing contents or commenting on posts.

Pop: Okay! So the show is about over, thank you once again to Carmen and Bryan for sharing your experiences.

Eason: Thank you both.

Bryan & Carman: Bye bye!

Eason: Hey it's rolling, it's rolling. Phones away, phones away.

Carman: Wait let me finish reading this. Oh no, my friend Mary's been Photo shopped again! Look, they keyed a bikini onto her! Let me leave a comment against the posters.

Eason: What are you doing?

Carman: I'm texting them a bad comment.

Eason: That's what we call fanning the flame. Maybe next time they'll take it to another level.

Carman: But what can I do? She's my friend.

Eason: Don't leave a message, pay no attention to it and the post will fade into obscurity.

Carman: I see. I'll comfort Mary afterward then.

Director: Okay, it's rolling now.

Carman: Huh? Wasn't it already rolling?