Cyberbullying and Pakistani Youth
Cyberbullying and Pakistani Youth
What Is Cyberbullying?
Bullying is used to humiliate, threaten, oppress, torment, and tyrannize someone. It can be defined as a continuous misuse of power or authority against a person or a group of people that causes physical, emotional, and social harm to that person or group. If this kind of attitude and behaviour happens online, it is called cyberbullying.
Some Facts about Cyberbullying and Pakistani Youth
Pakistanis should be more cautious about cyberbullying given their tendency to bully in general.
Bullying is not an unknown issue for Pakistanis. It happens at every level, from homes to government ministries. Sometimes bullying by influential people is shown on TV screens, both in the form of real-life examples in the news and in the form of movies and television programs. This sends the message that bullying is an important ingredient in this society, which is led by powerful and influential people at every step.
If bullying is ingrained in the very fabric of Pakistani society, then cyberbullying proves to be an even easier way to harass, torment, and terrify people without showing one’s identity.
This trend of online victimization is strengthened by a Microsoft report: thirty-eight per cent of Pakistanis bully others online, compared with the worldwide trend, which is twenty-four per cent. Remember, however, that this report was compiled in 2012, and the use of the internet and smart phones has only increased since then. Given this information, it can be concluded that there is a correspondingly high percentage of Pakistani people in general—and Pakistani young generation in particular—who are victimized by cyberbullying.
The Pakistani government remains silent regarding the crime of cyberbullying.
While searching for facts about cyberbullying, our team came across awareness programmes provided by many governments; unfortunately—but not unexpectedly—we couldn’t find any viable awareness programmes at the government level in Pakistan. There are some newspaper articles that have discussed this very issue.
This criminal negligence on the part of the government becomes even more alarming in light of the fact that cyberbullying incidents are reported every other day in the media, but even then no measures are taken to make people aware of this type of heinous crime, which has claimed many lives. Perhaps the government has other more important issues to address than the safety of its people.
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