Cyber Bullying Among Females In India
Cyberbullying can be seen as harassment over the internet. This happens through devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and computers. This usually happens through chat rooms, social media, or even on gaming platforms. Recently, cases of cyberbullying of female gender have increased significantly. This paper will highlight cyberbullying among females in India.
Worldwide, 1/3 users of the internet are children, that is, in the year 2016 (Twale, 2017). Though, a recent study by India Internet Report shows that in India two-third users of the internet are aged between 12 years and 29 years. It is shocking how undergraduate students experienced online harassment. At the age of 12 years, Shreya Singh became a victim of cyberbullying (Twale, 2017). She told IndiaSpend that her classmate from another school where she had left was collecting her photos and personal information and used these credentials to create a FaceBook page in her name. She realized this through her peers. She never thought this was harmful only realized later that it was vicious. She started receiving crude text messages and she was unable to cope with it. She started avoiding her friends and finally thought of seeking counseling to deal with depression.
A few studies show that people may engage in cyberbullying to gain status and feel popular and powerful when they harass others through online platforms (Baghel & Upadhay, 2019). It is also noted that 75 % of adolescents are not aware of how harmful it is to create social media accounts when you are under the minimum age as per different social media platforms. It was revealed that 31% of adolescents who were interviewed by Child Rights had more than 2 social media account.
To begin with, the study carried out in Delhi National Capital showed that about 9% of adolescents experienced cyberbullying. The survey targeted 630 adolescents. It was also identified that half of the audience had not even reported the vice to the relevant stakeholders. That is, social media companies considered guardians or the teacher. The exposure to cyberbullying rose with the rise in internet use. Respondents who were surveyed revealed that they had used the internet for about three hours per day (Sari & Camadan, 2016). This increased vulnerability to online bullying. It also identified that about 28% of respondents used the internet for about 4 to 5 hours per day. Additionally, 25% reported seeing transformed videos images of them while ½ of these vices were not reported.
Another study carried out by the National Crime Records Bureau showed that cyber bullying cases rose by about 36% in 2018. That is, 542 in the year 2017 to 739 in the year 2018 (Nebhinani, 2018). In the meantime, the conviction for cyberbullying of the female gender has fallen significantly; by 25% in the year 2018 from 40 percent in the year 2017. Conversely, the pendency percentage showed a rise of 1% to 96 percent. It has also revealed that cases of blackmail or threat decreased by 28.2 percent, that is, 311 in 2018 to 223 in the year 2017. The experts interpret this as due to underreporting.
In conclusion, cyberbullying among females in India is seen to be a major problem since its internet harassment. Females are believed to have no idea of how to use the internet, therefore, they are taken advantage of, and since they have no much idea they feel so much useless which sometimes leads to depression. It is also seen as a risk adolescent having more than one account in different social Media hence exposing them to cyberbullying.
References
Baghel, S. S., & Upadhay, D. C. (2019). Comparative Perspective of Cyber Terrorism in India.
Nebhinani, N. (2018). J. Indian Assoc. Child Adolesc. Ment. Health 2018; 14 (1): 4-9 Editorial Role of Connectedness in Youth Suicide Prevention. J. Indian Assoc. Child Adolesc. Ment. Health, 14(1), 4-9.
Sari, S. V., & Camadan, F. (2016). The new face of violence tendency: Cyberbullying perpetrators and their victims. Computers in human behavior, 59, 317-326.
Twale, D. J. (2017). Understanding and preventing faculty-on-faculty bullying: A psycho-social-organizational approach. Routledge.