Jasmine Rambless

Social media is great, if it’s used in the right way and in the right hands. Used the opposite way though, and it’s a different story. Using social media can be all fun and games until things turn sour. That’s when things can go the wrong way and wreck people. This is when cyber bullying erupts. Cyber bullying, if you weren’t aware, is basically bullying via the internet, and it hurts. Perhaps it hurts even more than bullying because it’s someone sitting behind a screen, and that is a statement coming from a victim.

Cyber bullying is the third highest cause of death amongst young people, and causes around 4,400 deaths each year. 4,400 lives are taken each year. Does that figure shock you? It is ridiculously high. To think that someone needs to end their own life purely because of how someone else is treating them is repulsive. People really need to consider their actions online because the consequences are serious.

Snapchat is one of the worst, and easiest, forms of cyber bullying. If you aren’t familiar with Snapchat, it’s basically an app where you can send pictures for a specific length of time, up to ten seconds (I’m sure they’ve introduced a function for unlimited time viewing, but that hasn’t always been there). What do I mean by easiest? Well you send a picture, and boom, it’s gone. There’s no proof of it whatsoever. Same with the chat, it’s gone, unless you save it. This makes it difficult to prove anything. Sure, you can screenshot the picture but sometimes it’s gone that quickly, and the app can have a glitch, which means you aren’t able to catch it on time. Honestly, Snapchat irritates me. I wouldn’t say I’m a massive fan of it for that very reason given above - I’ve been on the receiving side of it and it’s absolutely not pleasant.

Cyber bullying affects people not only emotionally but also mentally and physically. Of course, the severity varies and people handle it differently. I know that when it was myself, it really shattered my self confidence and ruined my happiness. For others, it can impact them in ways which results in self harm or even worse. It’s sickening. The affects may be short term until the bullying comes to an end, but for others it’s more long term and it’s something that stays with them for life. Everyone is different. Cyber bullying isn’t something you overcome overnight, oh no. It’s a case of building yourself back up over a period of time.

According to the NSPCC, in 2016, Childline dealt with over 24,000 bullying issues, with over 16,000 young people were absent from school as a result of bullying. Sometimes, young people aren’t aware of the difference between banter and bullying, and this is when things go wild. They think it’s “just a laugh”, but honestly, words can hurt. Words stick by people more than actions in some cases. The “harmless banter”, ie bullying, sometimes comes from your friends, the people you least expect it from. You may post a selfie on Instagram whereby you think you look nice, and they leave a comment in which they find funny, but realistically, it hurts you deeply.

Watch what you say is the key message here. If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything.

Social media; technology which allows the sharing of information, ideas and expression via online networks and communities. It gives us the opportunity to chat online to people whenever and wherever you are, meet new people across the globe and share pictures with our friends at any given moment. The original idea sounds genius, but when you dig deeper, there’s a whole list of faults that it comes with. The list of different platforms is increasing at a rapid pace, with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter being just a few of the most popular sites used. The click of a button and you can share anything about your life online. And once it’s online, it’s online forever.

It tends to be the younger generations that are associated with social media as they’re more prone to using the sites because they’ve been brought up in a technological society. Strictly speaking, this is not entirely true. Social networking sites are becoming more and more popular with the older generations, particularly Facebook. As of 2017, a whopping 84% of UK adults were on Facebook, which just goes to show that not only are young people the only group to be drawn into the craze.

It truly is quite concerning how obsessed we have become with social media. It seems people are concerned there’s something wrong with how they look if they don’t receive a certain number of likes on their selfie; it seems we cannot go on a night out without having our phones out taking pictures and recording each other, some of which the content may be highly embarrassing for individuals to look back on the following day. We are letting social media control us, to the extent that people are addicted. People cannot do anything but sit on their phone. Even the simplest of activity, such as going for a walk, has become difficult because they’ll still be on their phone whilst out. We need to take a step back and realise that we are ruining our lives. We may be posting pictures on Instagram from that night out, looking like we’re having the time of our life, but we aren’t really living because our phones are there, once again. We don’t even realise it half the time either which is the sad reality.

I applaud those who created such a wonderful network because it gives us the chance to speak to people far and beyond us. It is amazing. But, also mind destroying. It can play a negative impact on our mental health. It seems that we enjoy sitting talking to people online via a screen rather than appreciate the people who we are sitting surrounded by. This can see us isolating ourselves from our nearest and dearest. People spend hours upon hours locked away in their room texting or messaging their friends, whilst their family or friends are sat downstairs socialising. I fear for the youngest generations, because they’re so obsessed with social media that they may not be developing the same social skills as someone who is 20 years mature of them as they aren’t going out quite the same. They aren’t engaging in human contact. 

Not only does it affect social communication skills, but also grammar can become an issue. "Text language" is a vile form of communication which I hate. Not to mention the abbreviations. "Wuu2" = What are you up to. Seriously? I don't understand how it's so difficult for people to sit and type out a phrase rather than try and shorten it. 

A short story which comes to mind whilst writing this post is “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury. I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite piece of written work ever, however, I’m giving it a mention because it has a very significant and important message throughout it. Published in 1951, the science fiction text is based in the future, whereby Bradbury gave us his expectations of the future with technology. It’s a very accurate text, as Bradbury believed that in the future, people would be sat inside watching TV and let the technology take over them. Recommend the text purely so you can see the accuracy.

Personally, I know that I spend a lot of time on social media. I admit it. I’ve grown up in a time where social media has really taken off and it's the “in thing”. All my friends are on it so I have the ability to contact them whenever, and I rely on it heavily for promoting my blogs. I think that one thing we all need to start doing is taking a digital detox. Even if it means switching your phone off for an hour and spending time with loved ones. It seems as though it’s a battle between social media and living. Don’t let social media ruin your life.