What is Cyberbullying?

Everyone is familiar with the concept of bullying: the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is often used as a mean to gain power over another person and may have dare consequences for the victim. Mona O’Moore, a member of the Anti-Bullying Centre at Trinity College in Dublin, has written:

“There is a growing body of research which indicates that individuals, whether child or adult, who are persistently subjected to abusive behavior are at risk of stress related illness which can sometimes lead to suicide”.

The rapid growth of technology has facilitated communication and interactions among people in general, but these media can also be used by bullys to terrorize and torment their victims, an act known as cyberbullying.

This post on the New York Times blog shows a survey in where 88 percent of the teens surveyed said they witnessed “people being mean or cruel” on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and one in five of them admitted to have already participated in such cruelty. Knowing the dangers of the cyberspace and worried about their children’s well-being, three out of four parents said they “checked which Web sites their child visited” and 8 in 10 said to be on their list of friends.

But computers isn’t the only mean used by bullys. Almost everyone has a mobile phone these days which the aggressors can use to send text and voice messages to their victims, call them directly or send pictures. An example of this was seeniIn a recent case in a school in New York, were a group of bully teenagers took a picture of its victim, a girl of the same class, taking a shower after class and send those to the other classmates. They used to constantly harass her via text messages also.

Another common form of cyberbully is using a video camera (or even a mobile phone camera) to record a victim being abused by bullys and them post the video online on social networks to make fun of the person abused, a practice which is known as ‘happy slapping’. In a video that has gone viral on the internet, one kid is assaulting another at school, but then the bullied decides to fight back its aggressor and literally throws him to the ground.

It’s sad to see technology being used for these purposes and it’s up to us to be ever vigilant and report these types of abuses. But technology can also be used to help fight against cyberbullying as there are sites like STOP cyberbullying and the cyberbullying rearch center dedicated to give information on the subject and help for victims. So it’s up to us to stand up and and take advantage of these informations to help and inform people around us.

Text by Carlos Henrique de Souza Rostirolla

Being in someone’s shoes, literally

Have you ever wondered how it would feel to see the world through someone else’s eyes? That is the subject of the movie “Being John Malkovich”, with John Cusack and Cameron Diaz. A mix of drama and lots of comedy, it was nominated in the 72nd Academy Awards in three categories and in the Golden Globes, in four, including Best Comedy/ Musical Movie.

The story is about Craig Schwartz, an unemployed puppeteer married with a pet-obsessed woman, Lotte, portrayed by John Cusack and Cameron Diaz. Craig gets a job as an archivist and, hidden after a cabinet, he finds a portal connected to John Malkovich’s mind, where he can observe and feel whatever Malkovich does for fifteen minutes,  before he is ejected and dropped into a ditch near the New Jersey Turnpike. Impressed by his discovery, he shows the portal to his co-worker Maxine, to whom he is attracted. Then, they decide to make it a business and let people use it at $200 an hour.

This is an amazing movie, very smart and well-produced. It shows how people hold their desires and thoughts to themselves, living a fake life for a long time. This is what happens to Lotte and Craig, a couple that lives together for years used to the boredom of a marriage without love. After being inside Malkovich’s mind, they start to understand who they really are.

This is a movie made for open-minded people, who want to get outside the comfort zone while they are choosing a film to watch. This is perfect to someone that enjoys a different kind of humor. And it’s amazing to see what it would feel like to be in someone’s shoes. Literally.

Text by Amanda Garcias