http://www.cybervictims.org
Many of us adults got to see a new world through social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook etc. We got reconnected with our old friends, connected with like minded friends and found our new ‘groups’ to learn, share and unlearn several things. Many of us adults may have been victims of cyber predators in these social networking sites, many have actually turned an offender ( may be unknowingly or unintentionally) in these sites…………….many have blamed the police for not being able to help them in distress. What about the children who learn from their parents/peers to have their own ‘rooms’ in these sites? In India this had created many sensational news in past ‘internet years’; remember Bal Bharti school case ? the DPS case ? Children had taken to severe bullying and resultant they turned out to teach their counterparts by more aggressive misdeeds like spreading defamatory words and even sleuth pictures through MMS. Well, we the elders can not blame the children either; they were actually “aping” adults to take revenge through cyber space knowing pretty well that ‘no one knows that you are a dog in the internet’. I would not have believed this maxim until the day I myself saw two hardly 12 years old kids opening their profile pages in a public cyber café under the guise of two young adults…..yes, I heard them giggling when they told each other “I am 21 and you are 22”. They had chosen screen names that swiftly hid their own identities and they were encouraging other friends to do the same. I grew curious and I asked them is it their school project? They smelled something wrong and immediately closed their accounts and fled off. I grew even more curious because I was then working in a project on cyber bullying. That was the time when café owners were not obliged by law to take down the residential addresses of the ‘visitors’. When I asked the café owner did he know these kids, he nonchalantly answered “koto lok ashye jay….ami ki jani?”……,meaning “so many persons come and go, how am I to know”? Well, probably these kids were one of the thousand kids who used to travel out side their own area to escape the parent’s vigils to do such mischievous works.
But within no time, finance ministry reduced the prices of the personal computers and almost every Indian home having moderate income, could bring a PC. This probably made the situation a little more complex, because now the children preferd to stay indoors and visit their friends through these social networking sites. Well, there is no harm in hanging out in these sites, but what must be remembered is, these children may not know the bad side of the internet. We do not have a “Megan Meier” case in our country still now. But I am sure, many children are facing cyber bullying without knowing what it is, how to handle it and why it should be stopped; many are getting in to traps because they are befriending unknown individuals who may not be “children”; many girls are loosing the joys of childhood and fast catching the perils of girlhood even though they are not physically assaulted or raped. What pains me more is that we do have some laws to punish elders when they try to victimize others including children. But we do not have focused laws when the child is a hi-tech offender.
Offcourse, it does not mean that we should restrict our children from reaching the computers. Remember India is the highest producer of software professionals and we must encourage our children to enhance the glory further. Hence, it is wise to teach every child to be responsible for his/her internet venture. Here are some advises for parents:
1.Encourage your child to speak to you regarding his/her internet experience.
2. Tell him/her to not to fight in the cyber space.
3. Tell him/her that the world is now watching the whole family. Hence it is upon him/her to behave properly in the cyber space.
And children…….
1. Be careful when you are in the cyber space.
2. Use Orkut/Facebook for your good….. trust me, I learnt so many good things from Orkut/Facebook.
3. Do not make it your “life”……. Leave it when you do not like it.
4. Remember, if you do any mischievous work, your school might take very strong action against you; they may even rusticate you. Hence do not victimize others.
And above all, be good in the cyber space. You never know how much you can get from the cyber space if you know how to use it properly.
Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2011), “Young generation of Orkut and Facebook
”, 20th February,2011, published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment