Cyber-bullying must stop

 

A lot female students have been victims of cyber bullying. The advent of technology, though a good move, has been a total hell for some as they are constantly being bullied on these technological devices. But what exactly is cyber bullying?

Cyber bullying is the use of information technology to harm or harass other people in a deliberate, repeated and hostile manner. There is a page by the name “Bulawayo Hot Babes” where Facebook pictures of girls are posted without their consent. The admin would then pose a question such as “how many cows can you pay for my lobola because I am very beautiful and I know it”. People would then start to comment, saying nasty, degrading statements that are inhumane and embarrassing.

The worst part of it is that they will be using your name and pictures without your consent. There are other “confession pages” such as such as NUST Confessions, UZ and MSU confessions where students are being openly humiliated by anonymous posts.

The post clearly state people’s names, their degree programme and which year they are in. they then write whatever degrading and embarrassing stuff they fell like writing” she said. Cyber bullying can have devastating consequences, suicide being of them. 

 Another common form of cyber bullying among teens is the sending of threats usually implying that physical violence will be used.

There are no statistics on cyber bullying in Zimbabwe because most cases go unreported. But in other countries like in the USA there are documented cases of teens committing suicide after particularly bad cyber-attacks .

In Zimbabwe it is illegal to send obscene and threatening messages using any form of communication. As Female Students Network, we condemn such behaviour and encourage all women, members or non-members of FSN to desist from embarrassing each other.