Steemit Engagement challenge S4-W1/My view on Cyber Bullying-by @ruthjoe (#burnsteem25)

Hello Steem friends,

It's season 4 of Steemit engagement challenge and it's week 1, guess what? Am so excited. I hope you are as excited as I am? I want to say a big thank you to @steem-cameroon for hosting this contest and for having me here in this beautiful community.

Lest I forget, my friends, don't forget to continue to contribute to the growth of steem in your own little way because together we can make Steem rise again! So don't give up! Steem on!

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WHAT IS YOUR UNDERSTANDING ON CYBER BULLYING

The word cyber bullying is made up of two words Cyber and Bully. The word cyber simply means something related to computers and internet technology and communication, while the word bully simply means to threaten, to insult, to make mockery of, to harass ,to scam or to hack ones account.

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From my explanation above, cyber bullying usually occurs online, on social media platforms or on the internet. Usually victims of cyber bullying may be mocked,harassed,insulted, impersonated or threatened to do a task such as transferring funds else something will happen to them or so. Other times victims of cyber bullying are scammed by sending of links and telling them to click it in other to get a particular favour, discount or an opportunity.

Cyber bullying does not always ends well, sometimes it leaves it's victims with scars of such experience. And do you know what? Those involved in cyber bullying most times hide their identities to perform this act.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A VICTIM OR PERPETRATOR OF CYBER BULLYING?

Yes I have been a victim of cyber bullying. But not in regards to harassment or threat. From my definition above you would agree with me that there are different forms of cyber bullying, so the kind of cyber bullying I went through was in the aspect of hacking of my face book account to impersonate me.

GIVE AN INSTANCE (IF ANY )WHERE IN YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW FELT BULLIED IN CYBER SPACE AND WHAT SPIKED SUCH A FEELING ( IT COULD BE THROUGH OUT ANY SOCIAL PLATFORM)

I would like to give an instance with my friend. She was harassed and threatened on cyber space, precisely on Facebook.

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The perpetrator sent her a message one day on face book telling her they have her nude picture and that if she doesn't not send some amount of money to an account sent to her in 10 days, they would post her nude pictures on all social media tagging her friends and family members.

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When she received the message, first she was confused, her nude? How?. She was scared! She replied the message sent to her that she didn't have the money they were demanding. They were asking her to send 200,000 naira which is an equivalent of 2000 steem to a bank account sent to her.

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Every day, they kept ending her scary chats on Facebook reminding her of how many days she has left to send the money else they would post her nude on social media.

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She didn't feel safe again on Facebook, she kept crying every day and looking for ways to raise the money demanded from her. Infact she stopped login into her Facebook account until she shared her story with me and some other friends of hers.

HOW DOES THIS ENCOUNTER AFFECT THIS PERSON?

My friend's encounter really affected her so much that for a long while she could not sleep. She kept having night mares.

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Not only that, she decided to stay away from all social media platform for a long time. Even though now she has returned back to her normal life, yet she no longer login to her Facebook anymore.

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She feels everyone on Facebook is after her life to either bully her through harassment or threat's, so she prefers to stay away.

HOW SAFE DO YOU FEEL ON STEEMIT? AND HAVE YOU EVER FELT BULLIED AT ANY POINT IN TIME(ON STEEMIT)

Wow! I feel so much safe on steemit sincerely. I have never been bullied before on steemit.

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Steemit for me has been so interesting that no day passes without me login to my account to see what is going on. Even if am not making a post, I would read other publications, comment and give me votes.

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I regard steemit as my safe zone. And I see everyone here as family. Even though sometimes we tend to see some people who try to send in link's under other people's comment in other to scam them or hack their accounts. I believe those people are not a part of us because if they are part of this beautiful family, they won't even think of doing such.

WHAT LESSONS DID YOU GAIN FROM SUCH SCENARIO? AND WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU GIVE TO YOUR AUDIENCE

Well, I learnt so many lessons from my friends experience. One of the lessons I leant was never to show my vulnerability or fear before someone that is bullying me. She was scared and kept begging them, instead of seeking for help. They knew she was scared so they kept harassing her.

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Another lesson I leant was to be careful of what I share online. Maybe she must have shared her pictures at one point with probably friends, else she won't have been scared that her pictures was going to be posted online.

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My advice for everyone is for you to know that you have the right to speak up when you are been bullied or feel bullied.If you don't feel safe, speak up. If you feel threatened, speak up and make report to the appropriate person's or body. Don't die in silence because the effects are not worth it.

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Don't remain a victim, ask for help when needed. Become security conscious. Be at alert, protect yourself always!

CONCLUSION

I am so happy about this weeks's topic on cyber bully. I feel it's an opportunity for people to share their experience and for us all to learn from such experience, making the topic a very educative one.

Cyber bulling is a crime and should not be joked with. Do all you can to protect yourself from being a victim of any form of cyber bullying.

Thank you for reading..

I invite my friends to join this contest. @benson6 @olabillions @samuel20