The Straits Times
Section: Digital Life
March 11, 2008
By Stephanie Gwee
Singapore has the second highest number of cyber-bullying cases after the US, says new survey. STEPHANIE GWEE reports
FOR most primary school pupils, going to school meant having fun with their friends and mugging for exams.
But for one Primary 3 pupil of an all-girls school in the East, school was living hell.
The quiet, bespectacled girl was repeatedly called 'ugly' and 'irritating' by her peers. Not only was she insulted in school, but these comments also made their way to online blogs.
After enduring the insults for more than six months, she wished that she could die.
Her mother, a housewife in her early 40s, found out about her daughter's trauma after she noticed her feigning sickness just to cut class.
The girl is now undergoing school counselling.
It is cases like this that makes Sarah Tan-Leong an unlikely cyber vigilante. This was, after all, a woman who taught her kids how to log onto the Net to do research when they were barely six years old.
But after hearing stories about the prevalence of cyber-bullying, the 42-year-old accountant is making an extra effort to educate her 14-year-old twins on the ills of the Internet.
Now, not only does she limit the time her daughters surf the Net to just two hours every day, but she also frequently reminds them to report any cases of cyber-bullying if they chance upon any offending materials on the Net.
Sarah’s concern is not unfounded.
In an informal poll conducted by Touch Cyber Wellness & Sports of 255 students from three secondary schools, almost 35 per cent said they had been cyber-bullied in one form or another. The agency teaches smart Internet use to students via school-based roadshows, workshops and mentoring programmes.
Esther Ng, founder of the Coalition Against Bullying for Children & Youth, an agency that provides resources for people to seek help on bullying issues, agreed. She cited a 2006 survey of 3,488 Singaporean students in which 25 per cent - or 872 students - admitted to having been victimised online.
Another 31 per cent said that the online victimisation was in addition to physical bullying they also faced.
Citing studies published by WiredSafety.org, Poh Yeang Cherng, manager of Touch Cyber Wellness & Sports, said: 'There are far more reports of cyber-bullying from Singapore on a per capita basis compared to all other countries except for the United States.'
Online brutes
Cyber-bullying includes threats and intimidation made online, stalking through the sending of incessant messaging, posting of videos of a victim being group-slapped on the Web. (See other story.)
Experts believe that the faceless nature of the Net makes online thuggery an even bigger threat than physical harm.
When a bully hides behind the screen, they can say things that they cannot verbally say to the victim.
‘For example, they may hate a teacher badly but cannot say it. This is one reason why it is now common to see students flaming teachers in cyberspace and for some, teachers retaliating online as well,’ said Esther.
The perceived anonymity of the Web also encourages Regular Joes to become aggressive.
‘In most cases, perpetrators of cyber-bullying do not need to have a history of bad behaviour or attitude problems,’ said Esther.
As in the 2007 case of Ms Lori Drew, a mother from a Missouri suburb, in the US.
She had posed as a boy, ‘Josh’, online and befriended Megan Meier, who had had a fall-out with her daughter. The ploy was so that she could find out what Megan, who lived down the street from her, was saying about her own daughter.
The unsuspecting Megan, then 13, had talked online with ‘Josh’ for more than a month. She hung herself the day after ‘he’ abruptly ended their friendship, calling her a ‘liar’.
Lori, who has not been charged, did not have a history of mental problems.
For victims, being constantly subjected to taunts is a living hell, with possible long-term consequences.
Firstly, it’s a lingering torture.
The victim is left wondering who the perpetrator actually is and who else is in on the rumour mongering on the Net.
‘The possibility of the event resurfacing in cyberspace causes the victim fear and anxiety,’ said Esther.
Online bullying could lead to victims becoming bullies themselves. In the same 2006 survey cited by Esther, 37 per cent of the students said that they might gang up with other friends to 'whack the bully'.
Or, victims could turn on themselves, ending their lives.
Watch for tell-tale signs, said Adrian Wang, a consultant psychiatrist at Gleneagles Medical Centre.
‘They may be afraid to go to school, have slackening academic grades, or suffer from insomnia and moodiness.’
The law takes a harsh view of online ruffians.
Teo Wee Meng, a trainer in cyber crimes in the Criminal Investigation Department, said if there’s ‘malicious intent’, miscreants will be ‘charged in court, and will either be jailed or fined’.
However, experts believe that having laws are just one side of the coin.
Said Esther: ‘To eliminate cyber-bullying, it will help if students know that the law in Singapore does not tolerate cyber-bullying. Knowing that cyber bullies can be prosecuted may deter people from doing so’.
