Cyberbullying

I was a scrawny kid growing up in Freetown, I was christened spaghetti bones when I was in secondary school due to how thin I was.

I suffered intense bullying because of my geeky personality, my tribe and my brains.

It is something that heavily impacted my childhood and turned me into a withdrawn individual; like a 'king of introverts'.

Although when I hit 6ft a decade ago, I found out that the amount of times I got bullied physically dropped drastically for some reason.....??

Cyberbullying is a whole other kettle of fish.

To the victims, cyber bullying is a faceless evil that robs them of their joy, confidence and in some cases their will to live. It destroys lives.

👉It is one of the main reasons I advocate that kids should not be exposed to social media at an early age as they are not mentally ready if targeted by a bully online

👉It can totally shatter one’s self confidence and ability to interact with other people

👉It can lead to severe and long lasting mental and emotional issues

👉It can also lead victims to suicide as has been the case in several instances

You should;

👍Limit the type of information you put out there, the internet is not your psychiatrist nor is it your friend

👍It’s all about meeting new people yeah, but you gotta be proactive and kick negative people out of your circle

👍Tell someone about it, family, friends, teachers it is something one must not tackle on their own

👍If it gets threatening, go to law enforcement armed with screenshots of the messages

👍Parents be mindful of whom your children interact with online

👍It doesn’t matter what ignorant faceless yobs on the internet spews out, you are you and be proud of it!

This old adage rings entirely true in this connected age; 'sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me'.