As information spreads easily, scandals create negative sentiments towards public figures that pop up on social media.
Unusually, this is what we find in cyberspace. When someone looks wrong in their perspective, they are subjected to a form of abuse known as cyberbullying.
According to UNICEF, cyberbullying is abuse that is done through cyberspace. Social media becomes a platform for doing negative actions, including abusive comments, threats, harassment, disrespect, and hoaxes.
As a platform that focuses on mental issues, kenalmental.com explores on who is more often affected by cyberbullying attacks? Who is responsible for bullying? How is Indonesia’s image of ‘politeness’ in the eyes of the world, as a basis for finding the correlation between netizen behavior on social media and cyberbullying cases?
Based on the subject of cyberbullying, we have obtained data from three reputable platforms, which are Microsoft, UNICEF and U-Report Indonesia. The explanation of each data from the three platforms is as below.
According to Microsoft Research…
This research was conducted from April to May 2020, with the benchmark “Digital Civility Index” that shows the level of netizens’ civility in the digital space.
Results show that Indonesian netizens ranked 29th or third lowest as “disrespectful netizens”. This research was conducted in 32 countries with a total of 16,000 respondents and 503 Indonesian netizens. The most important factors influencing this assessment are the actions taken when surfing the internet and social media.
In the case of Indonesia, the three most common acts of cyberbullying are spreading hoaxes and scams at 47%, hate speech at 27%, and following that with discrimination at 13%. These actions were carried out by 48% of foreigners and 24% happened within one week.
Based on age, millennials (1980-1995) are the most frequently targeted group on social media, at 54%. Followed by Generation Z (1997-2000) 47%, Generation X (1965-1980) 39%, and Baby Boomers (1946-1964) 18%.
In addition, according to Polda Metro Jaya’s report, there are at least 25 cases of cyberbullying received every day. This number will continue to increase, due to the growth in the number of internet users and the ineffective handling of cyberbullying cases.
Results of a Survey by U-Report Indonesia
This survey involved 2,777 Indonesian respondents with 97% response rate. The result was that 45% of people claimed to have experienced cyber abuse.
Cyber abuse frequently occurred on social networks at 71%, chat apps at 19%, online games at 5%, YouTube at 1%, and others at 4%. From this total of 97%, 34% of respondents did not receive services or help when they were victims, and 36% did not know information about help centers regarding cyberbullying.
Different datasets reveal that 39 percent of netizens think the government is the most responsible for cases of cyberbullying. Followed by 11% of schools, 14% of internet service providers, and 36% of teenagers.
According to UNICEF, the impacts of these negative experiences are:
Mentally
There are feelings of shame, ignorance, and even anger, both oneself and others. Moreover, someone may also withdraw from the environment, suddenly become less visible and prefer to be alone. It can even lead to suicide attempts.
Emotionally
Losing interest in something. There may be some of your friends who have been victims of bullying. Initially active, cheerful, but time by time they become moody and sensitive.
Physically
It starts with overthinking with the problems that are faced. Then it leads to constant sleep, poor eating, even stress and depression. Without being aware of it, this can cause pain. You may get a headache, stomach ache, and so on.
Thus, Indonesia ranked 29th in terms of cyberspace incivility. With the benchmark of “The lower the ranking, the higher the level of impoliteness.”
Based on age, millennials and Generation Z are the ages that most commonly experience cyberbullying. The age of these two groups starts from 41-21 years old, this group is included in the adult – young adult category.
Teenagers are the main subjects in the spread of cyberbullying cases. The high number of youth who experience this abuse can be seen from the high percentage. Some cases that occur also show that victims can also be perpetrators.
Cyberbullying was done by 48% strangers and 24% happened in one week. This means that 52% were committed by people we know, such as coworkers, friends, spouses, and family. In addition, the rate of development of these cases is also rapidly increasing in just one week.
From the results of U-Report Indonesia’s research, 71% of digital violence occurs on social media, internet users are increasing, but the handling of criminal cases and socialization of cyber abuse is still ineffective, as well as low awareness levels of the dangers of cyberbullying.
The government and teenagers are the two most influential subjects to reduce the crime rate in the digital space.
It is time for us to realize the poisons of cyberbullying. We need to remember that digital tracks are extremely difficult to erase and will be seen by our children and even grandchildren. Also, if you are a victim, don’t be afraid to speak up and report.
Read the original version in Indonesian.
Translated by: Nabila Rifqah Awaluddin & Muhammad Alif M.
