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Cyberbullying: Hiding Behind Hashtags and Social Media Profiles

BY Soko Directory Team · July 27, 2019 12:07 am

One day someone asked me to tell them something I liked about Kenya. I was hungry, jobless, broke and hopeless.

I am one of these Jobless Kenyan youth. And we’re told we live like kings and queens on social media with no worries whatsoever about the world’s problems. We take nice photos in front of other people’s cars, swimming pools, in borrowed outfits and in offices we were once lucky to find ourselves in.

We have the best friends ever, we cannot trade them for anything. Our esteem is too high nothing can get over it. We are the best things that ever happened to the world, we love ourselves so much we’re almost narcissistic with hashtags all over. But deep inside, we are a sad people wondering why our parents brought us to this sick world. What if we wanted to be ducks?

Back to the loving Kenya question. Did I say I was hungry? And what an insensitive question to ask a hungry, depressed Kenyan youth? So, without thinking, I said I loved Kenya because of her crazy people.

Kenyans are crazy. Not in a bad way but don’t you agree that every moment is a light and fun moment in Kenya? Even some tragic events will be turned to fun after two minutes of mourning.

We really love memes. They make us forget our problems and worries. They make us laugh. They make us so happy that we share them all over. Spreading the fun enh?

Recently, a local newspaper wrote that a good percentage of Kenya’s Middle-class young people spend most of their time on social media. Which I think is true.

I don’t know if it is a good or bad thing to be told you spend your time on social media. But whatever you do, whichever amount of time you spend on social sites don’t depress other people.

I’m saying this because a few days ago I was ‘spending time on social media’. Again. I was sent a twitter thread of people recounting their social media awful moments. How they were embarrassed and made fun of, mostly because of their physical appearance.

It was funny, because of the way they said it. And all of them concluded their ‘stories’ saying they would never forget, or they get depressed whenever remember, and there’s one who apparently chews ‘miraa’ to cope with the trauma.

Later, when I was all alone at 2 am, insomniac and trying not to think about monsters, it dawned on me that these people, despite the humor in their stories could actually be hurting inside. That is cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying in Kenya

like many other places, cases of cyberbullying continue to thrive in Kenya. We may not know but people could be suffering depression caused by online soldiers.

We may already know some Kenyan celebrities who have been cyber victims with the bullies judging them so harshly over things they have otherwise no control over.

Popular radio presenters Linda Nyangweso and Adelle Onyango have been cyber victims some time back. Former Citizen TV news anchors Jullie Gichuru and Janet Mbugua and musicians Avril and Jimmy Gait have been attacked either because of something they innocently did or because of natural things they cannot control.

Thankfully, a good number managed to handle it well.

Cyberbullying on health and well-being.

Cyberbullying and any other form of bullying can affect physical and mental health both in the short term and later in life.

It can cause physical injury, social and emotional problems, and even death. It can cause severe damage to self-esteem.

According to a research study done by NICHD, both bullies and their victims are at risk of suffering depression. The study also revealed that people who are bullied electronically are at a higher risk of depression than those bullied using traditional methods.

So, to prevent this, we should try to be more responsible in our engagements on social media. Do not make demeaning comments about someone.

Most importantly, we should take care of ourselves also, by never sharing information online if it could be used against us. Cyber-bullies often use pictures, status updates, and personal information they find online to harass their targets.

It’s fine to share a little information about yourself online, but never reveal something you don’t want the whole world to know.

Soko Directory is a Financial and Markets digital portal that tracks brands, listed firms on the NSE, SMEs and trend setters in the markets eco-system. Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SokoDirectory and on Twitter: twitter.com/SokoDirectory

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