*This is a reflection paper I wrote for school about a talk/seminar I attended.*
Social media being one click away, it is important
that not only do we know how to use it, but also how to use it responsibly. Memories
of videos and pictures like the “Amalayer” girl, Tito Sotto’s alleged
plagiarism of a speech, this UP student, whose name I don’t recall (Chris Lau I
think?), who had an unfortunate incident during the recent habagat that was caught on video, and a lot more flooded my mind
during the interview with Atty. Terry Ridon about cyber bullying, cybercrime
and a lot of other words coined to capture the meaning of situations that
emerged in the twenty-first century mostly because of the abundance of
technology. But with all these words we hear and know, do we really know what
they mean? What is the difference between cyber bullying and cybercrime? And
why the sudden need for a cybercrime law?
Atty.
Terry Ridon clarified that cyber bullying is a form of cybercrime. Cybercrime
is a collective term for other acts done on the internet that may cause harm
towards other people. On the other hand, cyber bullying is a type of harm (i.e.
bullying) done towards other people with the use of the internet and the
various forms of social media. What is hard about cybercrime and cyber bullying
(for the victims mostly) is the anonymity of the person committing the “crime”.
That is why it is easier nowadays for people to get bullied because it can be
done without personal confrontation. Unlike before, when bullies and their
victims would usually have a personal relationship with each other or at least
know each other and have spent time with each other, in cyber bullying, even
people you don’t know from all over the world can bully you, and there’s no
stopping them. Even if the bullying stops, years after and after much
investigation, you can still find all these information in the immortal storage
called the World Wide Web. So even your children or your children’s children
and anyone after them would still be able to see your embarrassing pictures of
that one night that went wrong with just a few clicks.
The
last part of the talk was spent mostly by girls gushing over Ramon Bautista,
laughing at him and his funny antics caught on cam, but it wasn’t all that. He
may have made a few jokes too many and undeniably proclaimed to everyone how
good looking he is (with almost all the girls agreeing to him, which I don’t
understand), he did impart on us a valuable lesson or two about using social
media responsibly.
Being
a Youtube star himself, Ramon had his fair share of “cyber praise” and cyber
bullying of his own. But unlike the people who made use of their power to
spread unlikely videos and photos of unlucky people and embarrassing them all
over the world, Ramon Bautista did the opposite: he made videos that may have
gone viral, but have taught a lesson or two while giving joy and laughter to
the people who watched them.
Like
what they say, with great power comes
great responsibility. And with all the power granted to us by our fairy
godmother Internet, we also have a World Wide Web’s worth of responsibility in
our hands hand.
Lots of Love,
J<3
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