“When I was cyber-bullied, first and foremostly, I felt violated, humiliated, anxious and upset. I wanted to hit the person back immediately.”
Tom Woods is a 16 year old boy who you may have heard of before. ‘Student cracks Government’s $84m p0rn filter’ (Herald Sun) was the first I’d heard of him. His latest feat ‘Schoolboy whiz helps draft Labor cyber policy’ (Sydney Morning Herald) is more constructive. I am delighted to introduce him as a guest blogger, sharing his experience of cyberbullying. This is an issue I feel strongly about having watched students suffer, for long periods in silence with this torment. I agree with Tom and feel we must raise awareness of this issue.
Tom Woods:
“Just to get everyone up-to-scratch, when I was 14, I went through months of harassment and threats online – not from kids at school like most cases, but people on forums, discussion websites, about topics I was interested in.
As it was a forum involving technology, many members were very literate, many knew how to exploit vulnerabilities, hack into websites, forum accounts, companies, and all the rest.
These sorts of people are more like to be risk-takers, non-conformists and aggressive types – they would just flame (bag and swear at people on forums for no legitimate reasons) – the anonymity acting as, I guess, a sort of a ‘cloak’ – an invincibility jacket – they feel like they can do whatever they wanted. One day one guy hacked into my forum account, I retaliated, which was soon to be seen by me as the start of a horrible chain of events of threats, harassment, and more hacking attempts.
The horrible thing was I wasn’t used to being harassed in real-life – and everything would immediately make my stomach sink, a sick feeling would embed in my psyche. I didn’t know what to do – I wanted to retaliate, but there was no effective way. I always saw myself in the right. My parents wouldn’t have had any idea about it – it would’ve made them worried, possibly want to disconnect me from the computer, a notion that I thought would only complicate and make the situation worse. The lawless nature of the internet creating an environment of harassment with no feasible way out.
I didn’t really tell anyone – and any friends I did suggest it to would shrug it off, as I would do in a public arena.
The greater audience some forms of Internet harassment brings, just compounded the situation – the thought the whole forum community made me feel completely violated and humiliated.
Eventually I just didn’t bother responding. I left the forum, deleted everything I could, reported everything I could and after that it just went away.
So I wanted to make a difference – educating kids now, as my website does, the most pertinent personal point being to not respond.
But my case was rare – most cases are from peers – kids known in real-life. It continues 24/7, no matter where they are, they will be hurt, the audience can indeed make them feel violated, and the ability for the abuse to be read or watched again and again just amplifies the impact. It’s normal bullying times 3. But there are things you can do to help prevent it, and certain steps you can take to resolve it if it occurs. The problem is not the bullying, but the lack of knowledge, and collaborative programs offering policies and effective, relevant education is vital – for schools and all. My guide for cyber-bullying is here – http://thewoodverdict.blogspot.com/2008/04/tom-woods-complete-guide-to-stopping.html – which contains what I think is a complete advice package for parents, kids and the community alike. Governments and schools now need to work on delivering things like the contents of my guide to kids and all associated – because this great challenge can and must be overcome.”
I’m sure you’ll all agree with me that Tom is making a difference by becoming involved in the solution. I appreciate him sharing this experience.
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