YOUTH CONFERENCE ON CYBERBULLYING/OCT. 16, 2015 Presscon on Youth and Cyberbullying conference at the Vice Governor’s Conference room. (l-r) Dra. Merle Tan; Dra. Emma Alesna Llanto; Dr. Naomi Poca and Dra. Bernadette J. Madrid -of Child Protection Network; Fr. Fidel Orendain and Jillian Adeline Vestil – Youth representative. (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
WITH cyber-bullying on the rise globally, efforts to educate the youth on responsible Internet use are also being intensified.
Fr. Fidel Orendain, executive director of the Child Protection Network (CPN), said there is no better way to address cyber-bullying issues among teenagers than to involve the teenagers in the solution as well.
How to recognize signs of and prevent cyber-bullying will be among the topics of a two-day conference that starts today at the Bayfront Hotel in Cebu City. At least 300 participants from 100 different schools in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay, and Lapu-Lapu are expected to attend.
“We are living in an information communication technology (ICT)-saturated environment. There was little concept research to justify the need for this conference, but we know that there are children who have problems with cyber technology,” he said in a press conference yesterday.
Unlike physical bullying, which is easily recognized through bruises and scratches on the victim, cyber-bullying is hard to detect.
Victims of physical abuse in school may feel safe at home. But with cyber-bullying, the victims become vulnerable as soon as they engage in social media at home.
Dr. Emma Alesna-Llanto, one of the speakers, said bullying may come in the form of criticisms on sexual behaviors, appearance, ethnicity, and disability, among others, in social media.
Most of those bullied are girls, but boys are also vulnerable.
Common reactions to bullying, regardless of form, are humiliation, frustration, sadness, and thoughts of suicide. Some studies have shown that those who are bullied have a tendency to become bullies as well.
In schools, there is a limit to bullying, but because of the rise of cyber-bullying, there is an overlap.
“Children may be bullied at school and at the same time, bullied in their homes, too,” said Llanto.
She said there is a need to educate the youth and the academe on how to keep this from happening.
Dr. Naomi Poca, conference chairman, said that cyber-bullying cases are seldom registered because victims are unaware that they are being bullied in the first place.
Poca said they haven’t recorded any cases related to cyber-bullying yet in the Pink Room of the Vicente Sotto Medical Center. But those who would seek their help would be given the psychological services.
Fr. Orendain stressed the importance of the parents’ roles in the lives of their children in school and especially in their home, while they are using gadgets.
He said that since many parents are “digital migrants,” they don’t really know what’s happening to their kids online.
Orendain said that parents should recognize when to initiate traditional dialogues and how to set limits on Internet usage.
He said, though, that the problem is not that alarming in the Philippines yet. In the US, 8 out of two teenagers who commit suicide were bullied in the virtual realm.
With the theme “Shift + Control + Delete,” the conference aims to provide opportunities for awareness of cyber abuses, particularly cyber-bullying among teenagers, identifying approaches to the problem, and networking among the participants.
“Shift + CTRL + DEL” is a command used on common Internet browsers to delete usage history.
Fr. Orendain said the theme expands to mean “shifting attention to what matters,” “controlling cyber usage,” and “deleting harmful practices.”
At the end of the conference, the participants are expected to be able to network with adults and peers to develop ways of protecting themselves and preventing cyber-bullying.
The highlight of the conference is the composition of a statement on the issue of cyber-bullying as a contribution to the AKO PARA SA BATA International Conference from Dec. 1 to 2 in Cebu City.
By then, parents will be invited to the conference, where discussions on cyber culture and the dangers it poses to children will be taken up.
The conference is the first of a series of international conferences sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).