Written by Emily Gastellum
In an age when technological advances occur on what seems like a daily basis, our communication methods have been forced to change. Simple interactions that used to occur face-to-face are now being communicated via text, Facebook and Twitter.
There is no limit on what can occur using these technologically advanced mediums, and I find it frightening that some people use this technology to deliberately hurt others with their words. This has been assigned the term “cyber-harassment” or “cyberstalking.”
I wasn’t familiar with this problem until I saw it occurring within my own network of Facebook friends. One girl was upset about a break-up, and then the angry statuses, notes, messages, etc. began to spread like wildfire. I couldn’t help but feel bad for the poor guy who was getting publicly called out and decided to look into policies used by social media to prevent these problems.
Facebook, specifically, is a member of theStopCyberbullying Coalition, described on their website as “a movement to understand, prevent, and address cyberbullying.” (Although it is termed as “cyberbullying,” it is important to note that this specific term is only used when minors are involved in the given situation.)
It’sFAQ forums explain how to potentially avoid cyberbullying attacks by:
- Accepting friend requests safely
- Using the “block” feature to stop abusive behavior
- Reporting abusive behavior directly to Facebook
- Restricting privacy settings
I found that the main message from both Facebook policies and the StopCyberbullying Coalition was to take preventative measures to avoid extreme situations. Features are available to “report” any action on Facebook, which can result in the deleting of accounts, stopping the harassment at the source.
As Christians we should seek to use our words as a light; I think that we all need to be reminded from time to time that our tongues (or fingers in this case) are most often the source of so much hurt.
Using our Facebook statuses, etc. to tear down others is in no way showing God’s love or any maturity on your part.
So let this be a friendly reminder to be careful what you say, because you can never take it back — especially if it was instantaneously published on a social media site.
“He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.” Proverbs 21:23
