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Introduction
The world has significantly developed to a point where access to information has significantly changed how people interact. Bullying is one of the trends that are associated with being a different person and can be linked with social norms that develop and dictate whether a person is either different or from a minority group, either from the context of race or any social classification. As such, it leads to bullying in schools which are as a result of major social issues. In the context of hate and violent content, the content spread also encourages other people to become violent. Harassment is also impacted by behaviors such as bullying, which derails a safe community when some people are motivated by people who consider themselves to either feel superior or powerful over other people. Porn and other problematic content are also a concern considering that they impact the mental health of individuals exposed to these people. As such, the following paper reflects on who should be responsible when it comes to stopping bullying, harassment, violent content, hate porn, and other problematic content.
Bullying
“Stop Bullying!” by Spongehoe is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Bullying is among the issues that have a significant impact on the well-being of most people in school and those who would be working. Such people are harassed to the extent that they are forced to face mental issues associated with the issues that the bullies use against them. Hellström and Lundberg (2020) define bullying and state that it is a “direct and indirect aggression that (a) is intentional, (b) is repeated, and (c) involves a power differential between the aggressor(s) and the target.” It then proves that the people who are the aggressors in any bullying scenarios tend to feel that they are superior or have some power over the other person who is the target. The change should therefore be targeted on the reform of the people who are the aggressors. They should be taught how to be better individuals and how they should treat other people.
As such, understanding how the problem can be mitigated through the perspective of the impacts could help understand the approaches to reduce the impacts. Gomes et al. (2020) highlight that among the impacts include the feeling of anger, guilt, fear, sadness, boredom, pain, hopelessness, and anxiety of the victim of the bullying. Regarding the body or individual responsible for avoiding bullying, the approach to be implemented should be the schools and the parents of all students. Understanding bullying and how it affects people is based on their social classifications, which can also be related to being either inferior or under the control of other people. It then calls for the use of schools and parents to encourage and bring up children in a different way. They can invest in learning outcomes that will encourage them to better perceive anyone who can be inferior to them based on social classifications. These are people who are from low-income backgrounds, minority groups, or even people with disabilities. It will be an approach that will help avoid bullying even ages after graduating from school and become reliable members of society, such as when working.
Harassment
“Graffiti about street harassment. #dcarts #streetart Malcolm X Park.” by Lauren(elle)n is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
One of the issues posed by the idea of interaction is that it can sometimes lead to harassment, which is classified to fall in the categories of either physical or verbal interaction. The harassment is also classified based on the nature of interaction, which could be sexual, civil, criminal, or cyber harassment. The Canadian Human Rights Commission defines harassment as any form of physical or verbal behavior that either offends or humiliates a person and persists over time (Chrc-ccdp.gc.ca, 2022). Understanding harassment then means that it can be classified even under the definitions that are given for other terms, such as bullying. A publication by the Red Cross asserts bullying and harassment are more of the same thing with minor differences, such as focusing on discrimination in harassment and focusing on offensive and insulting behaviors in bullying (Red Cross Canada, 2022). However, one of the key differences is that harassment is a general term for different behaviors, which could be harassment through phone calls, messages, sexual harassment, physical harassment, or even verbal harassment.
Considering that there is some similarity between harassment and bullying, the approach toward mitigating harassment should also be similar. The two problems are characterized by being common with people based on their behavior, and changing that would also mean that people need to change. Segal (2021) asserts that among the strategies of mitigating harassment include confronting the harassing individual and being direct that what they are doing is wrong. However, there should also be some education and nurturing that should empower people towards helping them understand harassment and how not to harass other people. Such an approach will create an environment where people are safer from harassment and even a community of people who will look out for each other. These people will nurture a culture of standing against any form of harassment and developing a safe space where everyone is free from harassment. It then gives parents and schools the responsibility of nurturing and educating the public on harassment and how to avoid it by passing the right lessons to their children, who are future generations.
Violent content
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The violence associated with content that people can access on the different platforms has both positive and negative impacts on individuals. However, the negative impacts tend to outweigh the positive aspects of violent content. The only aspect that can be considered positive is entertainment, which could not be compared to the negative implication, such as the impact of people being violent towards each other based on the content they view, which is filled with violence. Society needs to be protected, which means that people need to start being aware of the impacts of their actions and how they tend to affect them, leading to decisions that alter their lives completely. Violent content can also be merged with other feelings that people have, which could drive them to commit acts that will impact other people. These motivational factors such as racism and other hatred based on differences could drive the person watching violent content to commit to doing them on people they hate.
In regards to the body that should be responsible for stopping the spread of such content, the finger points towards the bodies in the government that govern the people who are supposed to regulate content. The body should be able to identify the source of the content and be willing to make sure that such content does not spread to the extent where it could impact society. Lindo et al. (2020) argue that with the right strategy for the avoidance of violent content, then it becomes easier to predict safety and an environment that is not inclined towards violent acts. The body will therefore manage to guarantee that there will be a development of better and more reliable cultures based on the content they will consume. If the body allows music content, then it can predict dancers and musicians. However, violence content restriction will result in a community of people who do not have the respect that they should have for a significant reduction in violence rates. It will improve the welfare of the community and develop better relations among the community members.
Hate
“Hate & Anger” by Pro-Zak is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Hate is among the biggest problems that the world is currently facing, which means that there should be a better approach and attitude from people regarding each other. People need to identify how they can make changes that will allow them to see other people differently and reduce the hate and stigma associated with diversity and inclusion, which are the key elements that derail the removal of hate within the community. Conventional hate is driven by major factors which revolve around the differences that people have in the context of race, gender, political beliefs, and religion, among other factors (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2022). It then means that people need to change their perspective toward how everyone is different from the other and not let these differences become a basis for hate. Such an improvement would result in a community where everyone has the chance to be themselves and not be hated for who he is or anything that he has done in the past.
Different solutions can be applied to mitigate the existing hate within the communities and change the community member towards becoming more loving individuals. One of the argued facts is that hate only spreads when people make it acceptable in the community and when they tolerate it (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2022). With a community where everyone is capable of standing up against any form of hate, it becomes easier for them to understand how they can protect themselves and others from hateful people. It will also be a way to show them the importance of not spreading hate for other people and making them feel accepted without hating people based on their cultural background or any other diverse factors. As such, the people who are supposed to stop the spread of hate are the community members who should stand firm and protect the integrity surrounded by being loving to other people. The media and social cultures also have a role to play in ensuring that everyone is able to experience the importance of love so that they can spread it.
Pornography
“Japanese Pornography” by balaam is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Some of the issues that society faces are those that cannot be discussed publicly on how they affect people. These issues require an intervention backed with psychological support and a personal initiative from the people affected to be sure that they are certain they want to face the issue and not avoid it. Mela (2022) explains that porn can be addictive, and the associated impacts of such addiction include an unsettled mind, difficulty connecting with others, anxiety, depression, and loss of motivation. Such examples show how damaging it can become for someone who is not addicted to porn to try it. Such a person would significantly put their mental health at risk of being compromised, which would also require them to find ways to regain their mental and physical health, which would be affected. It then makes it necessary and important that people find out how they can keep their minds and personal commitment to things that help them achieve personal development in areas of their weakness.
Stopping porn should be among the approaches that should be implemented to ensure that there is some level of sanity and protection of the members of a community and towards ensuring that they are able to remain productive. Mela (2022) further argues that people get into porn addiction through the development of their inability to control impulses and poor decision-making. As such, the government should be the first body to ban access to porn which would be an initiative that would allow the public to focus on the things that help them develop and avoid more contact with pornographic material. On the other hand, people should also be taught how the mind works, which will allow the government to control the population and their dependence on pornographic material. It will contribute to a community of people who are able to provide for their families and have positive relationships with the people around them. Everyone in the community will have the chance to focus on how they can develop each other and the entire community. The transition would also improve their mental health and lead to a healthier population.
Problematic Content
There is also other problematic content that moves around digital platforms with people trying to pass on their agendas to other people, and they could either be political, religious, or hateful and could be used as the basis to start a conflict with other people. Without the capacity to interpret information from different perspectives, it becomes challenging to discern the source of the information and the message that it seeks to pass across to the desired audience. Such capacity to analyze such information can be beneficial in understanding how to avoid the impacts associated with participation in the problematic content and how it would alter one’s life. Among the challenges include the development of communities where people are not educated and can be manipulated
The mitigation of spreading such content is through having people across social media who are able to express themselves and convince others, even when their information is incorrect. One of the approaches that the government can implement to prevent the spread of such information is by setting up fact checkers, which will be online and digital platforms that will ensure that all the available information is correct. Such an approach will allow members of the public to ensure that all the information available is able to be put to good use to avoid a scenario where it could be used against other people.
Conclusion
Summarily, different institutions and individuals should be held responsible for ensuring that they can commit to the proper channel that will protect their interests. Among the areas that have been addressed include bullying, harassment, violent content, hate porn, and other problematic content. In regards to bullying, most activities take place under stress, even though bullying also happens on digital platforms. The recommended solution includes nurturing and educating people better to ensure that they are productive and reliable to the community. On the other hand, harassment is discussed to be similar to bullying, and a similar strategy to mitigate it has been suggested. Violent content is among the social norms that lead to an increase in the number of violent activities in the community. Major changes must be implemented to ensure less to zero availability of such content. Among the recommended strategies include a government body that will be tasked with the regulation of violent content on digital platforms. Hate is also a problem on digital platforms. Creating a culture of respecting the differences that people share could be a strategy for developing a population where people have lower rates of hate towards each other. Porn has been argued to have major implications on mental health. These implications revolve around an unsettled mind, difficulty in connecting with others, anxiety, depression, and loss of motivation. It then stands for the ban of such content on digital platforms.
References
Chrc-ccdp.gc.ca. (2022). What is Harassment? Chrc-ccdp.gc.ca. Retrieved 4 October 2022, from https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/en/about-human-rights/what-harassment.
Gomes, A., Martins, M., Farinha, M., Silva, B., Ferreira, E., Caldas, A., & Brandão, T. (2020). Bullying’s Negative Effect on Academic Achievement. International Journal Of Educational Psychology, 9(3), 243. https://doi.org/10.17583/ijep.2020.4812
Hellström, L., & Lundberg, A. (2020). Understanding bullying from young people’s perspectives: An exploratory study. Educational Research, 62(4), 414-433. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2020.1821388
Lindo, J., Swensen, I., & Waddell, G. (2020). Persistent Effects of Violent Media Content. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/nbrnberwo/27240.htm
Mela, H. (2022). 14 Reasons Why You Should Stop Watching Porn. Medium. Retrieved 4 October 2022, from https://betterhumans.pub/14-reasons-why-you-should-stop-watching-porn-cf9dcffe552e.
Red Cross Canada. (2022). Definitions of Bullying and Harassment. Red Cross Canada. Retrieved 4 October 2022, from https://www.redcross.ca/how-we-help/violence-bullying-and-abuse-prevention/educators/bullying-and-harassment-prevention/definitions-of-bullying-and-harassment.
Segal, D. (2021). What to Do if You See Someone Being Harassed. WebMD. Retrieved 4 October 2022, from https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/what-to-do-if-you-see-someone-being-harassed.
Southern Poverty Law Center. (2022). Ten Ways to Fight Hate: A Community Response Guide. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 4 October 2022, from https://www.splcenter.org/20170814/ten-ways-fight-hate-community-response-guide.
