Cyberbullying a more prominent concern among teens, says NGO

CEBU, Philippines - While Internet addiction is a problem a number of people, particularly the youth, are facing, a non-government organization believes that there is a more “prominent” concern that needs to be addressed immediately— cyberbullying.

With this, the Child Protection Network has partnered with the Salesian Youth Movement and UNICEF to organize a two-day youth conference to further discuss cyberbullying.

Father Fidel Orendain, one of the organizers of the event, said the Youth Conference on Cyberbullying today and tomorrow hopes to raise awareness on cyber abuses, particularly cyberbullying among teenagers.

Orendain explained that being in an “information communication technology-saturated environment,” the public thinks that the problem is internet addiction.

“Sometimes we think that the major problem is Internet addiction, but truth is, cyber bullying is prominent,” he said, adding that 50 percent of suicides in the United States are reportedly linked to cyberbullying.

“We don’t want that to happen in the Philippines that is the reason why we are launching the first UNICEF-sponsored Cyber bullying conference,” said Orendain.

According to the Child Protection Network, studies show that what is more troubling in cyber-bullying is that the youth are not only bullied but are also becoming bullies themselves.

With this, apart from raising awareness, the conference hopes to “identify approaches to the problem of cyberbullying; laws related to its prevention and punishment, and the interaction, networking and close cooperation among the participants.”

During the two-day event, various topics will be discussed, including mass media vs social media and the positive and negative effects of social media.

In line with this, Orendian clarified that they are not advocating against technology.

In fact, he said they are even promoting it, which would be evident during the upcoming conference where they will be asking the participants to open and use their social media accounts while the event is ongoing. — AJ de la Torre-Orong/NSA (FREEMAN)