Who are we? The team behind "Be a friendly netizen" campaign.
We are ordinary students whose lives revolve around school, work, and play.
We are FLEX!
We are Media and Communications students in Singapore Polytechnic.
Why did we set up this blog?
We are youthful. We are FLEX, a Fun-Loving and Enthusiastic group of youths who aim to X out cyberbullying!
We want to make a difference in the cyberworld, no matter how small the difference may be.
Because we want to encourage youths to become friendly netizens.
We'll be focusing on 2 areas of cyberbullying - the blog and video streaming sites, which explains the existence of this blog.
And for this campaign, this blog is set up by youths, specially for youths!
Objectives
• To create awareness about the seriousness of cyberbullying
• To spread the information on the ways to respond to cyberbullying, consequences and the causes and effects of cyberbullying.
• To encourage the practice of netiquette.
What is this campaign all about?
This is a campaign tailor-made against cyberbullying, especially in blogs and streaming video websites (click ‘About Cyberbullying’ for more information on where cyberbullying can occur).
It is entitled ‘Be a Friendly Netizen’.
And we define a friendly netizen as someone who:
• Is sensitive towards others’ feelings
• Acts responsibly
• Is conscious of his/her online activities, and
• Avoids hostility.
As technology empowers us, and with ‘great power comes great responsibility’ (quote from our favourite hero: Spiderman), let us pay tribute to hi-tech by playing our part to contribute to a more conducive cyberworld, and this can be achieved by just being a friendly netizen, which is not difficult at all!
How can you support this campaign?
Simple! Just paste the e-badge code below into your blog or any website!
Drop us an
email to notify us when you've included the e-badge into your blog or website!
Are you a victim or bully of cyberbullying? The answer is: it does not matter here.
No matter who you are, what you do or what you have done, everyone is equal in the eyes of FLEX!, for we are citizens of the Internet.
Netizens is what we shall call ourselves.
Just as we remain loyal to our respective countries and respecting individuals’ cultures offline, we should also do the same online – show respect for other netizens’ pride and feelings, show that we can be responsible users of the Internet.
This is everyone’s home on second life. And ‘home’ is what we defined as a place of warmth, harmony, belonging and love.
Let's make the cyberworld a better place. Be a friendly netizen, keep cyberbullying out!
What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying occurs when someone puts down victim through the use of info-communication technologies (ICT), thereby causing emotional distress to the victim.
ICT includes mobile phones and the Internet.
Cyberbullying covers a wide spectrum. Actions that constitute cyberbullying ranges from as minute as name-calling and playful teasing to more serious ones like sending threatening messages and uploading offensive videos e.g. physical bullying in schools online. All of which must have caused the victim emotional distress.
Cyberbullying is also a very relative issue. “What may hurt me may not hurt you,” explained it all.
How do you know if you’re cyberbullying someone?
• What you publish (content)
• Who you publish it to
• How you express it
Where can cyberbullying appear?
• Mobile phone - in SMSes
• Internet – Blog comments, social networking sites e.g. Facebook and Friendster, instant messaging (IM) e.g. MSN messenger, in online games, streaming video sites e.g. YouTube.
Effects of cyberbullying
Victims may experience the following:
• Relationship problems
• Loss of self-esteem
• Crying themselves to sleep
• Anxiety
• Loss of sleep or appetite
• Loneliness
• Depression
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Suicide
How to deal with cyberbullying?
Ever gotten upset over a nasty comment someone made about you online?
We understand. We’ve been there, experienced that, and overcame them.
It sure takes guts to stand firm and not be affected by others’ opinions about you especially when you know that what they have published are not true.
Sometimes, you don’t even know who your perpetrators are.
It’s frustrating, isn’t it?
You feel a sense of anguish, don’t you?
Always has the urge to take revenge by bullying them back the same way they did it to you? Forget it!
Being cool and calm is the best way to deal with cyberbullying.
Simply, choose to ignore it. Not responding to it makes you less of an easy target!
If it’s someone whom you thought was a friend but wrote those nasty comments about you online, either talk things out with him/her or find out why he/she did that.
If she intended to hurt you, then its time you make new and positive friends who can help you build up your self-esteem.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Hiatus
Hello folks!
FLEX! has decided to go into hiatus mode for the time being, because it's our school holidays! :D
That would mean that we would stop coming up with new weeking discussion topics. Awww that's sad right?
However...
That doesn't mean you can't share your views in the past discussions! So do continue to share alright! :D
Many many cheers!~
was a friendly netizen at 6:01 PM
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Friday, August 22, 2008
Question Mark #5
we have another pair of 77th Street vouchers waiting to be given away to the lucky person with the best comment posted on this week's Question Mark column! Join in the discussion today!
Note: Do leave your email address when you post a comment. This is for notifying purposes.
QUESTION MARK is a column specially set up for the like-minded, strong opinionated and/or critical 'monster' that lives inside each and every one of us. For we believe that nobody is neutral on everything. It’s time to speak your mind.
Every week, a topic for debate and discussion or a question raised by anyone will be addressed in this column. So, join in the fun!
LOOK OUT for QUESTION MARK every Friday!
Got a burning question? Click on 'Post a comment' below this entry, leave a tag on our tagboard or email us at weareflex@hotmail.com
P.S: FLEX! reserves the right to remove any post that is deemed offensive or undesirable, as well as the right to decide the winner of this contest. The winner will be contacted by email.
Labels: Question mark
was a friendly netizen at 9:46 PM
Hmmm, personally, I also think that it's best to ignore it and don't try to explain yourself through your blog entry or something as you might make things turn out worse. When the culprit sees you replying or something, he or she will also try more ways to make you look worse. My best advice is to IGNORE! Once they've enough of 'fun', they'll automatically justdisappeared. That's exactly how I deal with such matters when people spam blogs! (:
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Thursday, August 21, 2008
Your support is greatly appreciated! :)
Labels: gallery
was a friendly netizen at 3:17 PM
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Be a friendly netizen campaign
Over at our booth...(2 Days)
Activities at our booth:
Thumbprint, photo-taking and email collection as pledges to be a friendly netizen and stop cyberbullying.
More photos coming your way...stay tuned!!
Labels: event, gallery
was a friendly netizen at 2:07 PM
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Saturday, August 16, 2008
Latest news from Straits Times!
Hey everyone!
There's a recent news article on Straits Times about cyberbullying published yesterday.
So, for those of you who haven't read the article yet, what are you waiting for? Don't be a victim of cyberbullying.
Read the article HERE.
Labels: News
was a friendly netizen at 6:15 PM
Thanks for visiting us here at http://my.king.net regarding Cyberbullying.
I invite you to create a group in www.RandomPage.com/groups about Cyber Bully to extend your reach. Most members are teenagers approx. 70-90%. I guess this is the right audience for your cause.
Let me know how can I help you and continue your project.
Best regards,
EM @KING.NET
Hi em@king.net!
Thanks for the invitation. I've already done so and it's here: http://www.randompage.com/group/friendlynetizens.
Yes, our target audience are indeed teenagers.
Thanks for dropping by. Cheers! (:
I've read the article. Oh my, it's so horrible in the gaming part. Killing the character in the game? Simply crazines! ):
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Friday, August 15, 2008
Question Mark #4
QUESTION MARK is a column specially set up for the like-minded, strong opinionated and/or critical 'monster' that lives inside each and every one of us. For we believe that nobody is neutral on everything. It’s time to speak your mind.
Every week, a topic for debate and discussion or a question raised by anyone will be addressed in this column. So, join in the fun!
LOOK OUT for QUESTION MARK every Friday!
Got a burning question? Click on 'Post a comment' below this entry, leave a tag on our tagboard or email us at weareflex@hotmail.com
P.S: FLEX! reserves the right to remove any post that is deemed offensive or undesirable, as well as the right to decide the winner of this contest. The winner will be contacted by email.
Labels: Question mark
was a friendly netizen at 11:01 PM
Yes, the internet has indeed benefitted youths. It draws not only youths, but people in general, together. We are at this age where there are lots of turning points in our lives. Friends leave the country for further studies. As such, the internet allows us to keep in touch with friends, no matter where they are. X)
I feel that the internet is a double-edged sword. It has its advantages and disadvantages. more inportantly, the user (netizen) should exercise responsibilty when using the internet.
cheers~! X)
the internet has and always been the debating point in the modern world.
so far it has brought about many changes with regards to the efficiency it brings about in our lives.
one of the few advantages is that it has brought about information being passed around the world. without the internet. we might still have to go to the library to research for our homework and other aspects related to our work. there is nothing in today's world that we do not require the use of the internet. everything that we do is somewhat related to internet in one way or another be it minor or major.
other advantages that the internet has brought about is the way we communicate with the world today. many people communicate with their friends and around the world by using the internet to communicate. this includes the usage of msn, emails, skype and other forms of communication.
these 2 points are the strongest advantages of the internet in our modern society.
however the disadvantages has brought many unwanted effects in our lives too.
with the introduction of the internet, it has brought about the sexual side of human nature; pornography.
why is it that bad? that is because it corrupts youths today who are curious in it. and by doing so, they slowly become addicted to it. there have been cases whereby teenagers are addicted to pornography and has brought about psychological side effects to the youth.
another case would by cyber-bullying whereby people have been victimised over the net and this too has brought about many psychological effects on the victims themselves.
as such, no matter how we view it, the internet is here to stay and we have to evolve from it and learn to handle with the threats and the advantages that the internet has given us thus far.
The internet has proved itself to be both beneficial and harmful to the society. In the case where it's beneficial, it helps us to look up for information which is useful to us, keep in contact with relative and friends especially when they're overseas or living far away from us. In the case where it's harmful, many youths and teenagers are using internet as a tool to abuse their friends verbally especially in blogs and gaming zone where they're ususally the most popular sites that they go to. They may do so due to revenge or just plain boredom which I think is super ridiculous.
Anyway, introducing internet has both advantages and disadvantags which I've already mentioned above. As such, it's very important to educate them in a correct manner so that the disadvantages can be minimised. Some ways are to hold campaigns like this or asking the school teachers to get the ball rolling by starting the topic like, 'Do you know what is cyberbullying' and ask them to discuss and share their opinions of it together as a class. In this way, everyone will most probably benefit it. =)
Hi huifenhebe,
you're right about bringing the Cyberbullying topic into class discussions. Indeed, part of our campaign involved leveraging the roles of educators to influence youths and raise awareness about seriousness of cyberbullying.
For your information, we contacted the module coordinator of a module called Critical Reasoning Skills (CRS) in SP. In this module, students discuss about current affairs with the guide of their respective lecturers and are taught oral presenting skills. At the same time, they learn to write argumentative essays on prevailing issues in the society.
So, given the nature of this module, we pitched our idea of allocating 10 – 15 minutes of CRS class time to facilitate in the discussion of cyberbullying.
We attended one of the class discussions and felt that the discussion was interesting and engaging as students were participating actively by sharing their views. This could be due to the fact that most youths today are tech-savvy and spend a lot of time on the Internet on a daily basis, and this allows them to be able to better relate to the topic on cyberbullying.
We are glad that a total of 7 classes benefitted from this. :)
Thanks for participating in our blog discussions!
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Friday, August 8, 2008
Question mark #3
We want to hear from you, friendly folks! Say something.
QUESTION MARK is a column specially set up for the like-minded, strong opinionated and/or critical 'monster' that lives inside each and every one of us. For we believe that nobody is neutral on everything. It’s time to speak your mind.
Every week, a topic for debate and discussion or a question raised by anyone will be addressed in this column. So, join in the fun!
LOOK OUT for QUESTION MARK every Friday!
Got a burning question? Click on 'Post a comment' below this entry, leave a tag on our tagboard or email us at weareflex@hotmail.com
P.S: FLEX! reserves the right to remove any post that is deemed offensive or undesirable.
Labels: Question mark
was a friendly netizen at 12:18 AM
Sometimes i just wished i could stay away from the Internet/laptop/computer. But with the amount of work needed to be done using the computer/laptop and through Internet research, getting away from this machine is difficult!! Well even so, its pleasant to imagine what i would do if i could stay away, even if its just for a few hours. I would...go jog and exercise, roll around on my bed, watch the Olympics (see Michael Phelps breaking world records ;D) and be a couch potato for the day! yays. What about you guys?
Yea. I would hit the gym, watch my beloved Korean dramas :DD! and girls day out for shopping and talking! :D
But then again, I watch most of the Korean dramas online. =x Boos to no Internet. Haha.
Hmmm, most probably, I'll sleep the whole day long and read some books.
I don't really like to stay with the computer all day long but then again, all the assignments and projects that I need to do have to be using the laptop which left me with no choice. I also use it to watch tawain dramas and read chinese novels online. It's really hard to move on with life if there's no internet since most of the entertainmnt element comes from there. =X
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Tuesday, August 5, 2008
It's too late to save Megan, but we can still save the others.
Megan is not the first teen to choose suicide over being the target of a cyberbully, but you can help prevent it from happening again. "
- Parry Aftab, Executive Director of WiredSafety.org
Be 1 in a million to take the Megan pledge now. Click HERE.
In memory of Megan Meier.
Labels: pledge
was a friendly netizen at 7:25 PM
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Friday, August 1, 2008
QUESTION MARK #2
This week's topic
Labels: Question mark
was a friendly netizen at 11:14 PM
To me, bullying altogether is unacceptable. Nobody deserves to be disrespected or discriminated in any form, be it physical or in cyber space.
Between the two, i would think physical bullying bears more serious consequences. For example, irreverisible damage may be done to an individual and may lose the use of a limb. However, more help is available for such cases as well as the effects of physical abuse are tangible and obvious. Hence, others will notice when one is bullied and help will be offered more generously.
On the other hand, the intagible impilcations that may arise from cyber bullying may be just as serious. This form of bullying often upsets the psycological balance of an individual, leading to distress, anxiety and even sucidal thoughts. These symptoms are usually dormant and difficult to detect, as a result individuals who were bullied in cyber space tend to keep to themselves. Consequently, love ones are oblivious to what they are suffering and are unable to comprehend their sudden change in attitude.
To me, I would feel that cyber bullying creates more harm to people as compared to physical bullying. Reason being because it is more difficult to gauge how it is to be under cyber bullying, and to spot a victim who is under cyber bully. They would normally suffer in fear, and cyber bullies tend to get off scot free as compared to normal bullies.
Therefore, I personally feel that victims of cyber bullying is worse than physical bullying.
I've always thought cyberbullying causes more harm to the victims and feel that it's undebatable about that. However, after reading one of your comments, physical bullying seems as damaging too.
I feel that cyberbullying victims needs greater self-esteem than physical bullying victims because one needs to be mentally strong and determined enough to ignore those nasty comments and think positively and be confident about oneself. Otherwise, one mayb just sink in deeper into thinking negatively and fall into the cyberbully's "trap".
I think some of us would know that some bullies on the whole would tend to build their happiness on the other's misery. That is why for victims, it's best to ignore or show the bullies that you're affected so that they won't bother you and move on.
Actually, to compare physical bullying and cyberbullying, in terms of the impact on the victims, physical bullying is definitely more damaging since it leaves the victim with bruises all over the body and affects their psychological balance (as mentioned by Anonymous).
However, one point to note is that cyberbullying is a growing trend especially with easier access to the Internet. Practically anyone/everyone can become a cyberbully as cyberbullying does not require the cyberbully to have a history of bad behaviour. And cyberbullying can happen at any age e.g. a suboardinate flaming his/her supervisor. Yes, this is considered cyberbullying.
Further, the nasty post can be kept online almost forever (permanent!). There is no limit to the humiliation which the victims can face.
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Thank you!
Hello to all friendly netizens!
For those who've read our previous post about our campaign event at Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and have came down to support us during our 2-day event on last Wednesday and/or today, a big THANK YOU to all of you! You've made our event a successful one! :)
Please stay tuned for the photos and details during the event! We'll post it up soon!
At the meantime, you can take part in our topic discussion of the week. It's Friday again!
Cheers!~
Labels: event
was a friendly netizen at 11:04 PM
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Useful Links
CABCY - Coalition Against Bullying for Children and Youth
Cyberbullying.org
McAfee - Cyberbullying Conference
Megan Pledge
Netbullies by Parry Aftab
Pandora's Blog - Stopping Online Fight Videos
what gives!?
WiredSafety - The world's largest Internet safety and help group
FLEX!'s Technorati Profile
Our History
July 2008
August 2008
Join our discussions in the tagboard below or simply post a comment at the end of the post.
You can also tag us your enquires, or email us at weareflex@hotmail.com
[layout] Lynette
[images] Dawn|Lynette
[image host] Photobucket|Slide.com
[fonts] DaFont
[software] Adobe Photoshop CS2
[team behind the campaign] FLEX!
[venue] Singapore Polytechnic
[support] CABCY - Coalition Against Bullying for Children and Youth
[co-sponsor] 77th Street
[printer] Ling Image
[advisors] SP DMC lecturers
[school] CASS - School of Communications, Arts and Social Sciences
[course] DMC - Diploma in Media and Communications