Students get insight into cyber safety

Flow Foundation recently observed Safer Internet Week, which kicked off with its virtual Safer Internet Day Teen Summit. Here, students were invited to share their experiences and insights on internet safety as well as the dangers that they face online. Among the topics covered were cyberbullying, digital peer pressure, identity crisis and the deterioration of inter-personal skills.

The students, president of the National Secondary Student Council, Jamaul Hall, a Kingston College student, Khijani Williams and Senior Prefect of Georges College, Jhanae Francis engaged in a candid discussion which was moderated by Debbie Bissoon.

Hall said the main problem that students face online is cyberbullying.

“Cyberbullying comes in various forms, including digital peer pressure, and we have several cases where students are trolled on Twitter for an unpopular thought or opinion,” he said.

Adding to Jamaul’s point, Khijani said that “peer pressure” and “revenge porn” are also factors affecting students online under cyberbullying.

Self-image is another issue that teens struggle with online which can lead to an identity crisis. Jhanae shared her own personal identity struggle.

“It’s something that I have had to deal with, finding myself especially in the online sphere where you have different influencers who dress a certain way and they have certain things. It’s a thing that we young people have to deal with…where if you don’t have the latest shoes, the latest clothes then you’re not being hip. You’re not keeping up with what everyone online has going on. So, it’s like you feel left out,” she explained.

With the popularity of social media, some teens also struggle with interpersonal interactions. Khijani shared his most recent encounter with the issue.

“It was just a few weeks ago that I went out with some friends and all of us were at the table and we were just on our phones. We had to say, ‘Ok guys, we’re out here. Let’s interact with each other’. I think the pandemic has added to that where we have been inside for so long where we are stuck to our phones. You know Zoom, we are always online and so it’s definitely hard to communicate as we used to,” he said.

SIMILAR EXPERIENCE

Jamaul also shared a similar experience. “There is this idea that whenever you’re in the physical space, if you’re not tweeting about it, if you’re not posting on Instagram [it didn’t happen]. I have had friends where the first thing they do when they reach to an area is to take a picture and they never get the chance to really bask in the opportunity that they have been given. So, what we have is a degradation of social skills because our youth no longer know how to communicate effectively,” he said.

Social engagement is slowly being replaced by engagement in the digital space through likes, follows, shares and tweets. As a result, teens can potentially develop self-esteem issues if they are not flooded with likes versus another individual online.

Notwithstanding the challenges, the panel noted that there were some positives to being in the online space.

Being able to connect with friends and others all over the world, especially those in his swimming community, was highlighted by Khijani while Jamaul noted that advantage of being able to share critical updates almost immediately such as those sent during the pandemic.

“The internet is an extremely important tool when used efficiently and properly,” Hall stated. This was supported by Jhanae who highlighted the positive side of being online.

“I’ve seen where a lot of people would have had small businesses, even teenagers who are our age, they have these small businesses that have skyrocketed through social media. They build their brand and have so many different brand deals. I would have never expected teenagers to reach that far though social media. So, there are so many different things to do with social media that are positive,” she noted.

Safer Internet Day (SID) is observed annually, under the theme Together for a Better Internet, on the second Tuesday in February.