On Oct. 9, the BVH Administration sent out an email to the school community regarding “Cyberbullying and Social Media”, addressing a social media account, BVH Gossip, that had been spreading harmful rumors about BVH students. It instructed students to take the following actions; unfollow the account immediately, report the account for violating guidelines and do not interact with it further. AP Sophia Gray handled and assed the situation to ensure the least amount of harm on students.
“There was an account that was brought to our attention. With accounts it can be difficult to track who started it. What we try to do is determine who is following the account and determine whether we can send a message out to the community. In this scenario, we decided to send something out to families and I think that [helped] take the account down,” Gray said.
Gray expresses that she feels like the community fostered at BVH, is one where students feel valued and respected. Having accounts that spread negativity can reverse the welcoming culture staff and students alike have worked hard to create. In situations like this, one cannot help but ask, “Why?” BVH Principal Lee Romero shares his personal feelings on cyberbullying.
“There is no purpose for something like that. It goes against everything that I have stood for since I have been at BVH. Creating rumors and talking about people goes against every fiber of my leadership. [It goes against] what I believe [in] as a principal, as a parent and as a human being. We talk about living the baron way, doing the right thing; there is no place for any kind of media like that,” Romero said.
As a principal, cyberbullying and bullying in general makes Romero feel uneasy. Making accounts online solely to make fun of someone else, seems unreasonable. However, just because these behaviors do not make sense, does not mean they do not impact people.
“Rumors are harmful because you have students that are impressionable. You have students that are going through their own social and emotional issues. […] Then on top of it, you have people saying things about you. It can be harmful and detrimental. Depending [on] if you do not have the right support, it could really cause some serious problems,” Gray said.
When it comes to mental health, being able to balance your school life and personal life is key. Having someone make things up about a student and spread it amongst other students, can negatively affect students’ mental state, creating stress and even feelings of hopelessness. School stress is inevitable and adding the extra unnecessary pressure of being the subject of rumors can be extremely harmful. No Place For Hate Vice President, Michael Maywood, shares why the social media aspect is particularly impactful.
“One thing that is noticeable everywhere is comment sections. It is not even directly said to the person, but because it is in the comments, it is there for everyone to see and sometimes that can be worse than saying it directly,” Maywood said. “I think that overall as a school, it is very difficult to deal with cyberbullying since everyone is on social media. It needs to be prevented by teaching students that you should not be making those kinds of accounts. [We need to teach them] that you have to have a more positive attitude towards other students.”
When it comes to social media, a huge part of the appeal is that hundreds of people are able to share their opinions on someone or something. This can be great for community building, but horrible for when people collectively make fun of or harass another person. To send a comment a person has to think of it, properly type it out, and hit send. This whole process of willingly being mean, can make a victim of cyberbullying feel worse than just having someone say something negative to their face. Gray adds on to how the internet has made bullying worse in recent years.
“Now, with social media being such a large platform for people to express themselves and share whatever they want anonymously, it unfortunately allows cyberbullying to occur. I think social media is definitely a factor [of cyberbullying increasing]. I also [believe that] the COVID 19 pandemic was a factor. […] You also have the bad, dark side of social media where they are seeing trends. They are seeing things that might not necessarily be right, but because they see it often, many feel like it’s okay or acceptable,” Gray said.
There is a clear difference in school environment when comparing the time before the pandemic and the time after. Being home alone impaired many students’ ability to have social interactions, understand boundaries and even following rules. Social media can be incredibly useful, but in the hands of the wrong person, can spread harmful mentalities that perpetuate hate to students everywhere. Of course, the bullying they may partake in after being influenced by the wrong side of the online world, has consequences.
“If we find the people who do this, we can take it to the highest disciplinary action. If we find out that cyberbullying is creating an atmosphere that is detrimental to this school, or creates danger, we can kick them out of school. […] When it comes to social media and people creating things that hurt other people or attack groups or individuals, suspension is the minimum. Cyberbullying reports are taken that seriously,” Romero said.
Students tend to participate in harmful activities such as bullying, without thinking of the consequences. Cyberbullying is a violation of BVH’s school policy, which is a zero-tolerance for any kind of bullying or harassment. In the current age of technology and security, policies on social media platforms are taking preventative measures that can be complicated.
“We are sharing and highlighting the consequences that can take place if students decide to partake in cyberbullying. Unfortunately, Instagram has its own rules and guidelines that they follow, that they do not have to necessarily talk to us about. That makes it difficult, but we will continue to do what we have to do and continue to investigate, to take those accounts down,” Gray said.
Gray believes that people should treat each other with respect and develop positive relationships to form a strong community. Because of online anonymity, it is difficult to track down people who perpetuate hate, but that does not mean students can not continue to have conversations about how harmful and pointless gossipping and ridiculing others is. No Place For Hate President Ava Nixon shares why she believes rumors are harmful to the BVH community.
“Rumors are harmful because they are not true, they are spreading false information. I think it is more popular amongst the younger grades. It is something that people initially see as funny, but in reality it is just hurtful towards someone else. There is no positive aspect to it whatsoever,” Nixon said.
