Internet bullying has become a serious problem for minors and has a profound impact on its victims, with some even considering suicide, the Children’s Welfare League Foundation said as it called for more public attention to the issue.
“Bullying on the Internet has become a serious problem as more and more children now regularly use the Internet and establish their interpersonal network online,” Children’s Welfare League Foundation research and development director Chiu Ching-hui (邱靖惠) told a press conference in Taipei to release the results of its survey.
“If you think the harm caused in the virtual world stays there, you’re wrong, because it also has an impact on the victim’s real life,” Chiu said.
The survey showed that “as many as 57.7 percent of Internet bullying victims feel upset even after leaving the virtual world and that among them, 12.1 percent said that they had thought of committing suicide after suffering from acts of bullying on the Internet,” Chiu added.
The emotional reaction to online bullying has intensified as an increasing number of children become heavily dependent on the Internet, she said.
The Internet has become for them not only a tool or a source of information, but also the place where they make friends and establish connections to the world, Chiu said.
In the survey conducted last month, with more than 1,500 valid samples collected from Internet users between the ages of 10 and 18, acts of “Internet bullying” include criticizing others, spreading rumors about certain people and posting malicious information or pictures about someone on the Internet.
The survey found that as many as 40.7 percent of respondents said they had shown support for malicious posts on social networking Web sites, while 18.1 percent said they had spread malicious messages about others anonymously — including 4.5 percent who said they had spread false rumors about people over the Internet as a prank or to attack someone.
“We found in the survey that 34.2 percent of victims of bullying in real life also get bullied online — and this figure is 3.7 times more than those who are not bullied in real life,” Chiu said.
“On the other hand, we’ve also found that people who are bullied in the real world are more likely to become perpetrators in Internet bullying incidents,” she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏), who was the foundation’s executive director before being elected a lawmaker, said many cases of Internet bullying can be classified as criminal offenses because they either violate a person’s privacy or involve acts of slander.
“If you’re a victim, you should try to tell your parents or teacher. We also urge the government to make more of an effort to protect people’s rights on the Internet,” Wang said.
“As a lawmaker, I will continue to follow these developments on this issue and propose amendments accordingly,” she added.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
RSS