It’s Bad Advice to Ignore Bullying and Misinformation Online
There are other things you can do if you see any of these.
For fun, I posted the question “What can we do to stop the spread of misinformation on the web?”
The first answer that I got from someone is to ignore it. It is terrible advice. Why? There are tons of misinformation out there already, especially about Covid. If you ignore it, this misinformation will grow and grow.
The only thing that you should do if you see misinformation is to REPORT IT, not ignore it. If you see misinformation on Social Media, report it to whatever platform it's on. If it is a website, report it to the webmaster or Google or wherever.
The same goes for if you see bullying in the blog comments or on Social Media posts. Instead of ignoring those, again, REPORT them. I recently did that in a Facebook group when someone from my area posted that she was waiting in line for a cashier at a grocery store when someone else who is in line and their kids never wore a mask. I did report a few of those bullies to the group Admin. One of them called the person a “Karen” (No offense to anyone whose name is Karen). There is a way to do it. I prefer not to waste my time on educating on how to do that.
From personal experience, I know that there is a time and place to ignore a bully. Way before the internet, when I was 11 years old, is when the bullying started. My father’s advice was to ignore them. I didn’t know what “ignore” meant. I did ask my father, and he said, “Don’t talk to them, don’t at them.”
I did try to do that walking home from school. However, one of the bullies did ask me, “Are you deaf?” which got my attention. So, that wasn’t good advice.
Fast-forward to high school. I wasn’t being bullied all the time, but I do remember once that ignoring one did work. A day before, two fellow students that I was partnered with, in my drama class, decided not to practice what we were supposed to present. Instead, they wanted to play a matching game with me. I did, and suddenly, it goes uncomfortable. It went into adult territory, even when they said 69, and I said 70. Then they told me what the sex position of 69 was (Which I already knew).
The next day, I think that I had an exam in Drama, and when I finished, I left the class early. I realized that I had an English paper due that day, and I forgot to write it. So, I went into the lunchroom to do it. Those two same losers came to talk to me and play that stupid with me. I didn’t say much, and I didn’t look at them. Soon they realize that I was ignoring them and left. My homework was more important than they were. That’s the best time to ignore bullies.
Now we have the internet and social media, where everything that everyone posts will be there for the rest of our lives. This includes the comments that bullies make. I know that there are parents and teachers out there that are teaching kids what to do if they see rude comments from their peers. And that is to report to the FB people or to Admin in a group that they are in, or other social media sites that they are on. You can’t just ignore those comments. Besides, if a bully does make rude comments and doesn’t learn from their idiocy, they will get kicked out of the site or go to Facebook jail. (I know of a friend who is just going through that because he posted something political or bullied someone with such a post).
But there are another things that the victim can do. The first is to calm themselves down and not respond back. Instead, report it to their parents or teacher. And then block the bully.
