The Cybersmile Foundation
A non-profit organization dedicated to fight all forms of cyberbullying in order to improve mental health.
Throughout the last two decades, the boom of technological advancements has provided children with unlimited access to the online world. Though the internet is an incredible tool for creating connections both locally and globally, with it a dangerous concept was born: cyberbullying. Around half of all teenagers have been affected by cyberbullying one way or another during their lifetimes, often through social media platforms where anonymous accounts are nearly as numerous as real profile. With this sudden increase in cyberbullying, it is important for organizations such as the Cybersmile Foundation to step up.
Founded in 2010, Cybersmile has worked to establish a more kind, compassionate, diverse, and safe place for children and adults alike to enjoy the internet. Now the largest nonprofit dedicated to anti-cyberbullying, Cybersmile offers consultations, community support, and information for children and their families to use during instances of online harassment.
The internet was created to connect people, no matter where you’re from or where you are. Over 4.54 billion people are on the internet, just over 59% of the global population, and yet we are still figuring out how to interact with each other online. Cybersmile’s mission is to give all internet users a safe space to interact and grow.
Cybersmile uses a three pronged approach when it comes to fighting cyberbullying: awareness, education, and support. The awareness pillar uses research and online social media campaigns to learn more about the issues and spread their findings whilst getting the community involved. The education pillar uses school resources and website resources to inform children and teens about the issues going on while offering helpful links. Lastly, the support pillar gives students access to assistance via social media, the website, and phone in addition to providing a community that will help the students and their families with whatever they need.
A unique aspect of the Cybersmile Foundation is that they use video games as a method of raising awareness, educating, and offering support. Many of their video game packages teach children and teens how to work together in order to achieve a common goal. This approach gives children an interactive way to learn how to deal with online conflict and channel their energy into teamwork.
There are several ways to get involved with Cybersmile. The foundation offers thousands of jobs annually for those who have a deep caring nature for those around them and wish to help the community. You work with a creative and compassionate staff dedicated to helping others, which can be very rewarding. Another way to help out is to fundraise or donate to the cause. Through sending small amounts, you are able to make a serious impact on young lives. The last way you can help is to volunteer! Instead of finding a full time job, you can spend time educating the community or offering online support. There are several workshops and activities where you can contribute in their fight against cyberbullying.
Overall, the Cybersmile Foundation has changed thousands of lives and will only continue to do so with the help of the community. In our fast-paced digital world, it is up to us to decide when to draw the line between fantasy and reality. Cyberbullying is real, whether you can see how the person is affected or not. With organizations such as these, we have a real fighting chance to use the internet as a tool for connecting and changing the world for better.
The Social Network: The Thrilling Story of Largest Global Social Media Platform
A breakdown of the three time Oscar winning film illustrating Mark Zuckerberg’s rise from college student to billionaire.
The 2010 film The Social Network, directed by David Fincher with screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, was the subject of controversy upon its release. The thriller takes the audience through the 2003 Harvard semester of Mark Zuckerberg, a bright computer programmer though mildly socially awkward, as he develops the social media giant globally recognised today as “Facebook.” The story encompasses the pain of heartbreak, the allure of money and fame, and highlights the relationships sacrificed in order to make it to the top. Fincher and Sorkin do a brilliant job highlighting the delicacy of human relationships whilst illustrating the potential of a digital world, yet the ending leaves the audience wondering if all of the damage done to real life relationships was worth the friendships gained via the internet.
Since the development of Facebook, the way in which humans interact has been altered tremendously. Sites developed before, such as Myspace and Friendster, were created with the intention of sharing content online, but Facebook was actually intended to mimic the social interactions found in real life. As shown in the film, Zuckerberg originally developed the idea to take the personal interactions of real life and transfer those interactions into an online database of photos and profiles. Though the film did highlight the immense success and ingenuity of Zuckerberg, the main underlying theme discusses the negative impacts the internet has on real life relationships.
In some of the earlier scenes of the film, Zuckerberg creates a site on the university server that steals the photos of all females on campus and allows people to rank their attractiveness. The male students are instantly excited by the new site, whereas the females are beyond disgusted by the clear lack of respect. Though this idea seems far off and immoral by todays social media standards, platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow individuals to subconsciously judge the attractiveness of their peers via profile photos and shared content. Though this is not the main focus of social media profiles, we as a society have begun to confuse online beauty with actual beauty.
When Zuckerberg initially created this website, he was able to identify the key aspects of both the internet and human nature that keeps people hooked on the social media platforms. This raises the question: is it necessarily wrong to value online interaction equal to or over that of face-to-face interactions?
Well, the answer is complicated. As shown in The Social Network, the real life relationships of the characters slowly begin to crumble as they search to add more details to their online profiles. Zuckerberg gains hundreds of thousands of online friends at the same time he loses every single friendship he has in real life. This situation is relatively common in todays digital world. Social media influencers boast millions of followers, liking and commenting on every post, but it is impossible to have millions of actual friends in the real world.
In the case of Nate Garner, a 21 year-old Instagram influencer from California, the young internet star claims that his rise in internet fame has resulted in the loss of offline friends.
“It got to the point where I was suicidal and I didn’t really like myself at all…I’d say [to myself], ‘I get why they hate you.’”
Nick Garner, New York Post 2018
Cases like this are all too common as the influencer industry has risen to an all-time high. Being famous online has seemingly replaced the need for internet celebrities to forge offline relationships. The creation of Facebook is arguable the largest contributer to this social phenomenon, now defining relationships in the 21st century.
The Social Network experiments with the actual story, changing and dramaticizing the history just enough to delineate the negative impacts of social media on our everyday lives. After watching this film, the audience is able to visualize what our online life is costing us. More than that, it shows exactly what these social media giants were willing to sacrifice in the process of giving the public the ultimate tool for global connection or, rather, disconnection: authentic human relationships.
Thanks to films such as The Social Network, we are able to reflect on what our values are as human beings. Today, Facebook is seeing a massive decrease in usage with platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat developing new ways to interact online, but the story of it’s creation can teach us a valuable thing about life. Relationships come and go, but the ones we choose to surround ourselves with in the real world are the ones that leave a substantial mark on our lives. As we continue to advance technologically as a society, we need to remember to slow down and appreciate those around us before we find that we have 500,000 friends online, but no one to talk to in the world around you.
More Dangerous Than Drug Addiction?
How your phone addiction might just be taking over your life more than you think.
In an age driven by technological advancements, it is rare to find someone without access to technology in a first world country. Newspapers have been replaced by online news sources, letters have been swapped for emails and texts, and cherished photo albums have been turned into an Instagram feed. Our generations legacy will be an internet-connected world, full of both infinite possibilities and infinite disconnect. Though we are disconnected physically, there are many benefits of the internet, but studies now show that our reliance on social media and, by extension, technology is more powerful than drug addiction.
In Heidelberg University, a German public university studied the brains of individuals addicted to their smartphones compared to those not addicted. The results they found were very similar to those of drug addicts, such as cocaine users. The grey area of the brain, which is in charge of many cognitive skills, was severely impacted, leading to several downfalls such as mental health issues, decreased oral and written skills, and issues with creativity. The physical changes to the brain, such as the shrinkage of the grey area in the brain, has only been seen in drug abusers. What are the implications for future human intelligence if phone usage is only increasing?
The term “smartphone addiction” is often only associated with the overuse and anti-social behaviour, but the actual term could mean something more severe than we think. The constant new innovations only bring more and more customers each year, but is the device itself the addictive aspect or, rather, the applications downloaded?
A New York Times article published in early February 2020, recounts the stories over 300 students in regards to their phone addiction. Based on their answers, the reason for the excessive usage can be largely placed on social media. Many students feel as though they are unable to stop using platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat as a result of FOMO (fear of missing out). Previously, FOMO could be used to describe the feeling of missing out on a social gathering or not going to work, but today’s FOMO is more central around your social presence online. These students ranked social media presence, i.e. keeping up your online “appearance” and staying up to date on what your friends specifically had for breakfast, as the most addictive and time consuming thing on their phone.
Many social media platforms were actually founded using the science of dopamine to heighten user engagement. The act of giving likes and comments actually sends signals to your brain to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for sending signals from your nerve cells to your brain. This dopamine then has your brain craving the action, or sensation, that you just performed just as we would crave a glass of water when we are thirsty. This physiological “flaw” in human nature has be used by several social media giants almost to a point of no return.
“When a gambler feels favoured by luck, dopamine is released…This is the secret to Facebook’s era-defining success: we compulsively check the site because we never know when the delicious ting of social affirmation may sound.”
Natasha Schüll, Addiction By Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas
Sounds familiar, right? Social media addiction has eerily similar qualities to drug addiction: craving a high given only by completing an action, not knowing what the next experience will be, trying to quit yet ultimately struggling to leave it behind. The parallels between social media and drugs is seemingly a stretch, and yet the symptoms and effects on the brain are nearly identical. Due to the controversial nature of these situations, one could begin to question the ethics of these social media giants. Are they taking advantage of young impressionable minds in order to profit, or is technology solely a tool for innovation? Are we equipping our youth with tools to better take on the future, or are we hindering their ability to have one?
These are questions we must ask ourselves if we wish to fight the deteoriation of human creativity and intelligence. Though media has the potential to connect the entire globe through one singular screen, we are losing our connection with the ones closest to us and, in a way, ourselves. Our generations legacy has the potential to change the world, but we can not allow ourselves to be lost in the process. Sometimes we need to pull out the family photo album, send our friends abroad a hand written letter, maybe even pick up a local newspaper. These small things, though tedious, remind us that we are human, not a series of 1’s and 0’s.
Corona Virus ‘Infodemic’: More Harmful Than the Actual Disease?
The current situation in China with coronavirus has extended well past the countries borders. New stories from all over the world continue to announce a new confirmed case, the death toll seemingly increasing each day. The severely contagious nature of this disease has caused panic in several countries worldwide, but is this disease as deadly as the media makes it out to be?
Not according to Aleksandra Kuzmanovic, a worker in the World Health Organization. With the continuous media coverage on the virus, Kuzmanovic argues that the media is only spreading hate and racism instead of analysing the actual situation.
Social media has been allowing false information to spread quickly, the subject recently entering popular “meme culture.” Today, most teenagers and adults in first world countries have access to social media platforms and, with them, the content being spread. Often times there is no way to filter out false information quick enough to prevent a widespread misconception, such as the case with corona virus.
Throughout the entire globe, we are now able to see the consequences of this ‘infodemic’ as hate and racism wedge their way in to everyday interactions.
On February 12th, 2020, a student at the New School in New York was assaulted by an unknown man due to her asian heritage. The man referenced corona virus before running off; the police have been unable to locate the man. Situations such as these display the utter lack of respect for those of asian heritage, replacing compassion for ignorance and fear.
These instances of racism stem from the lack of accurate information which produces an unnecessary amount of panic, begging the question: has social media made an already devastating issue worse?
In 2003, the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused for major panic worldwide, resulting in exclusion and racism towards the Chinese. The two situations, the SARS outbreak of 2003 and 2020’s corona virus, are nearly identical, but the only things that actually remained the same is the spread of hate and the outbreaks epicenter occurring in a non-caucasian country.
The expression “history repeats itself” unfortunately is now manifesting itself in the form of “concern for public safety.” To clarify, the general public is now using the corona virus hysteria as a way to mask racist words and behaviour. In a culture so obsessed with being politically correct, why are we now spreading such blatant racism?
According to Francesco Spinazzola, a writer for Il Fatto Quotidiano, the sudden outbreaks in Northern Italy are less an issue of heath, but rather an excuse for racism to spread. Businesses and public officials are now cautioning against eating out at Chinese restaurants, claiming that mere exposure to anything related to China is a danger to public health. These messages are allowed to spread via social media platforms and television, which in turn alters the opinions of the general public.
Social media platforms such as Tik Tok and Instagram have become a battle ground between anonymous racist comments and politically correct users trying to filter the negative content. Any picture posted in Northern Italy is now greeted with an overwhelming amount of comments referencing corona virus.
Not only does this expose the youngest generation to an endless and often uncensored amount of hateful content, but it also normalizes often harmful behaviour. The words and content found online ultimately begins to affect how we as humans interact with one another. When situations such as this coronavirus outbreak occur, we have to reflect on how our actions online will impact the society we live in and, by extension, our relationships as humans.
Fitness Goals: For Yourself or the Picture?
A look how the way we base our own fitness goals is off of the unattainable appearances of social media influencers.
Every year, thousands of new clients rush to the gym after making “new year, new me” resolutions, striving to become the best version of themselves they can be, but what really motivates people to achieve the body of their dreams? Is it the sudden weight gain from the winter holidays or perhaps a method to deal with post New Years festivities guilt? Cassey Ho argues that many of these fitness goals are actually based off of unattainable standards set by social media influencers.
“Platforms like Instagram can tell us exactly who is the most followed and therefore the most influential at this very second. Naturally these influencers have become the new beauty standard.”
Cassey Ho, Glamour, 2019
Ho is currently doing what most influencers seemingly find impossible: exposing the falsities found on social media. Being a fitness influencer herself, exposing the false beauty standards, especially in regards to body expectations, is almost tempting her followers to critique her own page. Instead, many fans were supportive of the body positive movement and the method in which Ho brought light to the subject.
The fitness model decided to create a video, using her successful Youtube channel, to assess the most common features of the 100 most popular Instagram models. She then edited her own images, of both her body and face, and compared her results to the unedited images. Ho came to conclusion that the top 100 women on Instagram were predominately curvy with flat stomachs, yet no visible abs.
By extension, the bodies of many of these top influencers were altered by plastic surgery. When looking at these women, how can we base our body goals off of unrealistic body types? Cassey Ho’s research shows that Instagram beauty is actually largely based off of photoshop and plastic surgery, which demonstrates how false our expectations can be.
In February of this year, Sia Cooper, another fitness influencer, felt inspired by the research of Cassey Ho and decided to spread her own message. Cooper edited a series of images of herself and edited them to match the ideal body standards of each decade, starting from the 1920’s continuing to present day. She found that the ideal body has actually fluctuated significantly since the roaring 20’s, stating that women used to value the more athletic build, but has since become a series of ever so unreachable goals.
Cooper chooses to add to the caption a message of encouragement for all of her followers, asserting that self-image and self-acceptance should come before the expectations of the media. Based on the photos, you see that even the “athletic” body types idealised in the 80’s were mostly influenced by the modelling industry, not out of the benefit for public health.
“This is why I love sharing messages about body image because I know I have younger girls following me who’ve been conditioned to hate their bodies thanks to the celebrities they follow.”
Sia Cooper, Shape 2020
We are now starting to challenge these unrealistic standards by accepting all different body types and skin tones, but more and more we are noticing these overall trends in social media celebrities. No one is forcing us to follow these specific stars, but at the same time we find ourselves drawn to a certain type of image being branded to millions of others. If social media has supposedly made the internet a place of complete equality for all different looking women, then why is there a formula for beauty?
Four time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles has claimed that even her, an international idol for gymnastics, has been affected by the media’s beauty standards. In terms of overall fitness, Biles would be considered among the most in-shape and athletic people, yet she is still not what we idealise when we think of fitness goals. When most head to the gym, many envision being thin and toned, with a flat stomach and well-defined features, but is this only for the aesthetics?
When did becoming fit depend on others opinions instead of your own self-acceptance? Is this the legacy that social media is leaving? In the most accepting age for body positivity and racial equality, we as humans still find ways to crave something else. With all of the photoshop and plastic surgery, we are beginning to take the “real” out of “reality.”
Being healthy is the biggest priority when considering drastically altering the way you look, but it’s not always easy to accept that some things are unique to you and do not need to be changed. When looking at images on social media, remind yourself that physical beauty is not defined by other humans; beauty is something you have to define yourself. So the next time you add the gym to your list of new years resolutions, question who you’re doing it for: yourself or everyone else?
The Disconnect 