1.12.2017
BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, speaking at the launch of the "Cyberbullying Awareness Project," emphasized that they would support all kinds of efforts to minimize the negative impacts caused by cyberbullying.
The launch meeting of the "Cyberbullying Awareness Project," conducted by Samsung Electronics and supported by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), was held at BTK's premises. Participants included BTK Board Member Figen Kılıç, Samsung Electronics Turkey President DaeHyun Kim, Prof. Dr. Emel Şerife Baştürk Akça, Head of the Journalism Department and Informatics Main Discipline at Kocaeli University Faculty of Communication, and sector representatives.
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE ARE MOST EXPOSED TO CYBERBULLYING
BTK President Sayan emphasized that as BTK, they fully support efforts to equip young people and children with the best technological capabilities without losing their own culture, national, and spiritual values. He stated, "While technology and technological developments, especially the internet, make our lives easier, negative situations can sometimes occur. We see that one of these negatives, cyberbullying, manifests as the intentional and systematic sending of written or visual messages aimed at hostility, intimidation, threats, suppression, or harassment towards individuals or groups through information and communication technologies. This situation is contrary to our civilization of tolerance and understanding and to a high level of humanity. Unfortunately, many studies show that those most exposed to this are children and young people. In the face of this reality, it is our duty to conduct studies to eliminate cyberbullying or reduce it to a minimum level. As a nation, we come from a high level of humanity, an enlightening belief system, a divine love, and a civilization of tolerance. Hz. Mevlana invites us to this value system, divine love, and tolerance with his call: 'We are beautiful, you become beautiful too, adorn yourself. Take on our disposition, get used to us, not to others.' We desire that our children and young people grow up equipped with technology and attached to this civilization of tolerance, and that they be beneficial to our nation."
THE RATE OF CYBERBULLYING VICTIMS IN OUR COUNTRY IS 20%
Providing information on studies conducted worldwide and in our country, especially after 2010, regarding cyberbullying, Sayan listed the statistical data:
"While 21% of internet users in Canada have been exposed to cyberbullying, 69% have witnessed it. In the UK, this figure is recorded as over 20%, and in our country, the rate of those exposed to cyberbullying is 20%. In America, 20% of those who had to deal with cyberbullying have thought about suicide. Again in America, it has been found that people exposed to cyberbullying have twice the suicide risk compared to others. These figures are only from those who reported their experiences. If we consider those who were exposed but did not confess, we can easily say that these rates are even higher."
MOST YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE BULLIED IGNORE IT
President Sayan also shared prominent statistics from the last 2 years in his speech: "Looking at statistics from studies on cyberbullying in the last 2 years, more than 1/3 of cyberbullying victims are inclined towards revenge, 20% feel helpless, and a similar number feel anger. 25% of young people are subjected to repeated bullying via mobile phones or the internet. 11% of adolescents and young people report that embarrassing or harmful photos were taken and shared without their knowledge or consent. 33% of young people who report cyberbullying against them say that cyberbullies publish online threats. 95% of young people who witness bullying on social media say they ignore this behavior. The most critical point is that more than 50% of young people do not trust their families and cannot share their secrets when they encounter a cyberbullying incident. Cyberbullying victims face severe emotional problems, vulnerability, and negative impacts on their professional and life success, academic, and social development due to being hurt. As a result, cyberbullying victims may experience depression, self-confidence issues, fear, sadness, disappointment, shame, alcohol and drug use, distrust, academic failure, school avoidance, and feelings of loneliness."
EVERYONE HAS IMPORTANT ROLES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CYBERBULLYING
Reminding that educators, families, young people, NGOs, the private sector, and relevant public institutions and organizations have very important duties and responsibilities in the fight against cyberbullying, Sayan advised in his speech: "At this point, educators can contribute to this fight by keeping the issue on the agenda, sharing the student's situation with parents, controlling the student's internet traffic at school, providing positive feedback to students who report views and complaints, empathizing with students and being a good friend, and creating anonymous complaint boxes within the school. Families can take necessary infrastructure measures on the computer and other technological devices their child uses, monitor their internet shares and the quality of groups they join online. By maintaining constant dialogue with their children and observing them, staying in constant communication with the school, paying attention to even the smallest incidents, preserving any evidence of cyberbullying if obtained, identifying the bully and contacting their parent, families can lend a shoulder to this fight. Considering that cyberbullies especially bully through individuals' shares, young people can protect themselves by keeping personal information private, being careful with the photos they share, not responding to behavior directed at them. Additionally, by blocking cyberbullies and reporting them to relevant authorities, not meeting people they met online but do not know in person, sharing the treatment they are subjected to with their family and teachers, saving messages where the cyberbully harasses them as evidence, and notifying security personnel if there is a threat, they can support this fight."
BTK IS CONDUCTING MULTI-FACETED STUDIES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CYBERBULLYING
Stating that wherever they go, in every school and every event, they draw attention to this issue, Sayan said, "Since 2010, one of the most important topics in the trainings and seminars we have given and continue to give to students, parents, educators, judicial and administrative authorities in many provinces of Turkey on the conscious, safe, and effective use of the internet is cyberbullying and the fight against it. This fight is currently being carried out by 400 trainer teachers we have trained and over 100,000 teachers they have trained. These studies have been turned into educational modules and offered through EBA. Our institution's experts have given seminars on this topic to more than 60,000 students in over 40 provinces and continue to do so. We effectively continue our awareness activities on this topic with brochures and other materials created by our institution. With our Awareness Center and Internet Help Center established under the Safe Internet Center we recently opened, we are intensively continuing our work in this direction. I would like to inform you that one of the 10 main headings of the web portal of our Internet Help Center, which we will officially launch soon and which will provide services online, is cyberbullying. Additionally, I want you to know that we will soon put into service our mobile safe internet truck project to spread these awareness activities across the country, bring our children and young people together with new technologies, and inform about the benefits and risks of the internet, especially cyberbullying."
WE WILL SUPPORT EVERY POSITIVE EFFORT FOR OUR CHILDREN
Emphasizing that they would be happy to provide all kinds of support to projects and studies related to cyberbullying, Sayan said, "As an institution, while conducting many studies on the conscious, safe, and effective use of the internet, we are extremely pleased to support projects related to different dimensions of the internet, especially cyberbullying, which we are launching today with Samsung, with our knowledge and experience. I want you to know that as BTK, we will support and contribute to every positive effort that touches our nation's life, especially our children's, to minimize the risks of the internet and the negative impacts caused by cyberbullying. The project introduced here today is one of them. Under this project, trainings on cyberbullying are planned to be given to families, teachers, students, and educators. I believe that this work will reduce cyberbullying incidents among our young people and children in particular and create good awareness on cyberbullying."
CONSCIOUS USE OF THE INTERNET IS REQUIRED
Emphasizing the importance of first and foremost consciously using communication tools and the internet to protect against cyberbullying, Sayan warned young people: "To prevent our accounts used on the internet and social media from being stolen by cyberbullies, it is extremely important to set strong passwords that are hard to guess, keep security (antivirus, etc.) software up to date, apply ethical rules from face-to-face relationships in the virtual environment, delete messages from unknown people without reading them, reject friend requests from people we don't know, not share personal information that should not be shared, verify the accuracy of information obtained from the internet, be cautious against scam sites, and additionally, internet users to act with the awareness that 'self-control' is in themselves."
Sayan concluded his speech by expressing his hope that the project would be a balm for the societal wound of cyberbullying, thanking Samsung Electronics for initiating the project and everyone who has contributed and will contribute to it.