Cyberwellness - Cyberbullying and Danger with Cyber Contacts

Cyberbullying

According to Bill Belsey, the definition of cyberbullying is to involve the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.

Cyberbullying, to me, is against my conscience and we should never cyberbully. As we are given the privilege to surf the net, we should not abuse it and be responsible cyber citizens. A responsible cyber citizen should be polite to the people we talk to, be responsible for our actions and also remember that we should not give out our personal information.

Cyberbullying is a two-way thing, when you respect people, they in turn will give you due respect. When we are kind to others, they will be kind to you. However, if their comments turn nasty, we should immediately leave the chatroom or social networking site and seek proper help.

In my opinion, if you've been bullied online, it can be dealt with by seeking help from a counsellor, or a trusted adult. We should then avoid going online for a few days, so that the cyberbully will 'die off'. We should learn from the lesson not to give out personal information or get too close with unknown people online because you will never know the true identity of the person you are talking to online.

Danger with Cyber Contacts

Cyber contacts can refer to the people you interact with online. These people have unknown identities that we would not know of as they can be concealed very easily. We should never put too much trust into a cyberfriend, and never to reveal too much information about yourself. If the person requests for unreasonable things like meeting up face-to-face, decline the request promptly.

Cyber contacts can be dangerous and they may be sex offenders or even pedophiles which are very dangerous.

I have learnt that danger with cyber contacts is something very severe and can lead to dire consequences if we are not careful. We should never give out any of our personal information, be cyber-smart and know what is happening, seek advice from trusted adults if need be and to be a good netizen by not spamming or spewing vulgarities on social networking sites.

The End.

PL GRACE Values

There are 5 GRACE values in PL which we are encouraged to strictly adhere to. These GRACE values act like a ‘pillar’ in our school, supports us in our journey towards life and also acts as a motivation for us to strive for the best. The 5 GRACE values are Godliness, Respect, All-Round Excellence, Commitment, and Enthusiasm.

Godliness

Godliness is about living a life that is pleasing to God, and doing everything in God and for God. PL is a Christian school, we have a mission, and we live a virtuous and upright life. To live a life with Godliness sums up many major life values like honesty.

Respect
The second value, Respect, teaches us to put everybody before yourself and to treat your teachers, your peers and even yourself with honour and respect. Respect is an important value because when we are respected by society, we can aim high and far. We can respect ourselves by taking proper care of ourselves, making sure that we are properly attired when we come to school. This also shows that we respect the school and we are proud of it by wearing the school uniform in an exemplary manner. As the saying goes, respect others and others will respect you.

All-Round Excellence

The third value, All-Round Excellence, sets a goal for us to achieve excellence in everything that we do, be it academics or character. However, if we fail to achieve our goals, we can also learn to be resilient and get back up when we chance upon failures. It does not matter whether we fail, because what really matters is to learn a lesson throughout the entire experience. This would motivate us to do better the next time we try again. If we only excel in academics and yet have a terrible attitude towards life, it will not bring you anywhere far in life. This is why All-Round Excellence is important.

Commitment
The fourth value, Commitment, teaches us to be devoted to the tasks that we are assigned. When we are given an assignment, we should always put in our whole heart and soul, and not grumble or complain about the huge amount of work given to us. For example, in our school, PL emphasizes on character development and leadership skills strongly and thus gives us many platforms to perform well as leaders of the school. Being a student leader teaches me to put in my best in the tasks, and builds up my resilience and not to give up easily. Being committed to something also shows that we have a passion for it, which links back to our school’s mission, ‘to have a passion for life and learning’.

Enthusiasm
Last but not least, we have to be enthusiastic in anything that we do. Enthusiasm, to me, adds colour to life because it also shows we have a passion for what we do. Being enthusiastic means to give your very best in everything in do, not just only one. We can show enthusiasm by speaking up at the right times, and giving constructive feedback in discussions.

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