EDITORIAL: Blurred Lines

An overflow of possibilities circles the internet. It is able to bring the world, all 40,075 kilometres of its circumference, to the tip of your fingers. So, in a world that makes the tip of your appendage so powerful, many things could be achieved with previously unimagined ease. However, shouldn’t great power come with great responsibility?

The internet is a force so great that it was able to change the communication terrain. It is realm where the lines that define the truth and fantasy tend to blur. Such feature, easily recognizable among social networking platforms, lets lives converge at a single point. Immediately it makes what one chooses to share, open to the public.

When the lines are blurred, respect tends to go out the window. Mindless behaviour kicks in leading to irresponsible actions. Masked by anonymity, some people disregard the consequences of their actions.

The drawbacks of such scheme tend to reach fatal levels. Bullying all over the globe achieve headline status, which underlines a need for a much safer blogosphere. Early this year, 12 year old Fil-Am, Gabrielle Molina took her own life. She, among other teens, was a victim of cyber bullying.

After being attacked for such circumstances, social networking platforms are now on the move to providing a safer place for their users. Ask.fm for one is reviewing its policies, including those that provide anonymity to its users.

The government is now taking measures to prevent bullying in the domain of schools. Recently, the President signed the Republic Act 10627 or the “Anti-Bullying Act of 2013” which requires all elementary and secondary schools to adopt policies to prevent and address bullying.

According to the law, bullying is any “severe or repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination thereof, directed at another student that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm or damage to his property; creating a hostile environment at school for the other students.”

Perhaps, the invisibility which the internet provides is what others take comfort in. You are a stranger and the person you send rude commentaries to may never know who you are. Such circumstance gives the freedom to do as you please, even to the point of degradation.

The operative word here is “stranger”. Irresponsible actions done as an outsider to an experience is intolerable. Unfair judgement can cause harm to others, and often victims are affected psychologically with which you cannot easily measure the extent.

Words are effective weapons. The world has been a witness to that fact time and again. It sparked revolutions. It inspired change. And it has the power to potentially damage a person. Responsibility and accountability for one’s actions should be thought of first. Free speech and expression is a right so cherished that it is enshrined in our Constitution. However, it must be remembered that your right ends where the other person’s starts.

By Sherwin Gabrinez, Jr.