Mail in your “most embarrassing, disgusting, humiliating, dirtiest, silliest confessions” to be posted anonymously so that “everyone can have a laugh.”
Student leaders and authorities at NUI Galway have lashed out at a new Facebook phenomenon where anonymous postings on a web page – purporting to be from students at the college – boast of heavy drinking sessions and sexual exploits...including rape.
Confessions of a Uni Student has already attracted more than 120,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook, with sub-pages for each of the main colleges around the country also drawing thousands of visitors.
The pages contain sexual and explicit content, referring to and often glorifying rape and sexism as well as alcohol abuse and anti-social behaviour.
The administrator of the social networking page urges students to mail in their ‘most embarrassing, disgusting, humiliating, dirtiest, silliest confessions’ to be posted anonymously on the Facebook wall so that ‘everyone can have a laugh’.
College authorities were quick to condemn the social media trend, warning students of the consequences of damaging the University’s reputation.
“NUI Galway implements a Code of Conduct which applies to all students attending the University. Students are regularly reminded of the importance of adhering to this code.
“The University would expect all students to behave responsibly and to respect the University’s reputation, and more importantly their own welfare in all circumstances including their use of social media,” said a spokesperson last week.
And that official stance was echoed by the Vice President and Education Officer of NUI Galway Students’ Union Conor Stitt, who said: “Not only does [this page] have a cringe-worthy sense of humour, but [it] trivializes anti-social behaviour and sexism to a huge degree.”
The webpage has also been condemned by authorities and student leaders at UCC and the
“Everyone can have a laugh.”
Though the original ‘Confessions of a Uni Student’ page has a disclaimer stating that the page is in no way affiliated with any college and that any offensive content will be removed on request, there are numerous explicit ‘confessions’ on the sub-pages.
The emergence of social media pages like these further emphasises the growing danger of such comments on social networking sites and highlights a trend of public naivety in endorsing such sites.
Ask.fm is one social network site that is making the virtual not only a reality but a living hell for some teenagers who are subjected to cyber bullying through the website.
Ireland has been rocked by the death of another Irish teenager who endured online bullying as an active member of the controversial Ask.fm. Erin Gallagher 13 was found dead at her family home this weekend. Erin took her own life just hours after posting messages on the social networking site saying she was being bullied. She then revealed on the website ask.fm how she was going to take her own life
The death of 15 year old Leitrim schoolgirl Ciara Pugsley is another such high profile case; Ciara experienced extreme bullying through the anonymous site, ask.fm, in the months leading to her suicide.
Ask.fm is a website that allows people to ask questions anonymously – but it is often used as a platform for bullying and, as in the case of the Leitrim teenager, can clearly have a serious result on mental health and cause emotional stress for the victim.
We talk about the safety of children, the upcoming Children’s Referendum is set to place the child at the heart of the constitution if passed on November 10th but how do we protect the vulnerable from what can become 24/7 torture . How do we stop the virtual bullying becoming a reality?
Ryan Tubriby recently described social networking as “A personal soap Opera 24/7”. He was right. Social networking has become much more than a means of communication, it has become about vanity, self-obsession and the need to impress others. We are all guilty of this, no matter how much we pretend this is not true to our own lives.
This self-obsessed vanity that social networking has created is what is shaping the minds of our teenagers. As a teenager, I didn’t have a means of social networking; it didn’t exist outside of text messages.
Bullying still existed but not to the extent it does today. It could be left in the playground; but now it follows us home, it appears when we open the laptop and we cannot blame our most vulnerable.
Our teenage years as we all can remember are the most influential; we all want and wanted to fit it. It’s natural, but what is not natural is that children are being driven to such extreme measures as suicide to escape pain that will in time heal.
The youth of today need to realize it gets better. The pain and anguish you may be experiencing right now because of a bully, an online tormentor it will go away.
There are people who care, people who want to help. It’s not easy but it takes a little courage to stand up but believe in you and believe that it gets better.
It’s time to stand up and stop the powers social networking has created, Ask.fm and “Confessions of a Uni Student” while harmless to one person, perhaps not to another. Posting comments so “everyone can have a laugh” is one thing but what about Amanda Todd, Ciara Pugsley, Phoebe Prince, and now Erin Gallagher.
They didn’t find it funny, infact these young girls didn’t find it funny at all. They are all now dead and I urge you if you are reading this and know someone who is being bullied to stand up for them and let them be heard.
Helplines are available Childline 1800 666656 and Teen Ireland 1800 833634.
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