"Confessions" Social Networking and the increased link to cyberbullying

 

 

 

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 University of Limerick this week – but the blog is still attracting new followers in drove.

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.

The death of 15 year old Leitrim schoolgirl Ciara Pugsley is one 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.