Social media and sexual abuse

SOCIAL MEDIA: AN INSTRUMENT OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND POOR SCHOOL PERFORMANCE. An Anti-Deductive Logic paper by Tinashe Mapirazuva INTRODUCTION This paper aims to outline the dangers of social media, that have overshadowed the benefits brought about by e learning technologies that enhance pupil education. Social Media is something like a social cancer that is threatening the future of our pupils. It has brought to the picture a new phenomenon called romaducation. Dating and sexting have replaced reading of books. From the way it looks now, social media is now a platform for talking about relationships, gossiping and watching western videos. The opposite of purposeful academic learning is the reality of what we have on the table because of social media. A new word has been developed to define the so-called social media queens, called slay queens. These slay queens have replaced academic achievers and kings of studies meaningful to the building of their bridges of life. Social media is, particularly Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp destroying the education fabric by replacing it with attention seeking behaviours, false realities and cultural erosion. No generation can prosper without cultural identity, manifested through behaviours and attitudes. In this paper, the reader will come across the benefits of social media, but the larger scope of this paper pays attention to the disadvantages of social media. SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PAPER Since the turn of the new millennium, advancements in technology have brought both positive and negative consequences to the overall know-how of our pupils. This paper addresses the challenges brought by social media and will benefit those in the institutional tentacles of education, teachers and students. Moreover, cultural erosion is corrected to a larger extent in this paper. Dedicated pupils and students committed to their educational endeavors and goals are given another chance to reflect on their behaviours and attitude towards their schoolwork and performance in the aftermath of the digital revolution. E-learning in schools has been replaced by E-rowdiness and ill behaviours affecting social -cultural relationships that are supposed to be maintained to build resilient households and communities. Moreover, parents are also encouraged to monitor and evaluate their children’s behaviour and see if the behaviour is rewarding failure or success as per their academic journeys. Social Media practitioners must be warned, and this paper stands as the warning because it is better to prevent having a lost generation than to correct an already lost and not found generation. PART 1 Sexting is now a ticking time bomb in the UK; it is posing a serious threat to their children’s behavior and the British morality. Coming back home, ironically social media has caused our under aged girls to become silent perpetrators of sexual abuse and rape without many people including parents, teachers ,law personnel, social workers and religious leaders at large noticing it.Cases of rape are now rampant and on the brink of sinking the girl child’s Titanic sailing to her dreams and ambitions. Has this been attributed to a lost cultural identity or perhaps it is merely an issue of a corrupted generation with a burning desire to take the dead end route. Teaching and imparting knowledge about good cultural values and responsible behavior has now become the forgotten and lost child that we need to find as soon as possible. Western technologies have brought upon a curse on our culture and we might end up with a completely lost generation, subjected to harsh social thunderstorms. Rape cannot be eradicated if social media behaviors and attitudes are not paid a visit forthwith. Definition of social media from Investopedia (2016) Social media is computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and information through the building of virtual networks and communities. By design, social media is internet-based and gives users quick electronic communication of content. Content includes personal information, documents, videos, and photos. Users engage with social media via computer, tablet or smartphone via web-based software or web application, often utilizing it for messaging. Social media is the magnet and the victims are the metal. Attention seeking behaviors on social media attracts a dangerous type of attention, which its power cannot be undermined. To cut the long story short, sexual abuse happens following a certain type of behavior portrayed by the victim before the act. What if the teenage girls were not aware of Facebook and Instagram digital social platforms, would they be aware of the beauty of their breasts, legs, eyes and body in the eyes of a grown up man? When she sends an attention seeking message through posting semi-naked pictures on Facebook or Instagram, she is subconsciously inviting sexual predators for a free lunch. Likewise in the jungle, if a kudu is lost or meddles in the lion territory, it simply becomes prey. The lion did not put any effort to bring the Kudu, but unfair principles and atoms of nature drove it into the predator’s territory. What social media is doing is that it is providing rape perpetrators with easy prey. One day as I was driving past joina city during the festive holidays, I noticed some underage girls taking pictures for their Facebook but what caught my attention is the way they were so obsessed with the appearance of their breasts in the picture, if they were appearing good enough to please their lovers. Social media has now become a safe haven for semi naked pictures and unsafe attention seeking behavior. Lack of good moral values and information about the dangers of social media is what is long gone in our communities. Focus should be shifted from emphasizing rape response to rape prevention through nurturing and building good social media bridges to avoid falling into the dirty and deep waters of western culture. Rape and sexual abuses are processes with clear stages and the final stage is that of physical penetration. The first stage is mental penetration which is made smooth by attention seeking behaviours on social media and the victims are usually the ones that take the first step through their attitudes towards social media and unsafe behaviors. The reality on the table is that social media forces minors to assume the role played by adults, without being fully aware of the consequences associated with such acts. Local Ngos, community groups and the government must mainstream the dangers of social media in their curriculums and train parents and guardians of the girl child to manage, correct and monitor their children’s behavior on social media. Prevention is better than cure, and the way to prevent child sexual abuses is by teaching them about the consequences of attention seeking behaviors on social media. Morally Corrupted men are taking advantage of young girls on social media and these are the same men that sell drugs to school children because he simply needs the money for his survival. Likewise, Sexually hungry men are taking advantage of underage girls on social media, to satisfy their Sexual appetite. Before paying attention to making the perpetrator pay for his deeds, the victims’ behaviours, interactions and actions must also be checked. The reason why rape and sexual abuse Continue to happen is because we are not drawing lessons from previous rape cases. There has to be a dual investigation to understand what really caused or drove the act to be at this particular juncture. If the findings have it that the girl had a bad digital social platform type of behavior, she must share the losses with the perpetrator, so that lessons for other girls can be drawn, in terms of appropriate behavior on social media. Lessons are the essence of development in all aspects of our system and environment. Potential victims should have lessons of what happens when one chooses inappropriate social behavior. These are young girls, of course they need our support, they cannot do it alone. This is a call for every citizen of Zimbabwe, to not take advantage of minors on social media, by falling for their naïve and vulnerable attention seeking behavior on social media. Earlier this year, on the eve of the well-known valentine’s day, a girl named Lorraine Guyo posted a video of herself asking guys to ask her out and buy her a gift for Valentine’s day, the Ndinyengeiwo video really went so viral that it drew the attention of many people including that of former ZANU PF youth Acie Lumumba Ok, perhaps she was so overwhelmed by her desperation of a gift in these dire economic challenges. Embracing the benefits of social media is the opposite of what is happening in our homes, schools and communities. Teenage pregnancies resulting in early child marriages are perpetrated on social media and television. Soapies, dramas and movies that children see on the screen puts minors and adults on the same bus of assuming that ‘we are adults ‘and it does not matter to be in a sexual relationship, that compromises her future. Similarly, social media is another big source of false information which may lead to the child relaxing, thinking that it is to gain a scholarship through false advertisements, which may see that the child may reduce performance.Meanwhile,inside the classroom,the education curriculum is being replaced by the romaducation curriculum, which usually takes places outside the classroom and has more severe consequences.If WhatsApp and facebook were fully maximized for Academic purposes,meaningful discussions,academic peer review mechanisms,with the clear objective to improve the studies of a student,so as to better their discussions,because in discussions they share meaningful experiences and ideas. Social media privacy(SMP)makes it difficult for parents to monitor their child’s behaviour and the main reason why he or she is using her phone whilst she is tucked in her bed.Furthermore parents born before the social media era,are not really aware of the dangers it poses.In my view,everystudent in highschool should not own a cellphone because many high school students are not manipulating e -learning,instead they are paying more attention to e-dating and pornography,downloading free music and social networking through facebook,instagram and whatsapp platforms.According to British Media Sources,sexting affects the way a child thinks inside the classroom and has long term effects.Technology,that is the social media being discussed in this paper is a good tool for education.What needs to be done,is for the pupils to be taught,exposed and brought to the good side of e libraries and e learning.Extra lessons are no longer an issue of relevance in this day and era.Online tutorials have the full and well explained educational information which equips the pupil with all exam weapons including tips,examples and grenades of past exam papers relevant to their curriculum. Written by Tinashe Mapirazuva