People get their lives destroyed online. Remember those girls who flipped off an influencers camera at a baseball game? Even family members of theirs were doxxed and fired from their jobs over that. Cyberbullying victims these days get swatted, doxxed, harassed in real life, fired, stalked, driven from their homes even. “Turn off the device” helped when cyberbullying was literally just some mean comments. You don’t even have to open an app to have your life wrecked by it anymore.
Yeah exactly. I think we need a new term. Because the behavior is more comprehensive and serious than is implied by "cyber bullying". I take it seriously but that is because I know this goes beyond just some mean words or a wedgie.
Bullying implies the victim must be present. But with cyber bullying you could have entire groups and forums dedicated to targeting one person. The bullies will be there planning, acting, and amping each other up wether the victim engages with them or not.
More like cyber terrorism than cyber bullying
It is exactly like cyberterrorism.
Doxxing and swatting, especially when they lead to IRL harassment, can both fall under "Cyberterrorism"
Engaging with them does make it far, far worse, in basically every scenario. Like there's never been a single case where trying to talk down the haters, or convince them to stop pans out properly. Hell even when there is a legitimate controversy that happens, most companies have found out that the best PR strategy is to not respond at all and just let the allegations get ignored.
You can get fired for flipping off an influencer? If anything you should get a raise.
How did they get fired over that? Who are these people?
They got fired because the influencer said “look how they are making fun of me… but in reality this influencer has a wide shot and was filming a bunch of people behind her without consent. When I saw everyone on the side of the influencer I couldn’t believe it. I too would hate to be filmed without my consent like just film your own face
Somehow found out the restaurant they were working at and gave it (fraudulent) low ratings until their boss let them go
So the meme is stupid. Gotcha.
Is this the older dude "blocking" and "closing the app" irl?
Editing to add, and perhaps doing so after his daughter "reported" to him?
I was wondering that too, didn't think of the reporting part tho.
That's what it looks like to me too. Otherwise I don't see a joke.
I suspect that this method is unoriginal and doesn't really work, similar to telling someone with depression to smile more
Is it actually bad advice? This seems like really good and highly effective advice
I think it's getting to the issue if a person gets threatened over the phone, and they go to the police, the police could just say "well don't answer the phone then". Because the focus is on the method (technology) and not on the action (the person breaking the law by making death threats).
Basically, as long as you make the threats over the right medium (internet), you're exempt from the legal consequences.
Well what are they supposed to do? If they use a practically untraceable method to harass you, what can you do except ignore them?
I think that might be the point. Attempting to solve the actual problem is hard, and telling someone to just "close your eyes" is easy, but ultimately not helpful. It's better to just not give any advice if your advice isn't actually helpful.
Just saw something similar on a post the other day where this lady got scammed. It was full of criticism, ridicule and things the lady should have done. Nothing about the scammers like they're a feature of life, and if you get scammed it's 100% your fault for falling for it. Rather than it being the scammer in the wrong for scamming in the first place.
How is reporting not helpful if it ultimately bans the bully from using the platform?
I didn't say anything about "don't report it" What I said was responding to someone reporting bullying/a threat or something similar with "just log off, there problem solved" is not helpful.
It is helpful though, that’s the thing you should do. Should the police just say “sucks for you, nothing we can do about it”?
It's very different to say: hey, I think this became very unsafe for you, maybe stay off the app for now for your own safety. We get someone else to gather all the evidence and report everything
Or saying: well, I solved the issue, if you get off the app, nothing is happening (like revenge porn distributed to your contacts online) and nothing else will happen (like people figuring out where you live)!
Oftentimes, they do. And some things are just not appropriate for cookie-cutter solutions. A smart bully will work around this sort of stock response, or learn to incorporate it. E.g. if a school says they have a zero tolerance policy and punish everyone involved, a bully could falsely report you as bullying them to get you in trouble
Someone making threats over the phone vs on an online forum is very different
Why?
It's probably the best option you have as someone being bullied by being sent messages within the app, but it's not "a way to stop cyberbullying" for multiple reasons (it may not actually get even this account of the bully blocked, but they can always create another one; it forces the victim to remove themselves from the app and therefore all social contacts within the app; it assumes "cyberbullying" is merely sending messages within the app and not the bully abusing the reporting system, doxxing, swatting etc).
More importantly to the context of the comic the old man is offering him the same solution to getting his approval. Young guy has "solved" cyber bullying by having the victim no longer involve themselves in social contact not just with the bully but with anyone on the app, old guy is offering him a "solution" where he removes himself from contact with his daughter to deal with him.
if you really want you can create a million new accounts or use someone else phone or even let someone else do the bullying
Your reply shows an apparent dependence on social media for any and all social interaction, which produces a vulnerability someone could easily exploit if they want to hurt you. Your opinion only strengthens my view that closing the app would be the healthiest thing to do for a victim of this kind of harassment.
Reporting the abuser is also a valid and wise first step. If they are interacting with you in a way you do not approve of, or posting about you or using your likeness without your consent, reporting and blocking will remove their ability to interact with you directly, and has a chance of removing offensive content directed at you. If they choose to circumvent the report/ block, you need only do it again. This will lesen their attack, and if they're the kind that feed on reaction, giving them no acknowledgment at all could very likely end the attack.
Both doxxing and swatting are examples of harm he gave that have nothing to with "soley depending on social media for social interaction".
I'll also add "harrasing real life family members/friends online". Asking the victim to get off social media is one thing, but asking everyone around him to do so is no longer an option. And the rl social circle will often prefer to cut contact with the victim rather than start constantly blocking people, so it turns from "only social media" to "most social interactions in general"
Simply put, "closing the app and blocking, getting off social media" won't really help. Not saying that keeping it open and reacting will help, but closing it is just a tiny drop of water compared to where the actual harm comes in. So that advice is often pretty much useless.
I honestly reject your argument completely. To start with sending false notes to your boss to try to get you fired, showing up at your place of work in person, having the SWAT team show up, and releasing photoshopped pictures of you in compromising situations are are all forms of "cyberbullying" and getting off the app will do absolutely nothing for any of those.
But even if we limit ourselves to interactions within a single social group (e.g. discord server or subreddit) I'm not saying the victim needs to cease all social interactions, just all social interactions within that app. Someone who plays Call of Duty every Friday night with the same group of people on a discord server does not have an unhealthy dependency on Discord, they have a friend group the same as if they met with the same group of people at a restaurant every Friday night. To say the "solution" to a bully joining that server is for them to stop playing CoD with their friends on Friday night might be the best option given how online bullying works (it also might not depending on the server and server admins), but it's not a "solution."
Super importantly, though, your argument falls down completely if you think the old guy's behavior is unacceptable. If the healthiest solution for a victim of harassment is to withdraw from that friend group because they're dependent on an app to mediate it then by analogy the healthiest solution to girlfriend's dad is to withdraw from her house because he's too dependent on property he doesn't own for his relationship with his girlfriend. I would actually argue that the options he has under Dad's bullying are considerably more acceptable than his "solution" to online bullying (again, even limiting ourselves to a very, very narrow definition of "online bullying") because he can still meet the daughter, just not at her house. In a lot of cases of modern online communities the members have no way of meeting outside that community.
I was cyberbullied back when that term was really only just entering the vernacular. I just used the word vernacular, so, like, understandable but still not acceptable behavior. Anyway, they made a series of YouTube videos mocking me and shared it with everyone they knew. Basically, everyone in all of the classes in my grade. So, basically, everyone saw it. This person barely ever spoke with or interacted with me in person ever, to the extent that I still don't understand why he even did it. I actually liked him and thought he was a cool guy before all that. Regardless, he was able to bully me and make me a subject of mockery and ridicule without any direct interaction with me at all. It didn't even really matter if I watched the content or not. So me being online had very little to do with it at all.
This was back in the 2000s, before social media was at all common place among kids my age. YouTube itself was still in it's early Google years. I can't imagine how difficult it would be when literally everyone your age exists, in large part, online and through social media. That would be isolating in a way so far beyond what I had to deal with.
At the start of our relationship, my girlfriend got stalked, harassed, and bullied online by her ex's (then) current girlfriend. She blocked her, made her account private, and started a new account under a persona being careful what she posted, but this girl kept finding ways to track my girlfriend's socials. The girl went as far as contacting people local to our area and asking for access to their account to continue stalking her profiles and contacted my friends and family to try to stir up drama.
We had enough and decided to go to the police about it. We printed off every piece of chat conversation my girlfriend has had with this girl and chats from other friends and family this girl contacted.
The police were not helpful and just told my girlfriend to stay off of social media. This maybe sound advice to some, but this was going on for 3 years at this point with no end in sight. If these were irl interactions, they basically told my girlfriend to just not go out in public and to not interact with anyone.
Telling people who are use to having an online presence to just "walk away" when they are being cyberbullied is not helpful in the slightest.
No, this is made by someone who hasn't ever actually been cyber bullied. People and social interaction are not so simple. On the surface, yes, this should work, but there's more factors that go into it. First of all, and most importantly in my opinion, once someone has been cyber bullied, blocking only prevents it from happening further and only through the blocked account, it doesn't undo any of the damage that has already been done to the victim by things that have already been said or done. People assume that cyber bullying just means someone calling you names over text which isn't the case. Cyber bullying can often include public posts or entire groups of people harassing someone. Cyber bullies can make new accounts as many times as they want, they can use friend's accounts, they can email, text, message of Facebook, Twitter, reddit, etc. If they really want to make someone's social life online hell, they will find a way to do so. And expecting someone to simply avoid being online entirely isn't realistic in modern society. Regardless, the focus shouldn't be on telling the victim how to defend themselves, but rather teaching the offender not to harm people in the first place.
It doesn’t work well—bullies can just make a new account and come right back.
I've reported some truly heinous comments on various sites with the "this doesn't violate our standards" response. One time, many years ago, there was a cartel video on Facebook that "didn't violate standards." They're a little better about videos these days but still some of the worst stuff I've ever seen said to another person gets a pass while seemingly innocuous things bring down the hammer. Reddit is a little better than Meta sites though... and tons better than the swamp that is X-Twitter.
"Close the app" takes care of that bit.
Interesting, so transposing this concept to a physical space instead of online; if you saw someone being bullied in their local park you'd feel comfortable telling the victim not to go to their local park anymore?
If I was being bullied at a local park I would… leave the park. I’d hop on my bike or whatever and go home. I’d go back to the park another day. If the bully was there somehow everyday I was there and bullied me every time I would get evidence I guess and at that point it goes to authorities. There are measures to take to stop bullying. But also there’s measures the individual getting bullied can take to protect themselves. If there was a Blue-hat serial killer on the loose who kill’s people wearing blue hats. I’d tell people don’t wear blue hats. That’s not victim blaming or whatever. The serial killer is still 200% at fault if someone does still chose to wear a blue hat and gets killed. But I would still say that guy should not have been wearing a blue hat.
I guess the question is, if someone was going out of their way to harass you in a place you enjoy existing, to what extent would you consider it glib and unhelpful for them to suggest "Well you can always leave."
Because the person I replied to, I would say flippantly, suggested that "closing the app" takes care of the issue of bullies coming back.
I suppose the question is, do you also consider that flippant and glib? If so we are pretty much in agreement.
This post is all about the discussion that cyberbullying doesn't feel like it has satisfying solutions to prevent bullying. Do you agree with that? If so, again, we basically agree.
People should protect themselves. In your Blue Hat Killer analogy, maybe people should ensure their safety a little by not wearing blue hats but:
1) Leaving your online life behind is a bigger sacrifice than removing a blue hat.
2) I'm sure you'd agree, if someone told you not to wear blue hats, but it felt like Police weren't actually attempting to catch the killer, you'd be annoyed you had to give up your freedoms when the actual transgressor isn't being adequately dealt with.
So basically you are saying that "block, report and close the app" doesn't work ?
Idk what you think "cyberbullying" means but it's not a one off thing where you insult someone online, it's repeated harassment.
No, I said, explicitly, clearly, and without any additional messaging (you twat), that closing the app would take care of the "make a new account and come right back" bit.
FANCY HOW READING COMPREHENSION WORKS WHEN YOU AREN'T MAKING UP OTHER PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS AND INTENTIONS.
So in an effort to be clear of your point of view, are you saying that:
A victim of bullying "closing the app" takes care of their problem that a cyberbully can "make a new account and come right back" if blocked and reported.
Yes, it takes care of THAT PORTION of the problem, another way of saying "takes care of that bit".
sometimes the damage has already been done
It's like saying "well just don't go outside your house" to someone who's just been mugged
Of course it’s good advice. That’s why a lot of Redditors hate it.
Redditors hate him
People just make new accounts to bug you if they're really determined. Sure, you can get those reported, too, but they can keep making more. Honestly, the biggest deterrent I've found is turning dms off. You still might get a bit of harassment, but people are way nicer when the world can see their message. The downside is that it's a solution that hurts the victim, too, but it's better than no solution.
Usually cyber bullying is an extension of real life bullying. It's just another avenue for bullies to harass their target.
If it's some guy from Taiwan bullying you and you love in Vancouver, yeah then you can probably just block them and be done with it, but it's usually someone in your social circle.
It doesn't stop cyber bullying, it just removes that individual as a target. Kinda like "stopping" muggings by never going outside.
Not really… it’s oversimplifying a complex issue.
It is to a point but doesn’t address the main issue.
Because it didn't actually address the problem, it's just avoidance.
The bully still exists, having learned nothing and faced no consequence and will find a new victim.
So it did nothing to actually solve cyberbullying and someone is inconvenienced by having to avoid using a service. The bully won in the end.
"just block and ignore" mfs when their personal information is held for ransom (can't block and ignore their way out of this one)
Beyond not solving all facets of cyber bullying (social fallout, doxxing, swatting, and similar) the real issue with this is that it puts the responsibility on the victim, as someone who lost a friend as a result of cyber bullying I can confidently that “just block them and close the app” is both unhelpful, and misses the actual point
A lot of the time when cyber bullying occurs, the victim still has some sort of physical interaction with said cyber bully, where the bullying is both in person and online. (For example a school bully) Another problem is people who constantly make new accounts to continue harassment.
not necessarily. cyberbullying can have real life consequences quite often, so just ignoring it could make it worse for you. obviously if it’s just a situation where someone on twitter called you a slur then report block and move on but claiming that you can “just close screen durhhhh” is quite unempathetic
Started blocking people & now im addicted.
someone hasn’t been cyberbullied before. They can just make new accounts man, it’s not that hard.
It’s not bad advice but it also doesn’t really do if the larger problem. The joke is dumb is the bigger issue.
99.9% of the time it is great advice. To the OP: it was hard to see the joke because it was not very funny.
And that's exactly what it is. Worse, in my opinion the advice to report, block and close the app is a continuation of the bullying, which the older man recognises. Sad that most redditors here would be on the side of the bully.
How is it a continuation of the bullying. What is your alternative suggestion?
Rather than effectively banning the victim from the service, ban the bully.
Well hopefully by reporting him he will get banned. That's the whole point of the first step. How is the victim banned from the service ? She blocked a bully. She didn't cut ties with everyone else in the service
I think closing the app generally makes it pretty hard to not cut service to the app.
Unless of course you open the app but then that kinda undoes the closing of the app part
Usually it's to take a moment away from hateful environments, like reddit, recharge and get back in at a later time.
He said close, not uninstall. It's just supposed to mean disengage for a bit until you've calmed down and are able to return to your normal activity with a clear head.
I have seen too many people turn into lolcows because they cannot help but stay online when they need to go away for 24 hours and let the memes die.
I'd skip that step. It's unnecessary if the bully has been reported and blocked.
More bullies, second accounts,
Good point, additional step required - set privacy settings (for messaging etc) to friends-only or whitelist mode
You’ve heard the term ‘take a break’? Meaning you close the app and do something else… then later you are able to get back on and at that time the bully is at least blocked but hopefully banned.
I would argue that they should say “take a break” if that’s what they mean.
I would argue that you should close the app.
"Hopefully" doing a lot of legwork. The amount of times I've been banned or had comments removed for calling myself or things queer or dykey but had people say degenerates like me should be nailed to a cross is so high that I've stopped bothering to report.
I agree with your point, but I think you've put more context on the word "hopefully" than intended.
One person is asking for an alternative to reporting cyberbullies, the other person responds "ban the bully". The first person explains that the expected outcome of reporting the bully (i.e. what you would be hopeful for in this situation) is a ban, so in this instance only saying "ban the bully" is just as useful as the original advice.
I doubt they are trying to say that you should press the report button and pray it sorts itself out because that's what's meant to happen.
The issue is that even if they're banned, they've probably got another account. You need robust and active moderation, and site wide tools for community safety. And simply a good culture that disincentivizes trolling and harassment to begin with, but since harassment is engagement, that's actually the opposite of what happens these days.
It's difficult to stay on top of everything, but we try.
And that doesn't even bring the OnlyFans trash and spammers into play.
See, while there's definitely people just spamming it, my opinion of how Reddit deals with OnlyFans is likely different than yours, since I think Reddit's often extreme "no self promotion" culture hurts creators, especially sex workers who are making content everyone would rather get for free. Myself included, really. So while obviously this subreddit is the wrong place for that, it tends to result in a situation where the only ones being rewarded are the ones using bots to post.
But also I don't just mean individual subreddits. You don't even have the power to ban people from reddit in the first place, and the people who do run this site really don't seem interested in actually moderating it in any sincere way or trying to reshape the culture. Although at least it isn't as bad as way back when the whole site decided to harass the CEO with sexist and racist memes because Reddit finally started banning harassment and creepshot subreddits.
Again, I agree with the point you are making. However, both sides are talking about the most effective way for the person being bullied to respond in that moment, whereas you're speaking about the problems with moderation by the larger community and the owners of the platform.
What you're saying isn't wrong, but you are essentially arguing with yourself.
I think believing that blocking is effective shows that you haven't actually experienced cyberbullying. The person being cyberbullied doesn't have much recourse except in the most simple situation.
If it was that easy then the block function would work. The worst bully's just make new accounts to get around bans and Blocks. Getting off the space is your best bet which sucks. But hey most bully's have short attention spans. Give it a year and they'll move on. Or make an anonymous account yourself and only tell your friends it's you. If that doesn't lose the bully then at least you've narrowed the culprit down.
Step 3 is, admittedly, the stupidest advice I've ever seen with mine own eye balls but the block and report is the only good advice short of getting their address and beating them, which is illegal AND a TOS violation in most cases.
So step 1 and 2 are gold. If a bully gets blocked enough, it moves on like a hungry nomadic animal.
I don't understand the opposition to step 3. It's equivalent to "walk away" and take a break. This is common advice for any source of frustration/distress. It's not saying never to come back to it and it gives you a chance to clear your head.
Well, normally the Bully won't just be some random guy three countries over. Those you can just block and be done. You don't need to win every argument. The real problem is when the cyberbullying is just an extension to the real world bullying. When the bullies are your classmates/colleagues/family. Then closing the app is just equivalent to social isolation. Note in this case it's not really in the power of the site / app owners to stop the bullying, really.
In places like reddit there's other content. I just close the post and look at something else.
In videogames, walking away is better advice but even then, many games have other things to do if it seems someone is deliberately targeting you.
Irl, walking away actually is the best advice because there can be actual danger when sticking around.
I'm sure it works for some people but for many people it comes across as "the bully is there and everyone wants you to walk away". If I close the app I'm usually not feeling better about it. Either better wording is needed or people have to accept that simply saying "walk away" isn't gonna fix the problem for everyone and for a lot of people it comes across as "we don't want victims here". I'm here. If someone doesn't like that then they can huff copium until they're in a coma. I'll leave when I'm done.
General advice was requested, general advice was given. Obviously it won't apply well to every app/situation.
I only responded to you saying you don't understand the opposition.
My answer explains the opposition.
I would not have said what I said (beyond what you responded to) had you not asked for an explanation.
I agree with your points, and was offering a quick simple reason this would still be acceptable advice. Particularly in the context of the image posted.
I'm sorry if it came off as dismissive, that was not my intent.
If the victim feels the need to leave the community, even if that would be the right move for their mental health, they shouldn't have to. The bully should be the one being removed from the community.
That "should" is bearing a lot of burden
It's basically victim-blaming. It tells the victim, you're only suffering abuse because you dared to exist in a public space. If you stopped that you'd be fine.
Edit: typo (dated/dared)
No it's not, jfc.
Honestly Reddit is mean I feel like in order to go on this site I have to grow hella thick skin and thorns
I used tobhave depression, got told to smile more, so I just did loads of drugs. What depression.
sarcasm
I don't like this comment - you're undermining my method. Reported and blocked. See you later!
/s
If you are in a situation that makes you more depressed, leave. Easy as that. If you're in a situation where you are being bullied, leave. If you dont have the option to leave, that's where external forces step in, but if you have the ability to stop the negative situation, do so. If not for everyone, at least do it to better yourself.
Like “just say no.”
No, if I tell someone to leave my house, they will haha
Yet it’s the only solution
Pretty sure the joke here is that op believes that parents are blaming the world for the kids bullying problem rather than stepping in and preventing the child from using the apps until they are able to do so without becoming cripplingly depressed. The punchline is that the parent recects what op believes is a simple and practical solution to the problem.
U sure about that? Seems a good advice. I think the father is the one cyberbulling her. Thats why he ask to leave. (Pretty bad joke tbh)
…smiling more does help.
Im pretty sure the joke is that people DONT do this often enough, if you report somebody they may get banned, and blocking them prevents them from interacting with you again, not only is it the only thing to do, its the best thing to do. Yet, online it seems nobody does it, and instead just lets it happen, causing some people to think cyberbullying isnt really even real since if you really were getting bullied you would just block them, ive seen a few twitter threads of people saying stuff like that
I guess the older man doesn't want to turn "off" his phone? Eh He he hah
I hate that I understand that reference
The older man would presumably rather continue discourse about cyberbullying than actually remove himself from the situation, so he is upset by the reasonable suggestion to go offline.
Another take: The man is telling the boy to do the same thing in real life ie 'close the app' by leaving the house.
It’s not reasonable. It’s naive and futile.
I find that solution kinda… hopeless? The argument is, “get off the app and you won’t face the bullying”. But then that means, in order to no longer be harassed you must ostracize yourself from this social experience your peers partake in, knowing full well that outside of clubs and activities they seldom go outside anymore if you’re a student, or they’re too busy with work if they’re an adult.
Either way, the victim, who presumably is the most innocent party, is expected to take the steps and divest the emotional labor required to protect themselves, instead of the collective shutting down the deviant behavior of the bully, who may turn their attention to another victim when the former victim actually leaves. Not to mention the unfortunate truth that often some bullies where themselves bullied, and by not addressing their actions you might be perpetuating their victimization and thus encouraging them to lash out on the weak.
Right? I don't understand how people think giving up is the correct response to bullying, and that it's somehow the victim's responsibility to fix the issue by giving the bully what they want.
As some other people have also mentioned, it also doesn't even address how bullies can bully you without even engaging with you directly by interacting with the people that you know and poisoning the well.
The young man's suggestion is similar to somebody telling a depressed person to just stop being depressed, or a homeless person to just work hard and get a home. It suggests that the fault of the problem lies in the victim and implying that they and they alone can fix it without addressing the actual reasons the problem exists to begin with, namely the bullies, or the social networks that allow the cyber bullying to happen. Social media is too ubiquitous in our lives today that simply closing the app when getting bullied is impractical. Might as well tell the person to stop existing for a little while. And reporting and blocking the person isn't going to stop them from getting alt accounts or finding some other way to harass you. The old man clearly finds the young man to be arrogant and unhelpful and wants him out of the house.
The point is that everyone wants a magic answer that will easily solve all their problems and force others to behave how they want them to. The man in yellow expects that solution.
However, the guy in blue’s “solution” is a) an oversimplification of a complex issue and b) requires a huge amount of self-discipline and leaves the “bad guys” unpunished. Nobody wants that solution. It requires to much work and is very emotionally unsatisfying.
How is 'report block' not the solution? It's similar to 'call the police'. It's the most you can do and it doesn't mean the bully is unpunished.
tldr: it's solid advise (except for the close the app part)
Some people will do anything to bully someone. They'll create fake or thow away accounts to ignore your blocks and continue bullying.
While yes, I think 'blocking = call the police' is right idea, in internet this police, in most cases, can only take away the tool from the bully, and not arrest them. If someone broke your window with a hammer - 'cyber police' can only take away this hammer. Even if 'cyber police' has IP / CID block - bully can 'change their clothes' and buy a new hammer to brake another window.
I think this solution is similar to DIY solutions. Water pipe broke? Just duct tape it. Headphones works only in one angle? Just sit in this angle. Someone cyberbullying you? Block and hope that they don't target you.
We all know reporting does nothing. And so does blocking. It has been tried and tried again and it never works.
Just go on facebook of someone famous and report someone who writes racist messages or death threads and in month you will get message that there was nothing wrong with that comment from facebook.
I always report/block and if works every time. sometimes I get a notification, but my timeline is free of racists etc.
Exapmle: I blocked words like Fraudstappen and that made even F1 comments reasonable to read. Yes it takes work, but it works.
It's advice at best, certainly not a solution. It might work if some rando DMs you a hateful text, it will not work if that guy is hellbent on bullying you.
Calling the police gets people shot, sometimes even the caller.
It’s practically telling a kid with anger issues to take a deep breath and count to 3.
this method also works if people are bothering you in real life -- simply do not interact with anyone. that's right, never leave your house. if you got hurt in a social situation -- i mean, duh, the answer is pretty obvious: just don't have social situations
It’s just as dumb as someone telling you to “kill them with kindness” as it places responsibility for the abuse upon the victim and basically means “just hide from them who cares?”
He was waiting for the man to reference this famous tweet by Tyler the Creator
The joke is the father would prefer a man who either pays cyberbullying no mind, or does not rely on facebook reporting/other men to protect his daughter.
It's not funny, and it's not funny from a politically incorrect/shock humor standpoint either. Just someone who hates the boy's/society's protocol and wants to have a boomer correct and emasculate him by denying his daughter, which will go to the author instead.
I believe the joke is that the usual advice of blocking/reporting doesn't work in reality to stop cyberbullying, which it doesn't.
u/biggerppgfan Can you please tell us why the father tells the boy to get out of his house?
cyberbullying is more than being told the worst insults known to humankind, makes like olivia newton john and gets physical
Thank you for clarifying.
Love your profile
Strange, I haven't heard anyone say that
I thought the whole joke was the dad is a Cyberbully and doesn't like to be cut short or reported when he is bullying someone.
So that's a reference to a known meme atm, for the template itself is those two persons talking, the first two bubbles being [what the creator wants to insert for the joke] and the last one being what it is on this image (so the 10s to get out of his house). Also, the first one is often the old guy referring to his daughter telling him the other guy is [insert what works for the joke]. For instance, the guy can ask the kid "my daughter told me you're a physician", the other answer "oh yes 3≠pi" and the old guy tells him to get the hell away (because all true physicist knows that pi=3 and whoever doesn't approximate in physics has to be crazy or smth. Back to the point. So that's for the template, and that's why I'm not sure (contrary to what many pointed in the meme) the guy is actually "closing the app" irl. Even if it totally could fit and would actually be very funny tbh. For the rest, that's because the kid is actually not helping at all. Closing the app ain't a solution. What if I'm cyberbullied, report and close the app but discover the next day that one of my friends has been bullied by the same person and unfortunately hadn't the mental fortitude necessary (for a thousand totally valid reasons) to do the same as me and had come to a much more extreme issue, maybe implying I'll never see them anymore? Was reporting and closing the app a solution? Definitely not. Or, if I do report and close the app, will it be enough? Will I be able to forget what they said about me? How they bullied me? Or will I need help and justice? So no, reporting and closing the app ain't a solution to stop cyber bullying. That's something you need to do, but only a first step. Also, the report never works in such apps as creators don't give a damn about bullying. "That makes more posts/videos/tweets/engagement? Then that's good, keep it. Someone gone depressed because of it? Oh maybe, but look at the engagement in our app it created! That's no big deal!". So no, reporting and closing the app ain't a solution as it won't do much. And that's why the old guy tells the young one to get the hell out, as he brings no solution and only condescendance to people struggling with cyber bullying.
It puts the onus of stopping bullying on the victim, rather than the bully.
Basically: Someone tells you something really mean, you block report them and close the app, the mental effect the mean message took on you is still there.
Not sure if it's 'the joke' but that advice isn't realistic or fair. 1 it doesn't teach people to just stop bullying, mean people will always find a way to do it. And 2. It means that in addition to dealing with being bullied, the victim is denied the opportunity to be on whatever platform all their peers are on, making everything worse.
Like, say a kid is getting bullied on TikTok. Yeah, sure they can just not engage with the app but then their friends can't send them stuff and tag them in things, when new trends come up they don't know what's happening and they can't be a part of it which makes their isolation (and eventually more bullying) even worse.
I mean, it's been like 20 years and I still vividly remember hearing everyone spell bananas for 3 months before I finally heard the song. It's confusing and frustrating for kids and telling them basically "your problems don't matter, just move on" doesn't help anyone.
My issue with blocking has always been that if I block them I can no longer see what they are saying. When I was younger I had people go on to post about me or say crazy things. I couldn’t stand the uncertainty of not seeing it and knowing. It was worse somehow. I’ve gotten better at not caring I guess but I can certainly understand why someone wouldn’t want to just block.
Most people engage with the cyber bullying which is probably why it always goes farther, it’s kinda like walking away from the problem or the person and being the “bigger person”. I guess people don’t like doing it because it doesn’t give them the satisfaction that getting into an argument or fight and potentially winning gives them
OOP is upset at the notion that cyberbullying can be stopped with just "blocking them and closing the app".
Which, yeah, understandable. That's not how cyberbullying nor bullying works.
I think it's that boomers won't do anything to actually fix their problems and will NEVER close Facebook/Fox News etc because they love to be rage baited.
Maybe i don't get the joke.
I always thought it was the old man who was a cyberbully and hated that this guy had a way to stop it (thereby removing his source of 'fun')
I'm like 99 percent it's the exact opposite of what you are all saying. The boyfriend offers the best solution, but there is a general joke that a lot of people (specifically the female in this case) never actually do that and just wallow in the misery of being bullied. I'm pretty sure the meme is that the dad is also of the mind that reasonably blocking someone and taking a break from the app is a horror and inconceivable to the human mind. As it seems to be for so many children today
Wouldn't it be that the real answer was Tyler the creator's advice ?
This isn't a good use of the meme template in my opinion. The joke just isn't funny.
You already got bullied I guess 🤷
Cyberbullying is more complex. For instance, people will share embarrassing photos of someone. Or share personal information. Kids sometimes make appgroups that explicitly forbid the bullied kid to join. The creativity of bullys is endless and simply blocking or reporting is not enough.
cyber-bulling is the direct consequence of not teaching or kids how to mail pipe bombs
Block and delete the app, but only after sending them a picture of their front door
The young lad is a narc.
This looks like it's bone hurting juice. Bone hurting juice began as a subreddit where comics would have their word bubbles emptied, and absurd, overly literal or otherwise strange dialog would be put in instead. It has since morphed into a bit of a circle jerk of inside jokes and memes, but the basic format has persisted. The "Get out of my house" comic is basically just a meme over there now, and frankly, I can't explain the joke here because this one just isn't very good.
Its a joke on how people refuse to do the sensible thing to stop using the app to actually prevent getting bullied, instead people complain and cry while further subjecting themselves to the cyber bullying
edit: my take
The old guy is the cyberbully and wants to continue.
This is the first thing I thought and your comment was the only one suggesting the same thing! I felt crazy thinking I was the only one that thought maybe the dad is the cyber bully. This is the only thing that would make this remotely funny.
This is like saying the cure for a hang over is to not drink in the first place. That doesn't really solve the problem.
Having been reported and banned from first Facebook,, then pre-elona Twitter, then various political Reddit forums, it is just a week you are banned. Most appeals work to get you reinstated.
What works on bullies is just growing a hairy pair and getting thicker skin. The meanest opinions of complete strangers and crap friends (who get you butthurt dishing out hard truths) is what leaves the marks of character that what will help you prepare for the existential dread of advanced age and illness.
I guess they should turn their device "off"? Eh He Ha Ha
Father is expecting his daughter’s boyfriend to fight for her instead of being a narc
Hmm kind of a guess here, but the father sees it like this? : - false reporting based on limited knowledge/social opinions - block other users access to the app with an IP blocker - close the app as in DDOS the app
So then, absolute cyberbully detected.
That's my guess, and good looking out, Dad
Good advice people
I’m not trying to sound like a boomer with this, but I genuinely don’t see how cyber bullying has the power it does. When I get called slurs online I just report it and move on with my day? I would get treated poorly on Facebook as a a kid so I just stopped going on Facebook and felt better. Maybe I am just a boomer idk
I took it to mean that the older guy is a cyber bully, and doesn't want it to be spread, how to stop him.
I thought that the joke was that the boy’s answer was too mature for his age, so he must be older than what he’s claiming and therefore too old to date the daughter.
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“Report, Block and close the app” is similar to rules that I was taught in middle school during those “internet and computer” classes. Basically just saying “if your being bullied just block and ignore it”. It’s seen as dumb advice as cyber bullying continues to have real life consequences and doesn’t really stop the bullying as it places the responsibility on the victim. This meme is making fun of this method