Madam Ramya and Ms. Rita

Interview with Madam Ramya Chandrasekaran, Chief Communications Officer of QI Group and Ms. Rita Suttarno, Social Media Manager of QNET

This interview took place on Friday, 19 May 2023.

1. Q: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Madam Ramya: "My name is Ramya, I am based in Singapore. I work for a company called the QI group, which has many businesses. I have a team that manages communications and social media for the company. I do professional storytelling, so instead of talking about fairytales, I talk about companies that want to tell a story about what they are doing, and how are they helping the community. There are so many businesses in the world, they are all trying to find a way to get money. So my job is to tell the story in a way kids can understand."

Ms. Rita: "I work in Ramya's team. So the company is large and has different parts doing different businesses. I work for a part of the group, Q Net. Q Net is a platform where adults can sell products and earn some commission. We sell different types of products from watches to water filters. What I do is to help Q Net with their Facebook page, Instagram page, Youtube page, Telegram page, Tiktok page, and many more. What we do is that we help our distributors run their business easily."

2. Q: Do you have experience with cyberbullying or cyber hate? If yes, can you share it with us? 

Madam Ramya: "So, I have not personally experienced cyberbullying but many many years ago, when there was no social media. There was a time people were able to do cyber bullying without social media but through email. I remember many years ago, somebody made a fake account in my name and was sending really mean and nasty emails to a lot of people in my name. There was no way to find out who the person was. Somehow they go hold of my friends and family, and they would send really mean and nasty emails to them. Initially, I didn't know, until somebody I knew received the email, called me, and ask what was the email. I was shocked and slowly I realized that nasty emails were sent to more than one person. Fortunately, the person was not able to make a lot of damage because the people that were targeted, were close friends of mine and they knew me. It was truly a horrifying experience back then. So cyberbullying has been around for a very long time, even before social media. "

Ms. Rita: "For me, I have not personally experienced cyberbullying, but I've seen friends that got cyber bullied. In fact, at work, we have customers, that get bullied online. We had to go through a lot to try to recover the account and luckily she got her account back. Based on my experience of handling negative comments. One biggest lesson is to not let it get to you. As a business, we also have received some hatred before."

3. Q: In your opinion, why does cyberbullying occur and what are the main causes of cyberbullying on social media?

Madam Ramya: "So cyberbullying usually happens when people are using the internet. It's happening online instead of in person. When it is happening in person, it's easier to understand why it's happening. The danger of cyberbullying is that the bully can hide their real identity online, it's like using a mask or like using a fake name. These people think, because nobody know who they are, they can say mean things without getting caught. So it gives them a sense of freedom, if it's offline, you would be careful of what you say because they know you and there is consequences. If your anonymous, and your hiding on the internet, they think they can get away with anything. They cannot see the other person's face and they can't sense the others emotion, so they don't realize they are hurting a real person with real feelings. It's so much easier to say hurtful things when you can't see how it effects someone. Some people do it to feel powerful and they try to do it by hurting people. In some cases, people are just angry or upset and they take it out on others."

Ms. Rita: "When someone is unhappy about something, jealous or unhappy about how they are being treated, so they want to get back at you, or they are just angry about something. Sometimes, they really are mean and they would do it for fun. It could be anything because they have the freedom."

4. Q: What is the impact of cyberbullying or cyber hate?

Madam Ramya: "Most importantly, when you bully anyone, whether is cyber or otherwise. It's hurtful to the other person. The reason why someone would cyberbully someone is because they just want to be mean to them. It hurts people's feelings, just like in real life, it has an impact on your emotions.  The other thing that happens, when you don't know how to deal with it, it can make you feel alone. That can have an impact on your self-esteem. This can also impact your day-to-day life, it could be hard to focus and hard to interact with other people."

Ms. Rita: "Of course, they will feel stressed, sad, they may fear opening their phone, they may be afraid to go to school, or worst case, they might try to end their life. We have to remember that there is always a solution to every problem and to all of this negativity, especially extreme measures such as hurting yourself."

5. Q: What age is social media appropriate for and why?

Madam Ramya: "When you are still young, you may not understand how to keep personal information safe or even how to handle online interaction with strangers. If you wait, just a little more, like a couple of years, when you get a bit older. You will have the emotional maturity to know how to keep your data private. There are many bad people on the internet, they will lie to hurt or harm you. The other issue that I see is, it's not like you have a filter on what you can see and what you can't see. The other is an addiction because social media is addictive to look at other videos and possibly compare yourself with others. While the legal age for these platforms is 13, I think the age should be 15."

Ms. Rita: "I have a son, who is now 13. He is on Instagram. One thing I would like to say is that it is very difficult to stop him from having an account because, in school, everyone has an account. We can let him have Instagram but we have a time limit and is heavily supervised. For example, he has to share most of the things he is doing and posting. From time to time, we would ask him about the interaction.

6. Q: In your opinion, what can we do to prevent cyberbullying or cyber hate?

Madam Ramya: "You have to start by setting an example of how you want to be treated. If you are kind and respectful to others, then you should do it online as well. Then you set certain expectations. If you are kind and respectful in any interaction, you be a role model. The other thing is to stand up. If you see somebody getting cyberbullied, don't be a bystander, speak up and report the bully."

Ms. Rita: "Just be careful and understand what you can post and what you cannot post. When in doubt, always do the right thing. Never join others, always do the right thing. Never use cyberbullying to educate people."

7. Q: Is there a good side to cyberbullying/cyber hate?

Madam Ramya: "Absolutely not, there is no good side. It's not good, it creates a toxic environment, there is an emotional impact, it can impact the confidence and self-esteem of a person."

Ms. Rita: "I agree to that as well"

8. Q: What is your advice for children our age about cyberbullying?

Madam Ramya: "Always talk to a trusted adult, always inform them if it is happening, they will always give you advice and find a solution to the problem. Never retaliate and engage because the more you engage, the more you give power. If it is consistently harassing online, keep the evidence of online bullying so that eventually, if it becomes a bigger problem, you have all the evidence you need. Most of the social media platforms have the option to block and report, remove the negativity from your life."

Ms. Rita: "I think Ms. Ramya has covered almost everything. So don't engage in cyberbullying. If you ever experience cyberbullying, look for help, and report it to the teacher or parent. Don't let cyberbullying ruin your life, we always have solutions, and never ever be the bully as well."