Internet, Social Media and Juvenile Delinquency - christ the ...
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cover story
Internet, Social Media and
Juvenile Delinquency
Today’s children are intellectually superior, but emotionally immature.
Reasons for their immaturity and delinquent behaviour can be traced
to the family, school, society and social media
F
or the past few days we have been reading and hearing about
a shocking social media scandal involving a number of school
boys in Delhi called Bois Locker Room. It is very disturbing
to see the criminality that is spread through social media platforms.
It is also very upsetting to see this happening in the national capital,
where terrible crimes have been committed against women in the
past, leading to much public outcry and formation of stricter laws.
BY Sunny Jacob A news report on The Quint reported the horrible incident in the
following lines:
“An Instagram chat group called ‘Bois Locker Room’, with
hundreds of boys from south Delhi, was allegedly used for sharing
photos of underage girls, objectifying them, and promoting
rape culture, revealed a user on Twitter on Sunday,
20 INDIAN CURRENTS 11 - 17 May 2020cover story
3 May. A day later on Monday, a Delhi schoolboy
was taken into custody by the police. ‘We have
apprehended one minor boy last night in this
case,’ a Delhi Police source told The Quint. The
Delhi Police (Crime Branch Cell) had taken
cognizance of the matter and have filed a case
under the Information Technology Act on the
basis of social media posts. The boys allegedly
shared morphed photos of underage girls,
body shaming and slut shaming them on
the group chat”. (By Mythreyee Ramesh in
The Quint)
The sequence of the events, as described by
India Today, goes this way:
1. A group of South Delhi teens (mostly
schoolboys) create an Instagram group chat
called Bois Locker Room to share photos of
women (many of them underage). The group
chat involves discussions that objectify women
and make use of graphic sexual language. who were part of the infamous group. While
2. Screenshots of the chats are leaked and are most are schoolboys, a few were found to be in
posted online by some of the victims, blowing the college. The boys will be called for questioning
lid on the controversy. The chats had morphed over the week. The devices used to engage in the
pictures and also derogatory and explicit offensive, vulgar communication have also been
comments on women and their bodies. seized from the identified group members.
3. The screenshots from Bois Locker Room 9. Instagram owner Facebook also reacts to
instantly go viral and become a talking point on the controversy. “We absolutely do not allow
social media. behaviour that promotes sexual violence or
exploits anyone, especially women and young
4. As the chats are exposed, the members of the
people, and have actioned content violating our
group chat retaliate and threaten to leak nude
Community Standards as we were made aware
photographs of the women who outed them.
of it. We have policies that disallow the sharing
5. The Delhi Commission for Women takes suo
of non-consensual intimate imagery, as well as
motu cognisance of the case on May 4 and sends
threats to share such imagery and we take this
notices to Delhi Police and Instagram. Asks them
issue very seriously. Ensuring our community can
to file a report on action taken by May 8.
express themselves in a safe and respectful way is
6. Delhi Police Cyber Cell files an FIR against our top priority,” a Facebook spokesperson said
unidentified persons under Sections of the Indian in a statement.
Penal Code and the IT Act. Becomes the first legal
10. Meanwhile, a new angle to the controversy
case to come out of an Instagram chat in India.
has also come out on social media. One of the
7. Initial probe shows students from three women who had initially outed the group has
prominent schools in South Delhi were part of had her old conversations leaked which show
the Instagram group chat. her sexualising men and using homophobic and
8. On May 5, a 15-year-old boy from a prominent misogynistic language. The chats also show the
school is taken into custody by Delhi Police woman mocking the differently-abled. Social
Cyber Cell. Police also identified 10 members media users have been using the term Girls
INDIAN CURRENTS 11 - 17 May 2020 21cover story
If schools are only worried about
their reputation and academic
achievement, it can downplay the
importance of values and discipline.
This will affect the overall growth
of a child and the well-being
of the society at large
Locker Room to discuss how deeply embedded worried about their reputation and academic
the problem is. achievement, it can downplay the importance of
The controversy will go on. However, our values and discipline. This will affect the overall
attempt here is to see the root causes of the growth of the child and the well-being of the
perverted mindset and the sickening behaviour society at large. If a school works only for money,
in a section of our school kids. This is the tip of an fame and name, then the moral and psychological
iceberg of a simmering educational catastrophe. If development of the child will be hampered.
we, educators, parents, students and educational When a school encourages competition rather
psychologists, do not take remedial steps now, it than collaboration and team work, it is bound to
will be too late. make the children undisciplined and inhuman.
There are various causes to the problem we see Society
in our teenage school kids these days. Remember, Children learn a lot from the society in which
today’s children are intellectually superior, they live. Several studies have highlighted the
but emotionally immature. The reasons for this influence of environment on kids and their
immaturity and delinquent behaviour can be formation. Many children grow as delinquent
traced to the family, school, society and social and engage in anti-social behaviour. According to
media. psychologist Charles Wilfred Valentine, the term
Family delinquency refers to the breaking of some law.
Family is the basic and the best school for the Those children whose anti-social activities take
formation of a child. Family experience gives such a serious turn that they are to be punished
children their basic formation, both positive and are called delinquents. They steal from others,
negative, during the initial period. Parents are damage property and commit other heinous
role models to their kids. The development of offences such as murder, sexual misconduct and
intellectual, emotional, psychological and moral abuse. The use of internet and social media for
formation takes place in the family. Depending sexual misconduct, pornography, morphing
on the atmosphere, it can be positive, mature, pictures, etc., also comes under delinquent
integrated and balanced or it can be negative and behaviour.
filled with anger, pugnacity, maliciousness, fear, Some major social causes of juvenile
tension, maladjustment, mental health hazards, delinquency can be traced to quarrels among
personality adjustment and sexual perverseness. parents, presence of stepfather/stepmother, lack
of parental affection, poverty, very lenient or very
School strict discipline at home (parenting style), divorce
School is where the child nurtures the initial or separation of parents, distressing environment
learnings from the family. If the schools are only at home, company of other delinquents (peer
22 INDIAN CURRENTS 11 - 17 May 2020cover story
group), mistreatment from But, children are not taught about the danger of it at home or
teachers, and lack of discipline at school. They make excessive use of their gadgets by chatting
school, among others. with their peers and friends. Incidents of misuse of cameras for
nefarious activities are frequently reported all over the country.
Mass media and internet
Since these children are not taught about cyber rules, they tend
Today’s young generation,
to misuse the benefit of the smart phone. Schools cannot do
especially those in cities and urban
more in this unless parents understand the situation and take
areas, are victims of loneliness.
proactive steps. They must teach their wards about the use and
They may be financially well off
abuse of gadgets. Otherwise, incidents like Bois Locker Room
but many of them are utterly
will be on the rise.
poor in human and social values.
The Delhi incident is only the tip of the iceberg. As long as
Apartment life also has its impact
the commodification and objectification of women continues
on children and when parents are
and they are discriminated against in the society, such incidents
out working, kids are most likely to
cannot be eliminated. Often treated as an object and religiously
be alone at home. This leads them
discriminated against, women can be at a disadvantageous
to engage with the internet or mass
position due to caste and ethnicity as well. They are culturally
media excessively.
considered low, and media portrays them as weak and
Children are too much dependent
vulnerable. Most movies and TV serials depict women as a
on the internet and social media.
commodity and show violence against them as a natural way of
WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook
things. Children learn from these stories from a very young age
and Twitter are their primary source
and when they grow older they do not think otherwise as these
of knowledge and entertainment.
stereotypes are ingrained in their minds. Our education system
As a result, already shrinking
should be comprehensive enough to guide children away from
family ties and interactions are
the misleading stories portrayed in movies and TV shows.
fading very fast. The increased
number of schoolchildren, What parents should do?
especially teenagers, committing Proper atmosphere at the house is the only way to bring up
suicide is an eye-opener for all. children. Parents must adopt the right kind of attitude towards
Many of them are growing in a their children from early years. They should have knowledge
money-oriented, selfish, immoral, of child guidance and spend time with their kids, monitoring
violent and hateful environment, and leading them on the right path. Instead of giving a large
unmindful of their duties towards amount as pocket money, parents should let children experience
their parents, fellow beings, society the hardships of life and teach them to be compassionate and
and the nature. In addition to this, responsible citizens.
there are increased incidents of
gang wars, ragging and violence,
combined with rumour-mongering
and spreading of fake news.
When parents are busy with
work, their concerns can often be
limited to earning more money
than nourishing their kids with
good values and love. They provide
latest gadgets like laptops and
smart phones to keep their kids
happy and justify it by saying it is
needed to keep in touch with them.
INDIAN CURRENTS 11 - 17 May 2020 23cover story
Proper atmosphere at the house is the only way to bring up children.
Parents must adopt the right kind of attitude towards their children from
early years. They should have knowledge of child guidance and spend
time with their kids, monitoring and leading them on the right path
This does not mean that parents should have upon the development of desirable social and
an attitude of overprotection. Enough freedom moral behaviour among children.
and respect for children must be given. Parents Reaction Delinquency (RD) develops on
should keep a watch on their children’s friends account of the evil effects of the environment.
and teenagers must be monitored for their This is the reaction of the child against the society
betterment. Any negligence in these can be or environment from which the child feels that he
detrimental in the long run. has got only sorrow and nothing else. Remember,
Schools must do their part it cannot be cured by corporal punishment. To
In schools, there should be trained teachers, treat such delinquents, the reasons for his anti-
who can help those children who are emotionally social reactions should be found and efforts
disturbed or aggressive. Every child should be should be made to remove them.
given education keeping in mind his/her interests Psycho-neurotic Delinquency (PD) is created
and abilities. Proper arrangement should be made on account of the expression in an anti-social
for the guidance of students. Coordination of manner of the repressed tendencies. Delinquency
school and home should be obtained in guiding of this type can be cured through psychoanalysis.
students. Temperamental Delinquency (TD) is frequently
Recognizing delinquents and assisting found among teenagers. This develops on account
them of the malfunctioning of certain psychological
activities. Such delinquency can be cured through
The delinquent behaviour seen in children can
the treatment of psychological disorder.
be of different types, hence, the same method
of treatment cannot be adopted with each and The incident in question needs serious study
every delinquent child. According to Hadfield, and remedial measures in our family set-up. The
delinquency is of the following types: Benign role of parents in nurturing their wards must be
Delinquency, Simple Delinquency, Reaction properly understood and acted upon. Schools
Delinquency, Psycho-neurotic Delinquency, must make sure that they take care of the overall
and Temperamental Delinquency. Based on the development of their students. Safe environment
behaviour of children we can identify the type must be the hallmark of every school. There
of delinquency and help them to overcome the cannot be any form of abuse: sexual, physical,
negative sides in them. psychological or emotional. This includes
inappropriate relationships with fellow students
Benign Delinquency (BD) is a crime from the
or with adults and bullying among peers.
point of view of law and order but from the mental
health point of view it is not abnormal behaviour. It is the collective responsibility of parents,
Such delinquency can be cured easily. If the schools, educational psychologists, law-
children are provided with good environment and enforcement agencies, governments and cyber
their energy is diverted towards useful channels, experts to help our kids to desist from anti-social,
then they will adopt socially approved behaviour. criminal and undesirable activities. Let us work
Simple Delinquency (SD) is that type of anti- for a better India where humanity matters.
social behaviour which develops as a direct effect (Writer is the Secretary of Jesuit Education South Asia
of bad environment. The cure in this depends (JEASA), and National Adviser to JAAI)
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