A Guest Lecture on “Cyberbullying and Security in the era of Social Media: A Sociological Perspective”
The Department of Sociology, Khalsa College, Amritsar organized a guest lecture on “Cyberbullying and Security in the era of Social Media: A Sociological Perspective” on 10th Feb, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. in the seminar hall of the college under the guidance of Principal Dr. Arvinder Kaur Kahlon and Prof. Jaspreet Kaur, Dean of Arts and Humanities. It was organized to educate students about cyberbullying and the security measures to be taken while acting on different platforms of social media. Dr. Rachana Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar was the key speaker who enlightened students with her stock of knowledge.
At the beginning, Dr. Rachana Sharma made students familiar with the notion of cyberbullying and how it is done through various social media applications. She quoted NCRB data which highlighted the recent trends of cyberbullying such as cyber stalking, defamation, cyber blackmailing, fake news etc. While addressing the solutions to this problem, she made students aware of the various governmental initiatives like formation of cyber cells for reporting any kind of digital abuse. Along with that, made them familiar with a helpline named Tele MANAS which operates nationwide for tackling mental problems of people who are victim of online bullying. Additionally, she emphasized on various precautionary steps which individuals can take in order to protect themselves on digital platforms. For instance, keeping a regular check on their profile, not adding strangers in their account and not sharing any prior information of their whereabouts.
Lastly, an interactive session was held where the guest speaker responded to the personal queries of the students. Most of the students were inquisitive to know the underlying causes of this problem in order to have better clarity on this unaddressed issue. Dr. Sukhbir Singh, Incharge of Sociology Department, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the guest speaker and all the other members of organizing committee including Dr. Jasdeep Kaur and Dr. Bharti Jasrotia. He also thanked other faculty members of social sciences- Manav Sharma, Diksha Sharma, Roopkanwal Kaur, Samardeep Kaur, Sandeep Kaur and Dr. Harmandeep Kaur and for their presence. The benign presence and response of students of B.A (Arts), B.A (Social Science) and other disciplines made this occasion a grand success.
