The Relevance of Cyberbullying to the 21st Century as Reflected in Chinese Drama “Reset”

The Chinese drama “Reset (开端)” made an influential hit at the beginning of 2022. This urban science-fiction drama narrates the story of college student Li and game programmer Xiao, who are accidentally involved in a bus explosion incident. As the story progresses, viewers are left confused about who was the murderer and their intention to blow up the bus.

It was later revealed that the murderers were the bus driver Wang and his wife Tao. Five years ago, Mengmeng, the daughter of Wang and Tao, was sexually harassed on the bus and forced off in the middle of a highway. As a result, she was hit by a passing truck and immediately killed on the spot. However, no one knew about her experience of encountering sexual harassment. Instead, she was blamed for snatching the steering wheel of the bus driver and causing disorder. “Crazy, she is crazy, she is not worthy of pity…” 

The tragedy presented in the drama stems from cyberbullying. In an internet era with social media on the rise, there are too many examples like Mengmeng. People judge others online without knowing the actual truth, and due to anonymity, they don’t have to suffer any consequences for their comments. Hastily, people make judgments on what they think is “true”, without understanding the big picture, and even harass the victims with abusive language. The loss of a young life was not only met with little public sympathy but also made into all sorts of mocking videos that were shared on social media, unleashing waves of schadenfreude and apathetic ridicule. If the case presented in “Reset” happens in reality, if there are similar victims like Mengmeng, then the so-called “rational online discussion” will further persecute the victim, without the second chance to save the victim.

In recent years, with the increasing usage of social media platforms, there has been a 70% increase in the amount of bullying/hate speech among teens and children in the month since the Covid lockdown began [1]. 95% of social media-using teens who have witnessed cruel behavior on social networking sites say they have seen others ignoring the mean behavior; 55% witness this [2]. This thus demonstrates the strong influence of social media and its ability to spread rumors and assaults. As a result, children and young people under 25 who are victims of cyberbullying are more than twice as likely to self-harm and enact suicidal behavior [3]. The issue with cyberbullying is that it can happen anonymously which gives the perpetrators a sense of security. And most victims are too afraid to confront their bully or bring it to an adult, leading the bully to have even more power over their victim.

“There is a site right now on Facebook that is called ‘Calling all hoes’ that seems to be a place for people to write, for all the world to see, any hurtful or sick thought about anyone that they don’t like—Facebook refuses to take the page down… I don’t know what to do and I feel that something needs to be done before we are hearing on the news about some poor kid who killed themselves over what’s being written about them on this vile site. Help…” According to a 17-year-old girl from the United States [4]. Indeed, online harassers mock the innocents for their own pleasure, hence keeping the weak from speaking up and aggravating the occurrence of tragedy. A 14-year-old, Angel Green, had spent years being mocked and called insulting names. She’d already struggled growing up, as her father hit her and had been jailed for abuse. After her classmates learned about that, they used it as more ammunition both at school and online. Angel couldn’t stand it anymore and took her own life [5]. Using Wang’s words at the end of the drama, “What do these people know about my daughter? How could they spread rumors on the internet about a total stranger? Mengmeng is only 20 years old. She has never done anything to hurt anyone…”

“Reset” addresses and tries to provide solutions for cyberbullying. When abnormal things happen, it is ok to question, but don’t jump to conclusions. The way to fight against cyber violence is to improve internet etiquette and to view things from a wider perspective with compassion and less prejudice. Instead of being an abuser, people can choose to be kind and stop the chain of perpetration. Kindness is a choice that can change ourselves and even affect others. If we cared more and chose not to be indifferent, perhaps there would not be so many tragedies.

1 Sampathkumar, M. and Shwayder, M., 2022. Cyberbullying Is On The Rise During The Coronvirus Pandemic | Digital Trends. [online] Digital Trends. Available at: <https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/coronavirus-cyberbullying-distance-learning/> [Accessed 28 February 2022]. 

2 Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. 2022. Teens, kindness and cruelty on social network sites. [online] Available at: <https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/11/09/teens-kindness-and-cruelty-on-social-network-sites/#:~:text=95%25%20of%20social%20media%2Dusing,with%2027%25%20seeing%20this%20frequently.> [Accessed 28 February 2022].

3 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180419130923.htm> [Accessed 28 February 2022]

4 “Cyberbullying Stories – Cyberbullying Research Center.” 2015. Cyberbullying Research Center. 2015. https://cyberbullying.org/stories.

5 Ingham, Alexandria. 2018. “7 Real Life Cyberbullying Horror Stories – Family Orbit Blog.” Family Orbit Blog. November 11, 2018. https://www.familyorbit.com/blog/real-life-cyberbullying-horror-stories/.

Featured Image – Xiao (left) and Li (right) on the bus Courtesy of baike.baidu.com

By Daisy Ding