A 15-year-old American series, centering on a gossip blog, is causing unrest in Dutch schools at the start of this school year. ‘Gossip Girl’ seems to inspire Dutch students to start gossip channels on TikTok, we reported earlier this week.
Gossip into the world
The series – which dates from 2007 but has recently returned to Netflix – revolves around an anonymous blogger who spreads gossip about students at a private school in New York. This kind of gossip is now also being spread around the world on TikTok in the Netherlands.
Organization Helpwanted announced this week that they receive reports from teachers who are mentioned with photos and (part of) their names, to stories about students’ sexuality.
The Kindertelefoon is now also receiving calls via the TikTok channels. Director Roline de Wilde speaks of worrying signals.
According to De Wilde, Kindertelefoon employees have spoken to children in the past week who have created a gossip account or want to create such an account. They often do not oversee their actions, the Kindertelefoon director sees.
‘Stuck in group process’
It is important to keep talking to them, she says. “We regularly notice that children who bully are stuck in a group process that they cannot resolve independently. Our volunteers discuss the consequences with children and at the same time we try to motivate them to talk to someone they trust in their environment. “
The Kindertelefoon helps children who are bullied online to think about the next step. “In the case of online bullying via #GossipGirl, we also point children to organizations such as HelpWanted, which in some cases can help take the content offline.”
Lots of conversations about bullying
Bullying in general has been a much-discussed topic at Kindertelefoon for years. Over the past year, the number of conversations about this on the helpline increased from 65 to 85 per day, reports the Kindertelefoon.
2023-09-26 22:33:26
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