A 14-year-old Secondary 2 girl from Singapore has caused a massive uproar online for what many deem as "atrocious and attention-seeking behaviour".
Unhappy with her mom's incessant nagging, Adelyn (not her real name) apparently resorted tophysical abuse by slapping her mom twice, and boasted about her actions on Facebook, coupled with vulgarities.
Within hours, it soon went viral on the Internet, particularly on Twitter. She was trending worldwide on the micro-blogging platform Tuesday night, and is currently one of the top Twitter trends in Singapore.
The incident garnered both encouraging and rude responses, though many were skewed towards the negative spectrum. Some even claimed that netizens should "stop pursuing the matter" and "give her a break".
A Singapore-based entertainer by the name Dee Kosh tweeted, "Dear Adelyn, you made this a public thing -- now we demand a public apology to your mom, yes a video of you on your knees -- saying sorry."
In an interview with Yahoo! Singapore, the 23-year-old YouTube star, who has uploaded a video to YouTube regarding his personal thoughts of the incident, claimed that Adeyn is only one of the many of this generation that have no respect for their parents.
"Whether or not it is true that she did slap her mother, the fact that she posted that status on Facebook is simply wrong, and I think if she has the courage to do that to her mother, then she should have the same guts to apologise publicly," he said.
"Kids around the world need to know that what they post on social networking sites is being scrutinised by netizens, be it old or young, and I hope that the young people out there who have heard about this incident will learn to be careful about what they publish online," he elaborated.
He also thinks that respect of parents is not the crux of this matter.
"I guess the point of this whole situation is not the slapping, because we have no concrete proof that she did so, but the point is that since we have the freedom of speech on these social platforms, use it wisely," he advised.
Watch his video on the topic:
Agreeing with Dee Kosh, student Russell Whang thinks that this entire uproar was amplified by the fact that it was circulated through social platforms with them serving as a catalyst, and that we have to think twice before publishing anything online.
Other netizens label her as "heartless and cold-hearted." "She could have talked it out, why does she even have to resort to physical abuse," 16-year-old Elton Seah questioned.
Similarly, 18-year-old student named Wong Wan Ting believed that what she had done is way too far, and that only parents have the rights to slap her if she had done something wrong.
"I think she is an ungrateful daughter, as even though her mother has done something unreasonable, she shouldn't have gone to the extent of slapping her," she told Yahoo! Singapore.
However, not all comments made were not of a critical nature. Most of the responses posted on Adelyn's Facebook Wall were in fact rather encouraging.
One of the comments read, "Adelyn, I hope you stay strong, you know yourself whether you did it or not, and there isn't any point bothering about what others comment."
"It's true that Adelyn did commit a 'sin', but considering that she is just 14, she might be immature," 16-year-old Anna Goh said.
She also claimed that Singaporeans should not be so quick to "attack" someone who made a mistake.
"This is what I feel about the negative point of social media, people become too judgmental and jump to conclusions quick because of others' opinions," she added.
Yahoo! Singapore has reached out to Adelyn, but she declined to give a comment.
The writer is a 17-year-old student and technology blogger who loves social media and gadgets. He is also Singapore's top Twitter user with over 220,000 followers.
From the article :
Let this be a lesson to all. The internet can be a kaleidescope of useful information and can also be harmful for those whose who use without cautious. From the article above, it proves that how such bad influence can affect everyone through social networking.
