Bullying happens at all ages. While not everyone is a victim of bullying, almost everyone has witnessed one or more incidents of bullying happen to someone else. In one such incident, the quandary arose when a mother came to know that it was none other than her daughter who was the one participating in the bullying. Nique might be a loving mom but this didn’t prevent her from putting a stop to this traumatic activity. Once she came to know about her daughter having bullied someone, she immediately took steps to make her apologize for the same. She described the incident publicly by posting a Tiktok video, which has not over 8 million views and over 950k likes. The video’s overlay text read, “POV: Your child decided to be a follower and bully another kid today. knowing you hate bullies! This is how we apologize in our household.”
Image Source: Tiktok | afrolatina93
The video showcases Nique capturing the video of herself and her daughter walking through the corridors of a supermarket, purchasing gifts for the girl her daughter had bullied. They select many gifts including candies, teddy bear and flowers, assembling the assortments together to put together a gift basket. The baby pink basket also displays a journal, face masks, choker necklaces, a Krispy Kream Donuts gift card and a friendship bracelet-making kit. The video also showcases a greeting card with a note of apology scribbled on its inner leaf. The note read, “I am sorry for being mean to you and talking about your hair. You are a wonderful friend to me. So I apologize for that.” Beneath the video, Nique explained her gesture as, “I always tell my kids that you never know what a person is going through at home and what they have to deal with every day. You are to always be kind to everyone because how you treat someone can impact their mental health in either 2 ways! Not only that but everything you have can be taken away just as fast as you received it. Humble yourself.” she wrote in the caption.
Image Source: Tiktok | afrolatina93
The swarm of comments that followed the video included people who praised Nique for her choice, for her accountability and for raising her daughter right. In some replies, Nique also said that her daughter is not really a bad kid who would go on to bully others, but in that particular instance, she was hanging around in the wrong company. Many also said that often teachers witness such scenarios but end up ignoring them, which is a poor thing
Image Source: Tiktok | wendy
mzlisamariejc20 commented, “In a world where many parents will defend their bully child, or just ignore the situation, you are a beautiful shining star and I hope many will learn.” Another Tiktoker, stylesbyangielynn, wrote, “You know what I love about this. Its your accountability. You did nothing wrong but you are taking the accountability for your child anyway.”
Image Source: Tiktok | christina simone
Followed by this video, Nique posted a Part 2 of the video, which, too, has reached over 16 million views and 2.8 million likes. The video depicted Nique’s daughter taking the apology gift basket to the girl she had bullied. The overlay read, “My daughter took the gift basket and flowers to the girl she bullied yesterday. I also called her mom and asked if she would allow me to give her daughter my daughter’s hair appointment that I already paid for in advance.”
Image Source: Tiktok | miguel
In the video, Nique asked the bullied girl’s mom if she could take her daughter to get her hair braided from one of Nique’s friends who braided her kids’ hair. She said that she had paid for the hair appointment in advance. She wanted to teach her kid that they wouldn’t do this. “I don’t condone bullying. I am always nice to everybody that I come across. And I expect my kids do the same thing,” she said in the video, “That was very unacceptable.”
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Why do some folks use social media but don't engage?
Psychologist says people who never comment on social media share these 5 positive traits
For over 20 years, social media has developed into a staple in many people’s day-to-day lives. Whether it’s to keep in communication with friends and family, following the thoughts of celebrities, or watching cat videos while sipping your morning coffee, there seem to be two types of social media users: commenters and lurkers.
The term “lurker” sounds equally mysterious and insidious, with some social media users writing them off as non-participants at best or voyeurs at worst. However, mindfulness expert Lachlan Brown believes these non-commenters have some very psychologically positive and healthy traits. Let’s take a look at how each one of these traits could be beneficial and see how fruitful lurking might be even though it can drive content creators crazy.
1. Cautious about vulnerability
Consciously or not, making a post online or commenting on one puts you and your words out there. It’s a statement that everyone can see, even if it’s as simple as clicking “like.” Doing so opens yourself up to judgment, with all the good, bad, and potential misinterpretation that comes with it. Non-commenters would rather not open themselves up to that.
These silent users are connected to a concept of self-protection by simply not engaging. By just scrolling past posts or just reading/watching them without commentary, they’re preventing themselves from any downsides of sharing an opinion such as rejection, misunderstanding, or embarrassment. They also have more control on how much of themselves they’re willing to reveal to the general public, and tend to be more open face-to-face or during one-on-one/one-on-few private chats or DMs. This can be seen as a healthy boundary and prevents unnecessary exposure.
Considering many comment sections, especially involving political topics, are meant to stir negative emotional responses to increase engagement, being extra mindful about where, when, and what you comment might not be a bad idea. They might not even take the engagement bait at all. Or if they see a friend of theirs post something vulnerable, they feel more motivated to engage with them personally one-on-one rather than use social media to publicly check in on them.
2. Analytical and reflective mindset
How many times have you gone onto Reddit, YouTube, or any other site and just skimmed past comments that are just different versions of “yes, and,” “no, but,” or “yes, but”? Or the ever insightful, formerly popular comment “First!” in a thread? These silent browsers lean against adding to such noise unless they have some valid and thoughtful contribution (if they bother to comment period).
These non-posters are likely wired on reflective thinking rather than their initial intuition. Not to say that all those who comment aren’t thoughtful, but many tend to react quickly and comment based on their initial feelings rather than absorbing the information, thinking it over, researching or testing their belief, and then posting it. For "lurkers," it could by their very nature to just do all of that and not post it at all, or share their thoughts and findings privately with a friend. All in all, it’s a preference of substance over speed.
3. High sense of self-awareness
Carried over from the first two listed traits, these silent social media users incorporate their concern over their vulnerability and their reflective mindset into digital self-awareness. They know what triggers responses out of them and what causes them to engage in impulsive behavior. It could be that they have engaged with a troll in the past and felt foolish. Or that they just felt sad after a post or got into an unnecessary argument that impacted them offline. By knowing themselves and seeing what’s being discussed, they choose to weigh their words carefully or just not participate at all. It’s a form of self-preservation through restraint.
4. Prefer to observe rather than perform
Some folks treat social media as information, entertainment, or a mix of both, and commenting can feel like they’re yelling at the TV, clapping alone in a movie theater when the credits roll, or yelling “That’s not true!” to a news anchor that will never hear them. But contrary to that, social media is a place where those yells, claps, and accusations can be seen and get a response. By its design, social media is considered by experts and the media as performative, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. Taking all of the previously mentioned traits into account, one can see why they would prefer to “observe the play” rather than get up on the stage of Facebook or X.
On top of that, these non-commenters could be using social media differently than those who choose to fully engage with it. Using this type of navigation, there may be nothing for them to comment about. Some commenters are even vying for this for their mental health. There are articles about how to better curate your social media feeds and manipulate algorithms to create a better social media experience to avoid unnecessary conflict or mentally tiring debate.
If you go on a blocking spree on all of your accounts and just follow the posters that boost you, it could turn your social media into a nice part of your routine as you mainly engage with others face-to-face or privately. In terms of commenting, if your curated Instagram is just following cute dogs and all you have to offer for a comment is “cute dog,” you might just enjoy the picture and then move on with your day rather than join in the noise. These non-commenters aren’t in the show and they’re fine with it.
5. Less motivated by social validation
The last trait that Brown showcases is that social media users who browse without posting tend to be independent from external validation, at least online. Social media is built to grow through feedback loops such as awarding likes, shares, and reposts of your content along with notifications letting you know that a new person follows you or wants to connect. This can lead many people to connect their activity on social media with their sense of self worth, especially with adolescents who are still figuring out their place in the world and have still-developing brains.
Engaging in social media via likes, shares, comments, and posts rewards our brains by having them release dopamine, which makes us feel good and can easily become addictive. For whatever reason, non-commenters don’t rely on social media as a means to gauge their social capital or self worth. This doesn’t make them better than those who do. While some non-commenters could have healthier ways to boost their self worth or release dopamine into their systems, many get that validation from equally unhealthy sources offline. That said, many non-commenters’ silence could be a display of independence and self confidence.
Whether you frequently comment online or don’t, it’s good to understand why you do or don’t. Analyzing your habits can help you determine whether your online engagement is healthy, or needs to be tweaked. With that information, you can then create a healthy social media experience that works for you.