Likewise, users also learn how to avoid becoming a by-stander who transitions into a cyber-bully.
Through this app users are given pictures that allow them to practice identifying situations in which a hero is taking action, a by-stander is watching, or a bullies anti-social behavior is taking place.īy recognizing the many ways in which heroes take action directly or indirectly users learn how to become a hero waiting to take action in their own lives. The line between being a by-stander and a hero or a future bully is small yet significant.
By-standers are those who witness injustice and reinforce it through silence or turning a blind eye. This disconnect can breed complacency and encourage inactivity otherwise known as the by-stander effect. If people are brainwashed into believing that heroes fly, have x ray vision, or have other mutant like qualities they are unlikely to recognize how small gestures like calling the police when someone is being harmed is heroic. These images are entertaining but discourage viewers from recognizing and internalizing how they can behave as a hero.
Popular media suggest that heroes wear strange costumes and have super-natural powers such as the super hero images perpetuated in animation and sci-fi dramas.
