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Sinar Daily
a day ago
- General
- Sinar Daily
Parents glued to phones risk raising aggressive, less empathetic kids, experts warn
SHAH ALAM – Constant parental distraction by phones and digital devices may be eroding children's ability to develop empathy, experts warn. The lack of deep emotional engagement during early childhood, a crucial stage for learning compassion, could leave youngsters more self-focused and prone to aggression. According to Dr Wan Munira Wan Jaafar, a senior lecturer at the Department of Social and Development Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, many Malaysian parents today are caught in the grip of 'FOMO' (Fear of Missing Out), feeling the need to constantly check social media, and engage in 'phubbing'; the act of snubbing someone in favor of a phone. 'In sociological terms, Symbolic Interactionism explains how children develop meaning and social cues through face-to-face interaction; when these are replaced by distracted, partial attention, children miss opportunities to learn empathy and emotional reciprocity. 'Social Learning Theory further suggests that when parents model detachment and screen-preoccupation, children may normalise such behaviors and replicate them with peers,' she said when contacted recently. Munira further warned that over time, this lack of deep emotional exchange at home can lead children to become more self-focused, less attuned to others' feelings, and in some cases, more prone to aggressive or bullying behavior. She also pointed out the breakdown of traditional social bonds such as at home, in schools, and in communities do play a significant role in the rise of bullying among youth. 'In Malaysia's past, strong family ties, close teacher–student relationships, and the 'kampung spirit' of communal responsibility meant children were closely guided and corrected by multiple layers of authority and care,' she said. She noted that today, urbanisation, busy dual-income households, and weaker neighborhood networks mean less adult presence and fewer opportunities for young people to develop empathy, respect, and conflict-resolution skills. From a sociological standpoint, Munira explained that Social Disorganization Theory posits that when the institutions and social bonds that uphold order weaken, deviant behaviours such as bullying are more likely to emerge. Similarly, Control Theory argues that strong bonds to family, school, and community act as a restraint on harmful behavior; when these bonds erode, youth may feel less accountable for their actions. The normalisation of bullying must end, particularly in boarding schools, where hazing and 'initiation' practices are sometimes dismissed as tradition. Photo: Canva 'Without these traditional support systems reinforcing pro-social values, aggressive behavior can flourish both online and offline,' she said. Meanwhile, Manipal University College Malaysia Criminologist Nadiah Syariani Md Shariff highlighted that without proper guidance, children lack the ability to tell if the behaviours are good or not, therefore, if the imitated behaviours serve the child, these behaviours are most likely to remain and reinforce as they learn that it works or help them to get what they want. Nadiah noted that violent media serves as modelling behaviours for children viewing, and many researches have found that frequent or repeated exposure to such content is likely to nurture aggression tendency within children by two-fold (can refer to Bobo-Doll Experiment about social learning in children). 'Children initially imitate the aggressive act from the media without knowing the possible impact of the action to them or others. 'If the act serves them, in most cases they do in making others comply, they learnt that would be the ideal response especially when conflict arises,' she told Sinar Daily. Nadiah stressed that social media content is highly influential and unlike the past decade, youngsters nowadays are very much engaged in technology where most of their first-hand information is retrieved from the Internet. She said that everything they learnt is mainly from the internet, therefore, if aggressive content such as bullying is repetitively appearing on their social media feed, this would desensitise youngsters to the act of bullying, and distort the perception of harm and consequences of bullying, making the act more readily adapted and imitated. Nadiah also added that these toxic contents are easily and widely accessible online. Observing violent media is one, the dynamics of the online environment is another factor in escalating bullying tendency. 'For example, the algorithm in social media is tailored to personal preferences or previous view, further suggesting similar contents appearing repetitively, as if constantly 'feeding' the mind towards acceptance of pro-delinquent norms and values,' she said. Online trends, she added, are meant to reach a wider audience, and it can also create a sense of attraction or competition which is further validated through likes, comments and shares. Without much self-control or self-restraints, it becomes difficult for youngsters to resist the temptation or fear from missing out. Nadiah emphasised that aggressive behaviour, including bullying, is learned through observation and imitation. 'Bullying behaviours are learned, whether online or offline. Learning at a young age is through the 'monkey see, monkey do' model and this usually takes place through observation of surroundings or during interaction with others, which is followed by imitation of the behaviours. 'These observed behaviours, whether good or bad, can be displayed or modelled by parents, peers, adults, or through media,' she said.
Sinar Daily
a day ago
- Sinar Daily
Zara Qairina's case shatters myth that bullying is a boy problem
While girls are often perceived as less aggressive, research shows they can be just as involved in bullying. By NUR ADNIN MAHALIM 16 Aug 2025 10:30am The tragic death of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir has upended the long-standing stereotype that extreme bullying is largely a male issue, bringing attention to the growing prevalence and severity of female-led aggression. Photo for illustrative purposes only - Canva SHAH ALAM – The tragic death of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir has upended the long-standing stereotype that extreme bullying is largely a male issue, bringing attention to the growing prevalence and severity of female-led aggression. While girls are often perceived as less aggressive, research shows they can be just as involved in bullying, particularly through relational aggression such as exclusion, public shaming and online harassment. Universiti Putra Malaysia, Faculty of Human Ecology, Department of Social and Development Sciences senior lecturer Dr Wan Munira Wan Jaafar said in Malaysia, shifting social dynamics and the influence of digital culture have blurred gender lines, with girls increasingly participating in both verbal and physical bullying. 'Feminist sociology points out that these behaviours are shaped by social expectations and power relations. 'When young girls feel the need to assert dominance, defend status or respond to peer pressure, they can adopt behaviours traditionally associated with male aggression. 'Ignoring the reality of female-led bullying risks leaving such cases underreported and unaddressed,' she told Sinar Daily. She added that Zara's case is a stark reminder that aggression is not defined by gender but by the environment that enables and normalises it. 'Effective bullying prevention must consider all genders and address contributing factors at home, in schools and across the wider community,' she added. Wan Munira highlighted the most effective way to curb bullying is to address it on multiple fronts, be it at home, in schools and within the wider community. Parents, she said, played a critical role by staying engaged in their children's lives and modelling empathy and respect. She said that schools must implement strong anti-bullying policies, while encouraging peer support programmes that promote kindness over cruelty. Wan Munira emphasised that the community and religious leaders could help rebuild social bonds by creating safe spaces where youth feel supported and accountable. 'From a psychological theory of social behavioural lens, Social Learning Theory reminds us that behaviour is often imitated, so adults must demonstrate the values they want children to adopt and Control Theory emphasises the importance of strong bonds and consistent consequences to deter harmful acts. 'Tackling bullying is not just about punishing offenders; it's about creating a culture, both online and offline, where respect is the social norm,' Munira said. Zara Qairina was reported to have fallen from the third floor of a religious school dormitory building in Papar on July 16, before being pronounced dead the following day at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital. Zara Qairina was found unconscious on July 16 after reportedly falling from the third floor of her religious school dormitory at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama (SMKA) Datuk Mustapha in Papar, Sabah. She was pronounced dead the next day at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital (HQEI). Her death sparked widespread public outrage, particularly on social media, amid allegations that she had been a victim of bullying at the school. More Like This
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ControlTheory Secures $5M Seed Funding to Bring Controllability to Observability
Startup emerges from stealth to launch new controllability platform at KubeCon EU 2025 to help organizations regain control of their observability. AUSTIN, Texas, April 01, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ControlTheory, controllability for observability, today announced it has raised $5 million in seed funding from Silverton Partners, an Austin-based venture capital firm. This milestone supports the launch of its innovative Observability Control Platform, enabling technology leaders to regain control of their observability through cost control, operational control, and adaptive control. Observability has grown increasingly costly and complex, locking organizations into proprietary solutions and overwhelming them with data silos. ControlTheory flips the script by introducing controllability — the active management of observability — to cut costs while increasing operational value. Controllability allows organizations to optimize their existing observability tools and platforms without replacing them. Unlike static, one-way telemetry pipelines, controllability optimizes the full observability lifecycle through adaptive feedback loops, from code to cloud, and development to operations. "Observability cost management is a top concern for organizations today," said Bob Quillin, CEO and co-founder of ControlTheory. "Affordability requires controllability to first get costs under control and second to prevent future overages and spikes. But we believe observability should be more - it should be an enabler, not a burden. Controllability not only helps you cut observability costs but also empowers observability where it falls short today, sharpening root cause detection, unlocking new insights, and improving operations with the agility to respond to change." ControlTheory's Observability Control Platform delivers: Cost Control: Detecting spikes, reducing metric cardinality, intelligently rerouting and filtering logs and traces, avoiding vendor lock-in, using open standards Operational Control: Sharpening root cause and anomaly detections by increasing signal, decreasing noise through intelligent sampling, illuminating current telemetry through observability "Meta-Metrics" Adaptive Control: Elastic Telemetry Pipelines use dynamic feedback loops to govern through policy for continuous improvement and adjustment, auto-scaling telemetry up or down for new releases and iterative troubleshooting without having to change your code Powered by OpenTelemetry, ControlTheory integrates with any existing instrumentation and observability tools, future-proofing control and avoiding vendor lock-in. "Increasingly complex systems and ballooning telemetry volumes have made observability costs and processes an operational challenge for many organizations, with innovative technologies and AI workloads introducing more cost and complexity to the mix," said Kelly Fitzpatrick, Senior Analyst at RedMonk. "Concepts like controllability aim to address these issues and necessarily evolve how we think about observability by focusing on actively governing, shaping, and optimizing telemetry rather than just collecting it." "Observability costs and the value they provide are receiving more scrutiny than ever, as they now represent a significant portion of most organizations' cloud budgets," according to Kip McClanahan, General Partner at Silverton Partners. "We're thrilled to partner once again with the ControlTheory founding team as they tackle these pressing challenges head-on: driving down the cost of observability while enhancing business oversight and understanding. ControlTheory is pushing the boundaries of observability by introducing the crucial concept of Controllability, which empowers businesses to immediately manage costs, optimize performance, and position themselves for the AI-enabled future." Controllability has always been an essential part of control theory. By adding cost controls and feedback loops to existing observability solutions, a true control system can emerge that rebalances observability with true controllability. The ControlTheory Observability Control Platform doesn't just collect, pipeline, and store data — it actively controls, refines, and optimizes observability in real-time. ControlTheory will showcase its Observability Control Platform at KubeCon EU 2025 in London from April 1 to 4. Attendees can visit ControlTheory at Booth S732 to see firsthand how the platform transforms observability from a reactive expense into a strategic advantage. ControlTheory's Observability Control Platform is now available for early access. Unlike existing observability and telemetry pipeline tools, ControlTheory is not priced by telemetry volume or ingest. Instead, it is based on control layer components such as control planes and agents. Organizations can learn more and request access at About ControlTheory Founded in 2024 by observability veterans with a track record of successful startups — including StackEngine (acquired by Oracle Cloud) and CopperEgg (acquired by Idera) — ControlTheory is dedicated to transforming observability through the power of controllability, cutting costs while turbocharging outcomes. Backed by $5 million in seed funding from Silverton Partners, ControlTheory is on a mission to enable organizations to regain control of their observability, increasing affordability, understandability, and business agility. About Silverton Partners Silverton Partners is focused on funding and mentoring early-stage businesses led by founders who share in its commitment to disrupt growth markets and build enduring companies. Founded in 2006, the firm brings the benefits of its vast network and decades of rich experience to each partnership. Austin-based Silverton is the most active venture capital investor in Texas and has been the initial investor behind visionary companies, including WP Engine, Storable, SailPoint, Silicon Labs, TurnKey Vacation Rentals, The Zebra, AlertMedia, Aceable, Self Financial, StackEngine, Wheel, and Billie. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts Media Inquiries Sarah Shkargisarah@ Sign in to access your portfolio
