Makgotso M on cyberbullying: Sometimes parents just don’t get how rough it is out there

After playing the role of a school girl who is a bully in the Showmax series The Girl from St. Agnes, actress Makgotso M wants parents to be aware of the effects cyberbullying may have on their children.

Makgotso told TshisaLIVE  the role helped her appreciate the difficulties that so many of today's youth face, a struggle that many parents seem to be oblivious to.

"Web culture is a big thing, especially when it comes to students and what they get up to online. It is shocking really. I think sometimes our parents can't relate because maybe their teen years are so far behind them but teenagers go through a lot."

She also slammed parents who didn't take their children's struggles seriously.

"I think that your teen years are the hardest years of your life and what makes it even more frustrating is that you have adults who think that you don't really have it that hard. You hear things like 'what do they possibly know about life?' Meanwhile, our children are going through the most."

Makgotso said that more needed to be done to address the dangers that lurk online from stalking to bullying and abuse. 

And that's without taking into account the pressures and battles to survive high school.

"High school is something else. It is a difficult thing. The stories you hear about initiations and fighting. Honestly, I am surprised that we are not all traumatised from high school," she said.