How Cyberbullying affects Students Life?
I. Introduction
Bullying is not a new phenomenon, but the overuse of new communication
technologies facilitated the propagation of bullying behavior into the cyberspace,
which is today more known as "cyberbullying." It includes insulting, threatening,
defaming or intentionally harassing other people with today’s means of
communication, usually for a long period of time [1]. In recent years, cyberbullying
has become an important public health issue especially among teenagers, that are
deeply affected by this phenomenon, therefore it should be of growing concern to
parents, police, educators and the public in general [2]. This literature review will
cover the factors that lead to cyberbullying, the forms of this plague and its impact
on the victims as well as the solutions that can prevent this problem.
II. Factors
Reasons that lead to cyberbullying are quiet numerous. The principal factor,
becoming more common in middle school students now, is that technology is more
widely available. According to Kırcaburun et al., a study in January of 2017 found that
social media users had increased by 21% in the world comparing to 2016 [3].
Students who do not perform good in school have two times or more chances to be
victims of either normal or cyber harassment, or both, as compared to students who
have a good performance at school (16.1% vs 7.4%) [4].
Furthermore, physical appearance can represent a factor of cyberbullying. For
example, females seen as less or more attractive than others were at the highest risk
for bullying [4].
In addition, youngsters who identified themselves as non-heterosexual were more
likely to be bullied compared to heterosexual students (6% vs 10.5%) [4].
III. Forms
• Cyberstalking: This form of cyberbullying can lead the cyberbully to threat
someone’s physical wellbeing or his safety. It can refer to some adults that use the
Internet to contact young people for sexual purposes [6].
• Exclusion: It means leaving someone out intentionally. It is used online to target
and bully a victim. For example, a student can be excluded from groups or parties
while seeing other friends being invited [5].
• Fraping: It refers to somebody that logs into someone’s social networking account
and impersonates him by posting inappropriate content in his name [6]. • Trolling: It
represents the intentional act of provoking a response by using many insults on
social media [6].
• Dissing: It defines the spreading of cruel information about someone by posting
public posts and sending private messages in order to ruin their reputation or
relationships [5].
IV. Impact
It is not surprising that cyberbullying is a significant stress factor in a youngster's life.
Indeed, research shows that 32% of kids who are cyberbullied report experiencing at
least one symptom of stress. They also may feel embarrassed, hurt, or fear for their
safety. They can even blame themselves for the cyberbullying that they were victim
of [7].
When cyberbullying takes place, cruel posts and messages be shared with many
people and the big number of people that know about the bullying can intensify the
victim’s feelings of humiliation [7].
Cyberbullying’s effects often affect all aspects of an individual's life. For students, this
is evident in their grades. Cyberbullies and their victims often start getting poor
grades at school and this is related to an important lack of interest in activities that
pleased them once before [8].
While facing cyberbullying, victims sometimes see the world around them distinctly
from others. For some of them, life can lose its sense its sense and become hopeless.
They may lose interest in their hobbies and spend less time interacting with other
people including their family. And, in some cases, depression and suicide thoughts
can occur [7].
V. Solutions
To get started, social media can be manipulated easily by the cyberbullies, therefore
strict privacy settings on Internet-based technologies should be implemented [4].
In addition to that, teachers must play an important role to avoid this disaster by
understanding the warning signs showed by cyberbullied students. “Warning signs
can include poor school performance or frequent absences, avoidance of computers,
cell phones and other devices, stress when receiving e-mail, instant messages or
text,” (Janopaul-Naylor & Feller, 2019). Students may never find the courage to talk
about what he endures to an adult, so it is vital to recognize the alert signs [3].
Educating children is an extremely important way to prevent cyberbullying. They
must be warned from the dangers that exists on the internet and trained from a
noticeably young age, involving them in discussions dealing with the dangers of
cyberbullying [4].
Last but not least, parents must also take part in the fight against cyberbullying. They
should sometimes control their children’s online behavior, implement usage rules on
the social media and take the right decisions when they find out that their child is a
victim, or guilty of cyberbullying [4].
VI. Conclusion
Cyberbullying is an important and severe problem that affects badly our society. As
we have seen in this review, it can lead to anxiety, depression, or even or even worse
catastrophies for the victims. For these reasons, it is very important that parents,
schools, and especially teachers need to be involved in the fight againt this plague
and give their help to the victims. They represent the ones that have the capacity to
make a big difference in the life of young students and give them a new environment
that is healthier and safer so they can live their school years in the best conditions.
VII. Bibliography
[1] European Commission, “What is cyberbullying?”, 2021.
https://cyberhelp.eu/en/introduction/what_is
[2] Government of Canada, Department of Justice, “Cyberbullying and the Non-consensual
Distribution of Intimate Images”, Date modified: 2017-01-19.
https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/cndii-cdncii/p1.html
[3] Hannah Hartzler, “The Issue of Cyberbullying: A Literature Review”, Spring 2021.
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi
article=2589&context=honors_research_projects
[4] Mir Ali Raza Talpur, Tabinda Touseef, Syed Daniyal Ahmed Jilanee, Muhammad Mubashir
Shabu and Ali Khan, "Effects of Cyber Bullying on Teenagers: a Short Review of Literature",
Published Date: November 26, 2018..
https://irispublishers.com/oajap/fulltext/effects-of-cyber-bullying-on-teenagers-ashort-review-of-literature.ID.000511.php
[5] SECURLY, "The 10 Types of Cyberbullying", OCTOBER 4, 2018.
https://blog.securly.com/2018/10/04/the-10-types-of-cyberbullying/
[6] https://kids.kaspersky.com/10-forms-of-cyberbullying/
[7] Sherri Gordon, “The Real-Life Effects of Cyberbullying on Children”, Reviewed by
Ann-Louise T. Lockhart, PsyD, ABPP on April 25, 2021.
https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-are-the-effects-of-cyberbullying-460558
[8] Amanda Dudley, "Effects of Cyberbullying On An Individual", Oct 26, 2020.
https://www.cyberwise.org/post/effects-of-cyberbullying-on-an-individual