The darkside to technology: Cyberbullying
The artifect to the right is an editorial
cartoon drawn by Cathy Wilcox and
published on March the 2nd, 2007 by
the daily newspaper The Age. It was a
part of an article that addressed the
stance that Victorian public schools
were taking at the time to combat the
growing threat of cyberbullying by
blocking the popular video website
Youtube.
For many of us using electronic
technology has made our lives easier
whether it is communicating amongst friends and colleges on our mobile
phones, completing errands using a hand held tablet without even having to
leave the comfort of our lounge room or just using a computer for educational
and recreational purposes. While many of us may use these devices to assist
our lives at the same time there is a growing number of those within our
community who use them to intimidate and humiliate others by sending harsh
comments and posting embarrassing videos or pictures of their victims online.
In order to solve this social issue, we as a community must first identify those
who are most at risk and the mental and physical effect it has on victims.
Hence, this article hopes to address these two points so that victims can be
better identified and treated.
Metaphorically one could argue that cyberbullying is an infectious disease that
is spreaing amongst first world countries where technology is readily available
(Carroll, A., & Sakellariou, T., 2012). While no two studies produce the same
result, various studies from across the globe have shown that cyberbullying is
affecting a significiant number of adolescents in these countries. Research
carried out by Cummings, P., Lewis, C., and McGuckin, C. (2008), found that
40% of adolescences in Ireland have claimed to be cyberbullied, while 37% of
German adoescents admitted to being victims (Petermann, F., & Von Marees,
N., 2010). Over the last two decades as technology has advanced and the
world has seen the emergence of such social media sites like Facebook,
Youtube, Twitter and MSN messenger, many studies have been conducted in
Australia. Most of these Australian studies place cyberbullying affecting
between 9%- 49% of adoelscents (Campbell, M., 2005).
The number one reason for adolecent cyberbullying is due to the accessibitly
to technology. In 2013 the Australian Communication and Media Authorities
research showed that 1 in 3 primary school student had a smart phone, while
the figure for older children is much higher at 94% for 16 year olds. These
figures continue to grow annually meaning more and more children will
become the victims of cyberbullying (Matthews, R., 2004).
So why is cyberbullying a concern compared to traditional bullying? While
traditional forms of bullying can be harmful mentally and physically,
cyberbullying is more severe. Instead of traditionally dealing with a school
bully between 9 and 3 o’clock, Monday to Friday, a cyberbully can follow their
victim wherever they go. At school humiliating material can spread by just the
click of a button. When a victim arrives home after being humiliated at school
they only have to turn their home computer on to encounter the power that
their bully has over them. Unlike school yard where bullies can easily be
witnessed harming another student, many cyberbullies remain anonymous by
using false names, making it very hard to prevent them from being the
perpetrator.
The effects of cyberbullying have been well documened over the last 10 years
(Griffiths, C., & Rigby, K., 2011). While victims of cyberbullying may not
endure physical harm at the hands of their perpetrators, they do indeed suffer
mental and psychological issue which could lead to physical harm. Depending
on the legth of time and the severity that a victim is cyberbullied, has some
effect on what the victim may suffer. Overall, if the victims of cyberbullying are
not assited in overcoming their bullies influence, it may lead to them suffering
from depression, anxiety, isolation, lonliness, school refusal and in extreme
cases self harm or suicide (Albayrak-Kaymak, D., Alikasifoglu, M., Ercan, O.,
Erginoz, E., & Usysal, O., 2007: Delville, Y., Holden, G. W., & Newman, M. L.,
2005: Jonson-Reid, M., & Wei, H., 2011). The effects of cyberbullying does
not end when both parties leave school at the end of year twelve. For
example, one high profile case which demonstrates that even high profile
individuals are the vicims of cyberbullying is the the death of Charlotte
Dawson. In 2012 Mrs Dawson was hospitialsed after an attempted suicide
after receiving a torrent of online abuse urging her to hang herself. In 2014
was found dead after a succesful suicide attempt (ABC NEWS, 2014).
Many of the studies which are mentioned in this wiki use a similar method to
collect their findings. In almost all cases the researches selected a group of
adolescents ranging between 10-18 years of age. In some cases the
reseaches used students from across a number of geographical locations to
help verify their findings. Once the subjects were selected they were given a
time frame to record how many times they were bullied online usually within a
twelve month period. The limitations to their research is that the researches
did not take into consideration the ethnicty or social background of the
subjects being tested. While gender may play a part in which gender is more
likely to be cyberbullied there has been limited number of studies about how
socio-econimocs influences how cyberbullies pick their victims. Finally, the
definition of what cyberbulling is, is not the same for all research studies. It
would be like saying I caught a big fish the other day, what you see as big
may noot be the same as my definiton as big.
On a global scale most first world societies are influenced and controlled by
various forms of technology. For many of us technology has its benefits when
used appropiatly, however there are people who choose do deliberatly use
technology especially personal electronic devices to inflict harm on others.
Various studies across the globe show that there is an ever growing threat of
cyberbullying. In most cases the threat of cyberbullying occurs in first world
nations where these devices are easily accessbile and used. Almost all
studies have shown that adolescent members of society are most at risk of
being both the perpatrator and victim of cyberbullying. One reason for this
could be because when children start puberty relationships between
themseleves and others including their relationship with society becomes a
more important issue of their lives which in turn is affected and has an effect
on their social and psychological development. The link between the on set of
puberty and bullying is evident in two such studies. Carroll, A., and
Sakellariou, T., (2012) and Slonje, R., and Smith, P. K. (2008), both found
that amongst adolescent children the age at which most cyberbullying occurs
is when they are in junior secondary or middle school. There could be a
number of reasons for this inluding but not limited to: puberty, change in
environment from primary to high school, the accessibility to personal
electronic devices and the lack of knowledge in regards to correctly using
these devices.
While most studies agree that adolescents are the most at risk to bullying
there are conflicting results between gender and cyberbullying. Firstly, studies
by Slonje, R., and Smith, P. K. (2008), and Bolman, C., Denue, F., and
Vollink, T, (2008), found that there is a higher number of females victims and
pertrators of cyberbullying. One such reason that has been put forward by
Bolman et al., (2008), is that girls tend to bully other females through the
unacceptance or isolation of individuals via gossiping, blackmail and rumors,
all of which can be so easily carried out using electeonic devices. Secondly,
Burgess, A. W., Cavanaugh, D. J., and Dowell, E. B. (2009) argue that the
reason why females tend to be the more susebtible to bullying is that unlike
males who tend to use online sites to play games, females are usually online
for socializing purposes. In compariosn, another study carried out by Aydina,
B., Sahin, M., & Sari, S. V., (2012), found that male adolescents tend to be
the victims and pertpetrator of bullying. In support of Aydina et al., (2012)
findings, another study by Englander, E. K. and Snell, P. A. (2010), found that
females tend to are more open about being the victim of cyberbullying.
While Bolman et al., (2008) and Burgess et al., (2009), have studied the
connection between gender and cyberbullying there have been even more
studies that look at the effects of cyberbullying. The common results found by
any study that looks at the effects of cyberbullying is that bullying can have
devastating emotional and mental harm especially when an adolescent is
going through physical changes and finding the place in society. So how do
we stop this from occuring? There is no clear solution to dealing with
cyberbullying like Wilcox’s (2007) image would like us to think. While it would
like to be thought that with polies and other preventive measures in place
cyberbullying will be eradicted this is never going to be the case. Instead I
personally feel more reseach needs to be done assist those who are the
victims of cyberbullying on order to get their lives back on track and as normal
as ever.
In my opinion Wilcox’s (2007) image represents a number of social views that
society has towards cyberbullying. First of all Wilcox (2007) has not tried to
hide the fact that society is aware of cyberbullying especially towards children
She, has made this quiet clear that children are the main threat of
cyberbullying by using a child and an adult figure who could be assumed to be
a teacher based upon her dialogue. With respect to the way Wilcox (2007)
has drawn the child in her image, we get the sense that he is a bully due to
his aggressive stance and appearance. Therefore, she is simply impling while
we are concerned about bullying it is alright if children are bullied and
harassed in the schoolyard. This also supports the notion that some
community members have in that it is normal for children to be bullied as it is
a part of growing up (Campbell, M., 2005: Limber, S. P., & Small, M. A.,
2003). In contrast her image is unrealistic in that bullying will nor simply
disappear by blocking major social website. Children today have more access
and knowledge about technology then any generation before them. Therefore
blocking websites does not stop children using social networks to
cyberbullying, instead it encourages them to use them and get a sense of
achieve when they do beat the ban or block that has been imposed.
While I am generally very conscenious about what I place on social media
and who can see it, this topic has allowed me the opptunity to help other
people in my life who are younger and unfamiliar with using social networking
sites. For example, I have a younger family member who has just been
allowed Facebook for the first time. By completing this assessment piece I
have gained valuable knowledge on how to identify, prevent and treat bullying
which I shared with her and her family so she does become a victim of
cyberbullying. I will also use this knowledge in the future when I start my own
family and they become old enough to use social media, of course keeping in
mind that it would have changed to some degree. Overall, though this topic
has been very benefical in that it will hopefully allow me to keep those around
me safe and not become the victims of bulies who hide in the dark behind a
screen.
References
ABC News. (2014). Charlotte Dawson’s death puts cyberbullying back in
spotlight. Retrieved September 17, 2014 from
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-23/charlotte-dawson-death-puts-focuson-cyber-bullying/5277904
Albayrak-Kaymak, D., Alikasifoglu, M., Ercan, O., Erginoz, E., & Usysal, O.
(2007). Bullying behaviours and psychosocial health; results from a crosssectional survey among high school students in Instabul. Turkey European
Journal of Pediatrics, 166(12), 1253-1260.
Aydina, B., Sahin, M., & Sari, S. V. (2012) bullying, cyber victimization and
psychological symtpotms: a study in adolescents. Cukurova University:
Faculty of Education Journal, 41(1), 53-59.
Bolman, C., Denue, F., & Vollink, T. (2008). Cyberbullying: youngsters’
experiences and parental perception. CyberPsychology & Bevaviour, 11, 217223.
Burgess, A. W., Cavanaugh, D. J., & Dowell, E. B. (2009). Clustering of
internet risk behaviours in a middle school student population. Journal of
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Campbell, M. (2005). Cyberbullying: an old problem in a new guise?
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Carroll, A., & Sakellariou, T. (2012). Rates of cyber victimization and bullying
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Cummings, P., Lewis, C., & McGuckin, C. (2008). Bully/victim problems in
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Delville, Y., Holden, G. W., & Newman, M. L. (2005). Isolation and the stress
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Griffiths, C., & Rigby, K. (2011). Addressing cases of bullying through the
Method of Shared Concern. School Psychology International, 32, 345-357.
Jonson-Reid, M., & Wei, H. (2011). Friends can hurt you: examing the coexistenc3e of friendship and bullying among early adolescents. School
Psychology Journal, 32, 244-262.
Limber, S. P., & Small, M. A. (2003). State laws and policies to address
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Matthews, R. (2004). The psychosocial aspects of mobile phone use amongst
adolescents. InPsych, 26(6), 16-19.
Petermann, F., & Von Marees, N. (2010). Bullying in German primary schools:
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educational backgrounds. School Psychology International, 31, 178-198.
Slonje, R., & Smith, P. K. (2008). Cyberbullying: another main type of
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Wilcox, C. (2007, March 2). Schools ban YouTube sites in cyber-bullying fight
[image]. The Age. Retrieved from
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/01/1172338796092.html