Breaking Down the Psychology of Cyberbullying.

With the increase in technological usage among adolescents, the exposure to the negative side of CMC is increasing as well.  One of these negative aspects is cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying, defined as "willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text, (Hinduja & Patchin, 2006, p. 131), is becoming a serious problem throughout the world.  About 6% of all adolescents have reported being threatened or harassed while using communication technology.  (Chisolm, 2006)  There have been five types of cyber bullies identified.  The "vengeful angel" who's self perception is of one protecting a friend who has been bullied, the "power-hungry", who resembles an off-line bully, "revenge of the nerds" who will damage another's computer, "inadvertent" who reacts after a misunderstanding and "mean girls", who team up with other females to target a victim. (Chisolm, 2006).  The two devices that cyber bullies harass their victims with are the cell phone and the computer.  Besides the expected forms, such as emails, chats and texting, cyberbullying can take other forms, such as happy slapping.  Happy slapping is defined as "where a victim is slapped or made to appear silly by one person, filmed by another, and the resulting pictures circulated on mobile phones" by Smith, Mahdavi, Carvalho, Fisher, Russell and Tippett, (2008, p. 1)

Making someone look silly is a minor irritant compared to the harsh consequences that can result.  Happy slapping has escalated as far as the beating of someone to death.  It's not just the physical aspect that is dangerous but also the psychological as well.  An example of this is the suicide of a 13-year -old boy after being bullied on the social network Bebo.  (Santo, 2008)

In a positive twist, there are plenty of web sites that educate with articles and videos.

In this blog we will discuss the harmful effects cyberbullying has on adolescents, what to do if you or your teen are bullied and how to prevent further bullying, and we will discuss legal cases and laws regarding cyberbullying.  It is our hope that his blog will be helpful in its education, information and ideas for positive change in the future. 

Cyberbullying: What to do if you or your child is being bullied

Reports of cyberbullying are increasing, as is the level of severity, requiring educators and parents to take action (Li, 2006). Most parents set rules for internet usage. However, parents are not attentive to their children’s actions or not aware of harassments that may be occurring (Dehue, Bolman, and Vollink, 2008). Parents should know that cyberbullying can happen to any child, regardless of gender or race (Hinduja and Patchin, 2008).

Preventing cyberbullying is the first step towards protecting children, and parents need to be actively involved in their child’s online activities. Parents need to have an open line of communication with their child, and set firm rules regarding internet usage. Children should never post any personal information online, or open a message from an unknown sender (http://www.cyberbullying.ca/). Most importantly, parents should keep computers with internet access in a busy room of the house. This will help to enforce the rules, and allow parents to monitor internet activity (Franek, 2004).

Oftentimes it can be difficult to know if someone is a victim of cyberbullying. Some signs to watch for are: spending hours on the computer, closing windows on the computer when someone enters the room, fear of leaving home, lack of sleep or appetite, lowered self-esteem, change in behavior, acting out, lack of interest in life, or change in school performance (Fauman, 2008). Never arrange to meet someone from the internet. If a cyberbullying incident has occurred, report the incident to a trusted adult. Don’t reply to the message, but make sure to keep it because this is evidence. Contact local law enforcement, and notify the local internet service provider. There are various software packages that can help to protect or assist in finding who is sending the messages. Some of these are eMailTrackerPro, McAfee Parental Controls, or PreadtorGuard (http://www.cyberbullying.ca/).

Effects of Cyberbullying

In a recent sample of over 1300 respondents under the age of 18, 32% of boys and 36% of girls claimed to be the victims of Cyberbullying (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008). While 1300 children is a small sample in comparison to how many computer literate kids there are in the United States, the percentage shows that a large amount of young people are affected by cyberbullying today. Since bullying has transitioned from solely on the playground to computer mediated means, it can have serious effects on the victim. Cyberbullying can have serious psychological and physical effects on young people.

A good example of how serious the psychological effects of Cyberbullying can be is the case of Allison. Allison was in ninth grade when she began receiving hate mail in instant message form from people that she presumed to be her friends (Winter & Leneway, 2008). When she asked her friends about it, they said it was somebody else, leaving Allison without any knowledge of who could have sent her this material (Winter & Leneway, 2008). Allison was left with a feeling of paranoia, causing her to lose focus in her classes (Winter & Leneway, 2008). This is just one example of how Cyberbullying can affect young people psychologically.

On the other hand the physical effects can be devastating. Hinduja & Patchin (2008) conducted a study in which one young man stated that the Cyberbullying he experienced made him think of killing himself. This is one extreme version of how Cyberbullying can affect a person both emotionally and physically. While suicide is probably a little extreme, other violent acts can result from Cyberbullying. While physical and psychological effects can be devastating, it is interesting to see how or why Cyberbullying exists.

According to Erwin and Morton (2008), children that are exposed to violence at a very young age have a reduced sensitivity to the pain and anguish of others . This could be a reason why kids participate in Cyberbullying today. Another explanation of why Cyberbullying is practiced is related to the socioeconomic status of young people, and is found in the Youth and Society Journal. There are many factors to be considered when looking at Cyberbullying, but the fact is that it can be harmful and even lead to fatality.

Cyberbullying Laws and Legal Cases

With the increase of crimes linked to cyberbullies there has been a growing number of cases of rape and murder through the use of sites such as MySpace (Chisolm, 2006).There are even websites that list many crimes and incidents that have occurred through social websites, particularly MySpace. Most of the cases are people that have committed a crime and are linked to cyberbullying leading them to their prosecution and for many, their arrest. Though given its immediacy, anonymity, and accessibility, the internet offers an unprecedented forum for defamation and harassment. The salient problem with such “cyberbullying” is that victims are typically left without adequate recourse (Areheart, 2007). Meaning that if even if someone is a victim of cyberbullying very little can be done in order to stop or even catch the perpetrator. As a result of this there are very few cases and laws against these cyberbullies, but fortunately some actions have begun to take place. For instance the case of U.S. vs. Lori Drew which started with this mother Lori Drew that made a fake MySpace account pretending to be a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Ms. Drew started off being flirtatious to fool the girl into believing “Josh” was real and then made comments like, “the world would be better off without her.” (Welch, 2008) These sorts of comments are believed to be the cause of the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier. Ms. Drew faces up to five years in prison for each account if found guilty (Welch, 2008). Even though it is very difficult to deter cyberwrongs and catch cyberbullies the best thing to do is inform an adult or police about potential cyberbullies. As more cases are being reported, the government is now being forced to take action against these cyberbullies and the media is fortunately making the dangers of online communication more known to society.

In Conclusion

Because communication technology will continue to increase, it goes to figure that cyberbullying will as well. A recent survey found that 87% of adolescents, ages 12 to 17, go online. This indicates that communication devices such as cell phone and computers allow them to contact others at all times for both prosocial and antisocial purposes. (Mason, 2008. p. 325) As shown, this bullying can result in serious health and psychological issues for the victims. From low self- esteem to suicide, victims of cyberbullying have truly felt the negative effects. Since adolescents are tuning in to communication technology at a younger age these effects are becoming increasingly more profound. Unfortunately, adolescents don’t always deal with adversity well. Youngsters mostly react to cyberbullying by pretending to ignore it, by actually ignoring it, or by bullying the bully. (Dehue, Bolman, and Vollick, 2008). None of these reactions result in positive outcomes. Parenting is the line of first defense when dealing with online usage and issues of cyberbullying. Setting rules and checking on the child’s activities can help keep problems to a minimum. Knowing which signs to look for can alert parents to possible problems. Since it is rare that children will tell their parents, it makes good sense to create an open line of communication with the child to let them know they can share the information. There is also a plethora of computer programs that can assist in tracking the offender.

Unfortunately, since cyberbullying is a relatively new phenomenon, there isn’t much recourse for victims. There are examples of actions that are taking place in this arena. The case of Lori Drew and Megan Meier is an example of someone who was made to pay the consequences for this type of behavior. We’ve also seen actions taken against social networking sites like MySpace. School administrators and police forces are searching these sites for possible problems. (Koppelman, 2006). As suggested, it is advisable to inform the authorities of any cyberbullying activities.

The big question is where do we go from here? How do we better prepare our children for this type of bullying? How do we police this problem? Where does the jurisdiction lie in regards to Internet and cell phone usage? What tools can we provide for our children? This is an international problem and it behooves the world community to step up and take action, as these children are our future.

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