This document discusses the issue of cyberbullying and its effects. It defines cyberbullying and describes the roles of the bullied, the bully, and the bystander. For the bullied, it discusses the emotional and practical impacts as well as signs of being cyberbullied. For the bully, it explores reasons for their actions like disinhibition and offers suggestions for responses. For bystanders, it emphasizes their important role and provides resources for helping those being cyberbullied. While cyberbullying can seriously harm victims, the document also cites research showing youth today are generally less aggressive than past generations.
1. This work is licensed
under a Creative
Commons Attribution
3.0 Unported License.
TORTURED
THROUGH
TECHNOLOGY
Dr Bex Lewis, CODEC, Durham
University; Social Media Director,
Digital Fingerprint
17. Cyber-Bullying:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Threatening or hateful text, email or chat messages
Pictures or video clips, including ‘happy slapping’
Silent or abusive phone calls
Stealing a phone, and using it to harass others
Nasty comments posted on websites or social media
Blogging to damage the reputation of privacy of others,
including sharing personal data.
• Creating Internet polls such as “who’s hot”
• Forcing users to share messages, threatening ‘social
isolation’ for non-compliance.
18. Signs specific to cyber-bullying?
•
•
•
•
•
Long hours on the computer
Secretive Internet use
Screen minimization
Refusing to log on or answer phone
Extreme possessiveness of phone, to which
constant nervous looks are given.
19. Nature of Online Bullying
•
•
•
•
•
Constant
Location-independent
Feeling of no escape
Fast: others get involved
Permanency of the information
20. Emotionally:
• No shame: not their fault
• Don’t threaten their online access
• Spend extra time together: time for
communication
• Nurture self-confidence
21. Practically:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Don’t respond
Keep copies of messages as ‘proof’
Understand how to ‘block’ accounts
Talk to child re contacting school
Think hard before talking to parents of bully
Request webhost to remove
Get phone number blocked
24. Disinhibition
The bully doesn’t see the distress
that they cause, feels safe from
capture, and protected by the
technology, able to say things that
they would never say offline.
25. ITV, February 2005
• One in five think sending a message in
cyberspace is less damaging than face to face
insults
• Half the teenagers polled believe it is ok to say
things online that you would not in person
• A third of youths say they troll because their
friends do so too.
27. Is it this simple?
• Remove their Internet and mobile privileges (for a
fixed period)
• Get them to write an essay on the dangers of
cyberbullying
• Assign him/her a book to read about
cyberbullying
• Assign him/her to community service or other
time-consuming activity.
• Encourage them to apologise and take
responsibility
29. The only thing necessary
for the triumph of evil is
that good men do
nothing
• Quote commonly (and probably erroneously)
attributed to Edmund Burke
31. Matthew 25:40
Whatever you did for one of
my brothers or sisters, no
matter how unimportant they
seemed, you did for me.
32. Some useful sites for those needing
help
• http://www.papyrus-uk.org (preventing young suicide)
• http://www.thetrevorproject.org (suicide prevention for LGBTQ
youth)
• http://www.childline.org.uk/ (confidential helpline for those under
19)
• http://www.beatbullying.org (advice about cyberbullying, and
opportunities to report your own situation, or someone else’s)
• http://twloha.com/vision (US based site for those struggling with
depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicidal thoughts)
• http://www.athinline.org (MTV site for those suffering digital
abuse)
• http://www.itgetsbetter.org (for those suffering LGBT abuse)
33. • Ferguson, a professor from Texas A&M
who researches technologies’ effects
on human behaviour:
“Youth today are the least aggressive,
most civically involved, and mentally
well in several generations .”
• ‘Imagining the Internet: Millennials will benefit and suffer due to their
hyperconnected lives’, Pew Research Center,
http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2012/PIP_Future_of
_Internet_2012_Young_brains_PDF.pdf, 29/2/12
Examples of cyber-bullying and trolling have abounded over the past year. But what are we to make of this phenomenon?
Click from one to the next without saying anything.. .
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/150108I could go on. It’s Terrorising, huh? Range of approaches – the red tops clearly the most hysterical … ban this website … but isn’t this just going to pop up elsewhere…? Is it not about our culture, rather than the technology … which yes, allows us to do new things or in a new way, but it doesn’t have to control our behavior… So do we just ring our hands, feel hopeless, say it’s all bad, give up on the technology or do our voices need to raised (together) to make a difference …
That’s the choice Jamie Oliver has made … maybe it’s a legitimate choice, maybe he’s a special case … but does his decision need a little more thought? // Children likely to face more physical bullying at school?
Well, there’s plenty of material online…
… and there’s been a HUGE number of books over the past few years…
I have to admit that mine is one of them … and so I’ve read many of those books .. Quite an overwhelming amount of information … which I spent many hours seeking to digest into smaller chunks … and now = even smaller! (Cyber) bullying = affects all ages, but my research has been particularly into children…
So, for the rest of this presentation, I want to pull some of the material from my book to look at the 3 main groups involved in bullying situations…
Don’t want to use term victim, as are not powerless…. But this is the group that we are most concerned about as every individual case is a tragedy … but is it as bad as we fear?
ASK: Anybody any ideas what these numbers reflect? Research = those affected from 5.5% to 71% (obviously press = worst figures), but these figures can cause their own problems. Nancy Willard = makes people think that it’s a ‘rite of passage’ – put up with it // not really causing harm… = means more get involved – whereas if we can show that most behave positively online, inspired to copy that instead…Policies by government, schools and parents are also dictated by a belief in the height of stats … the higher the stats – the more likely we are to limit access, want more surveillance – and call for bans on technology!
Cyber-bullying can come in various guises… e.g. receiving hurtful messages, being the subject of hurtful messages, stolen phones used to damage other relations, reputational damage, isolation..
We may be familiar with the signs of bullying (Unexplained headaches, Nausea,Bedwetting , Mood swings,Aggression,Night terrors,Fall behind on school-work,Avoid going to school or leaving the house,Become anti-social) and these may be present … though could also be signs of being teenage .. But particular to cyber-bullying …
Previously, bullying would typically stop at the school gates, or at least once the child got home, although there was always the potential for phone calls, notes falling out of homework books, bricks through the window, or events replaying themselves in the head. Others pile in and the information – 1/0 never forget – can resurface at any time…
Note that may be worth taking time away from online for a while to take a breath and think about how you are going to deal with things when you go back online … come back to some of that with bystanders in a minute…
Be aware a persistent bully may have multiple IDs so need to keep vigilant…If decide to talk to parent, write down facts/keep calm … people are always going to protect their own and may find it hard to believe that their child is a bully… or don’t want to! Remove info = legal obligation to do so, but can take time… esp e.g. YouTube where multiple copies can be made … best to think BEFORE posting (unlike post first, ask forgiveness later)
Kids = strong resiliency… 2 often particualrly successful…
So, let’s have a brief look at who/why bullies partake…
Feels disconnected from impact of bullying (like WW2 bombers), and can find ways to justify it, often dehumanising the victim … it’s that danger of seeing the screen rather than the person behind the screen!
The stats seem to support that (though we don’t know enough this report)… Online = human nature amplified… ‘Web trolls preying on children’, ITV, http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-02-22/youth-charity-launches-campaign-against-internet-trolling-lauren-goodger-caroline-flack-vinspired, 22/02/13
Need help not banishment.Need to learn from their mistakes.If feel abandoned will seek others who will support how they feel. Shaheen, S. & Churchill, A.H., Truths and Myths of Cyber-bullying: International Perspectives on Stakeholder Responsibility and Children’s Safety, Peter Lang Publishing, 2009, p7
For many, it won’t be as simple as this. Your child won’t necessarily want to sit and listen, and may be actively looking for opportunities to bully once more, waiting until late at night to access the Internet, shutting down their devices as soon as their parents enter. This may be good time to monitor what your children are doing online, and restrict their access to technology…
If we refuse to engage – what is that doing .. Can be scary, but this phrase is powerful..
Things move fast, so others can pile in – but can also use this to your advantage to get other friends, etc. to support you as well…
… to bring it back to Biblical thinking … am I misusing this Bible verse, but it seems worth holding onto – the same as in offline life … think about what we are doing online!
A final encouraging thought to leave with…
Final word – remember – there is always a human being at the other end of the keyboard… think before you type…Questions?