Courtesy - The Island By Dr. B.J.C.Perera
MBBS(Ceylon), DCH(Ceylon), DCH(England), MD(Paediatrics), FRCP(Edinburgh), FRCP(London), FRCPCH(United Kingdom), FSLCPaed, FCCP, FCGP(Sri Lanka) Consultant Paediatrician
Bullying is not a new phenomenon but thanks to the Internet children are now being bullied even in the comfort of their own homes. Online harassment, more often called cyber bullying, is a serious problem. It is the use of modern technology to harass, threaten, embarrass or target another person. Cyber bullying has been defined as "when the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person" or as "when an electronic device is used to attack or defame the character of a real person". Almost by definition, it occurs among young people and when an adult is involved, it may meet the definition of cyber-harassment or cyber-stalking, a crime that can have legal consequences and involve jail times in many countries. When bullying comes home through the Internet it can leave victims feeling helpless and overwhelmed. This hottest new trend has children using those keyboards to send vile, hateful and highly slanderous messages about their peers through the Internet. Bullying that was once confined to playgrounds, has now hit cyberspace, cell phones and pagers. Most unfortunately, it is both serious and sophisticated.
Read moreBullying has been around forever but cyber bullying is different because it lets a bully remain anonymous. It is easier to bully in cyberspace than it is to bully face to face. With cyber bullying a bully can pick on people with much less risk of being caught. Bullies are natural instigators and in cyberspace bullies can enlist the participation of others who may even be unwilling to bully in the real world. For some children who stand around doing nothing in real life, bullying incidents often become active participation in online harassment of others and personal enjoyment for themselves. Bullies, intimidating boys and mean girls have been around forever, but technology has given them a whole new platform for their actions. The detachment afforded by cyberspace makes bullies out of people who would never become involved in a real life incident. The Internet makes bullying more convenient and since the victim’s reaction remains unseen people who would not normally bully would also not take it as seriously.
In an interesting study, approximately half of American children surveyed during a six month period said they or someone they knew had been victimized on the Internet or the World Wide Web. Cyber bullying is most common around the middle school years. However, it is making its way into the younger set. Children of today are electronically savvy but make no mistake; this type of behaviour is all about intentionally causing pain. This is also the very reason that parents need to be more vigilant. The two biggest mistakes adults make is not taking children’s complaints seriously and allowing bullying in the first place.
Certain characteristics inherent in online technologies increase the likelihood that they will be exploited for deviant purposes. Unlike physical bullying, electronic bullies can remain virtually anonymous using temporary email accounts, pseudonyms in chat rooms, instant messaging programs, cell-phone text messaging and other Internet venues to mask their identity. This aspect definitely frees them from normative and social constraints on their behaviour. Additionally, electronic forums often lack supervision. While chat hosts regularly observe the dialog in some chat rooms in an effort to police conversations and evict offensive individuals, personal messages sent between users, such as electronic mail or text messages, are viewable only by the sender and the recipient, thereby outside the regulatory reach of such authorities. In addition, when teenagers know more about computers and cellular phones than their parents or guardians, they are therefore able to operate the technologies without concern that a parent will discover their experience with bullying, whether as a victim or an offender. Another factor is the inseparability of a cellular phone from its owner, making that person a perpetual target for victimization. Users often need to keep their phone turned on for legitimate purposes, which provides the opportunity for those with malicious intentions to engage in persistent unwelcome behaviour such as harassing telephone calls or threatening and insulting statements via the cellular phone’s text messaging capabilities. Cyber-bullying thus penetrates the walls of a home, traditionally a place where victims could seek refuge from other forms of bullying.
One possible advantage for victims of cyber-bullying over traditional bullying is that they may sometimes be able to avoid it simply by avoiding the site/chat room in question. Email addresses and phone numbers can be changed and in addition, most e-mail accounts now offer services that will automatically filter out messages from certain senders before they even reach the inbox and cellular phones offer similar caller ID functions. Unfortunately, this obviously does not protect against all forms of cyber-bullying. Publishing of defamatory material about a person on the internet is extremely difficult to prevent and once it is posted, millions of people can potentially download it before it is removed. Some perpetrators may post victims’ photos, or victims’ edited photos and use defaming captions or resort to pasting victims’ faces on nude bodies.
Sometimes cyber bullying can be clear-cut. Examples are leaving overtly cruel cell phone text messages or mean notes posted to Internet Web sites. Other acts are less obvious, such as covertly impersonating a victim online or posting personal information or videos designed to hurt or embarrass another child. Cyber bullying also can happen accidentally. The impersonal nature of text messages and emails make it very hard to detect the sender’s tone. One teen’s joke or sense of humour could be a devastating insult to another. Nevertheless, a repeated pattern of emails, text messages and online posts is rarely accidental.
Often embarrassing or false information about the victim is posted in an online forum where the victim and those who know the victim can see it publicly. Cyber bullying can be as simple as continuing to send e-mails to someone who has said they want no further contact with the sender but it may also include threats, sexual remarks, derogatory labels (i.e., hate speech), ganging up on victims by making them the subject of ridicule in a forum and posting false statements as facts aimed at humiliation. Cyber-bullies may disclose victims’ personal data (e.g. real name, address, or workplace/schools) at websites or forums or may pose as the identity of a victim for the purpose of publishing material in their name that defames or ridicules them. Some cyber-bullies may also send threatening and harassing emails and instant messages to the victims, while others post rumours or gossip and instigate others to dislike and gang up on the target. In several Western countries, children report being mean to each other online beginning as young as 2nd grade. According to research, boys initiate mean online activity earlier than girls do. However, by middle school, girls are more likely to engage in cyber-bullying than boys do.
The methods used are limited only by the child’s imagination and access to technology. In fact, at least in some instances, the cyber bully one moment may become the victim the next. The children often change roles, going from victim to bully and back again. Cyberbullying is usually not a onetime communication, unless it involves a death threat or a credible threat of serious bodily harm. Children usually know it when they see it, while parents may be more worried about the lewd language used by them than the hurtful effect of rude and embarrassing posts.
Cyberbullying may rise to the level of a misdemeanor cyberharassment charge, or if the child is young enough may result in the charge of juvenile delinquency. Most of the time the cyberbullying does not go that far, although some parents in the Western world often try and pursue criminal charges. It typically can result in a child losing their Internet Service Provider or Electronic Communication accounts as terms of service violations. However, in some cases, if hacking or password and identity theft is involved, it can be a serious criminal matter under the legislature of many countries.
Research had demonstrated a number of serious consequences of cyber-bullying victimization. For example, victims have lower self-esteem, increased suicidal ideation, and a variety of emotional responses, retaliating, being scared, frustrated, angry and depressed. One of the most damaging effects is that a victim begins to avoid friends and activities, often the very intention of the cyber-bully. Cyber-bullying campaigns are sometimes so damaging that victims have committed suicide. There are many examples from right round the globe of cyber bullying being linked to the suicide of a teenager. The reluctance youth have in telling an authority figure about instances of cyber-bullying has led to fatal outcomes.
Many children and teenagers who are being cyber bullied are reluctant to tell a teacher or parent, often because they feel ashamed of the social stigma, or because they fear their computer privileges will be taken away at home. The signs that a child is being cyber bullied vary but a few things to look for are:
* signs of emotional distress during or after using the Internet
* withdrawal from friends and activities
* avoidance of school or group gatherings
* slipping grades and "acting out" in anger at home
* changes in mood, behaviour, sleep, or appetite
There are many things that can be done to combat cyber bullying. The most important thing a victim of cyber bullying can do is not to respond to the bully. They should not play on to the bully’s games. Hate e-mails should not be answered, postings should not be responded to and chat room exchanges should be resisted. The children should be instructed to resist copying what the bully is doing, ignore him or her and get help from parents and teachers. However, although a bully should be ignored, it is a good idea to save up evidence so that school officials, Internet providers and even the police can properly deal with the bully. One needs to get hard copy prints of the evidence. Cyber bullying may give bullies anonymity but it always leaves evidence. Children need to realise that if they do encounter problems with something or someone over the Internet, it is essential to TELL SOMEONE. Those who do that would not only be protecting themselves but also others of the same age as well.
An important first step that the parents can initiate is to be aware of just how prevalent cyber bullying is these days. Where we once thought we just had to protect children from adult predators using the Internet, we now need to shield the children from one another. There are some specific ways to protect children from bullying in cyberspace. Parents today need a closer "electronic leash" on their children and need to be more tuned into the cyberspace trend. This is not about controlling, it is just about good parenting. If a child is being cyber bullied, the parents could discuss it and let the child know that the parents are well aware of this new trend. Parents need to state their own sense of values but should never assume that the child understands why cyber bullying is cruel and wrong. One may need to take the time to explain and be very clear on the values that the parents believe in. One may need to dig deeper and inform school officials or contact the police if it continues. Parents need to drill into their children very clear "electronic" rules such as never to put anything on a cell phone, I-Message, website, email or pager that is hurtful. The basic code should be "never send anything that you would not wish to be said about you". It may be necessary to block further communication. If a child is victimized one may have to change the phone number or e-mail account. It has also been useful to teach assertive skills. Research finds that children who learn how to be assertive and appear more confident are less likely to be targeted by bullies. It is of course mandatory to always take a child seriously. It may be painful stuff but the child needs empathy and support.
Schools can be very effective brokers in working with the parents to stop and remedy cyber bullying situations. They can also educate the students on cyber-ethics and the law. If schools are creative, they can sometimes avoid the claim that their actions exceeded their legal authority for off-campus cyber bullying actions. We recommend that a provision is added to the school’s acceptable use policy reserving the right to discipline the student for actions taken off-campus if they are intended to have an effect on a student or they adversely affect the safety and well-being of student while in school. This makes it a contractual, not a constitutional, issue. Schools in many countries take all types of bullying seriously. As soon as the cyber bullying starts, a child should go to the school officials for help. Cyber bullying is often an extension or escalation of bullying that is already happening at school.
If an unfortunate parent finds out that his or her child is a cyber bully, it can be upsetting and heartbreaking. It is important to address the problem head on and not wait for it to go away. The parents need to talk to the child very firmly about his or her actions and explain the negative impact it has on others. Joking and teasing might seem reasonable at times but even these can hurt people. Bullying, in any form, is unacceptable and here can be serious and sometimes irrevocable consequences at home, school, and in the community if it continues. One should remind the child that the use of cell phones and computers is a privilege. Sometimes it may help to restrict the use of these devices until behaviour improves. To get to the heart of the matter, sometimes talking to teachers, guidance counsellors and other school officials can help identify situations that lead a child to bully others. If mismanaged anger is a problem, one needs to talk to a doctor about helping the child to learn to cope with anger, hurt, frustration and other strong emotions in a healthy way.
KEY POINTS
* Cyber bullying is where electronic devices are used to bully individuals.
* It is more serious as it allows the bully to remain anony mous.
* Embarrassing and false information is transmitted through the devices.
* In the case of the internet, these can be visible to all at public sites.
* It causes a great degree of distress to the victim.
* There are several steps that the victim and the parents could take.
* Schools have an important role to play in prevention.
* The perpetrators need to be dealt with in an appropriate fashion.
