A recent study commissioned by ChildLine found that, of those surveyed, just over half (51%) of pupils in Year 5 reported that they had been bullied during the term.
Like most aspects of modern life the Internet has changed the face of bullying and taken it to a new level. No longer is bullying restricted to normal school hours, “cyber bulling” means that the bullies can harass their victims 24 hours a day using a variety of methods. It also means that the cyber bully can invade personal space that the victim would at one time think was safe such as their home.
Wikipedia defines cyber bullying as:
“the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others”
One of the main “advantages” that cyber bullying provides for the bully is one of anonymity. Unlike traditional bullying where the victims knows who their bullies are, online/cyber bullying means that bullies can remain anonymous by setting up fake online profiles, fake emails addresses and using pay as you go mobile phones. In some cases not knowing their bully makes the experience even worse for a victim as they can’t take any steps to avoid them.
Cyber bullying is often carried out using a variety of technology related methods these include sending threatening emails, posting to the victim’s social profile (such as MySpace and Facebook), creating groups about the victim, making nasty comments or remarks about them in forums or on Twitter, distributing personal or embarrassing videos and pictures of the victim on YouTube or Flickr, the list goes on.
One of the main advantages that cyber bullying has for the victim is that it generally leaves behind evidence unlike more traditional forms of bullying. For example, emails can be used to pin point where the message was sent from, text messages can be traced to specific phones, forums can be traced to the machine they were posted from and the threats are tangible unlike verbal name calling or playground taunts so they can be saved for later investigation.
Another by-product of technology on cyber bullying is that the bullies will often circulate explicit photos or video of their victim and in the majority of cases the victim will be classed as a minor. This then puts the bully (and anyone else who forwards the material) at risk from being prosecuted under child pornography laws for reproduction of illegal material.
The use of technology also makes it harder for non-technical savvy parents and carers to understand the situation that their children are in and even more difficult for them to offer advice and guidance.
To try to bridge this gap many online web sites have been setup to help parents, teachers, carers and victims get access to the information that they need. I have included links to some of these web sites at the bottom of the article.
For now, the best advice for cyber bully victims remains the same as to traditional victims: don’t suffer in silence, inform a trusted adult as to what’s going on.
Be careful out there!
/SecBoyUK
Useful Links
Child Line’s Advice page
http://www.childline.org.uk/explore/onlinesafety/pages/cyberbullying.aspx
NSPCC’s Training Course for anyone who comes into contact with children and young people
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/trainingandconsultancy/educare/preventingbullying_wda61169.html
Kidscape
http://www.kidscape.org.uk/cyberbullying/
Digizen
http://old.digizen.org/cyberbullying/default.aspx
Cybermentors
http://www.cybermentors.org.uk/
Cyber bullying Charity UK
http://www.cyberbullying.co.uk/
AntiBullying.net Web Site
http://www.antibullying.net/cyberbullying5.htm
BBC Learning Zone Advice on Beating Cyber Bullying
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/preventing-cyberbullying/6131.html
Self-Taken Images – Sexting – Think you Know Web Site
http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/11_16/control/sexting/
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