Cyber bullying...contents may harm

This weeks blog is close to my heart. I have two children who are 10 and 13 years old and have experienced both traditional and cyber bullying. Both forms are hurtful and belittling and I believe as long as there are different personalities in the world there will always be bullying, but it is our responsibility to try and control it.

Everyone knows what traditional bullying is and if you haven’t experienced it then you are lucky. It is when someone harasses, threatens or embarrasses another person. The only difference between traditional bullying and cyber bullying is that cyber bullying occurs online.

Because cyber bullying is on the internet it is harder avoid, it spreads faster and is very public. Often perpetrators can hide behind a false or even stolen identity so you don’t know who your real enemy is. You then question everyone and this can be emotionally destroying.

I live in an area surrounded by schools and I think the youth suicide rate has reached epidemic proportions. I cannot find any figures on these rates but the comparison between suicides I knew of when growing up (zero) compared to now (2-3 per year) is a significant increase.  I think the correlation between Internet use and these suicide figures is hard to ignore. Further studies and coping techniques are needed for the future, one study found..

Students who were cyber bullied reported feelings of sadness, anxiety, and fear, and an inability to concentrate, which affected their grades. Youth who were bullied online were more likely to have skipped school, to have detentions or suspensions, or to have carried a weapon to school.

Schools provide great programs such as Bullybusters that educate the children on bullying. Often the solution is to seek help from a teacher or parent. Yet are the parents equipped with all the answers? The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) says adults are;

responsible to protect children from all forms of physical and mental violence, injury or abuse.

 We are the pioneers of a new era of children and adolescents who are regular produsers of the Internet. They live in the cyberworld, which is a world that is more familiar to them than us. As the UN says it is our responsibility to protect our children so ultimately we need the tools to help our children. This can be very difficult to negotiate. Even cyber bullying victim celebrity Charlotte Dawson found it hard to find the right solution to dealing with cyberbullying. So the solution for our childrens’ future needs to be achievable and current.

 

REFERENCES

Beran and Li, 2005 T. Beran, Q. Li Cyber-harassment: A study of a new method for an old behavior. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 32 (3) (2005), pp. 265–277

Bullybusters. Kids Matter. Australia Government Department of Health. Viewed 9 February <http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/primary/programs/bully-busters>

United Nations 2003-2005. Enable. Viewed 9 February  <http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/comp501.htm>