Cyberbullying: A Look into A Consequence of our Digital World
- 19467128
- May 29, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 15, 2020
Source: (Kids Helpline, 2017)
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Script
Hi and welcome to Emily’s Digital World where we talk about important digital topics each week. This week we will be discussing cyberbullying and the effect it can have on our youth, and how that in turn affects the school environment.
Bullying can be described as “an ongoing or repeated misuse of power in relationships, with the intention to cause deliberate psychological harm. Bullying behaviours can be verbal, physical or social.” (What To Do If You’re Being Bullied, 2017)
As said in “School policies on bullying and cyberbullying: Perspectives across three Australian states” (Chalmers et al., 2016) cyberbullying is causing harm to others digitally, often seen online, particularly on platforms such as social media. These internet “trolls”, as they are commonly referred to, can cause quite detrimental harm as cyberbullying allows for people to
“intentionally and repetitively harm others, 24 h per day, sometimes with complete anonymity, and often without consequence” (“Cyberbullying,” 2020).
Cyberbullying is a growing trend among youth today as technology is accessible for most, and a presence on social media is prevalent for most young people. (“Cyberbullying”, 2020)
So how does this affect teaching and learning?
“Earlier studies found that approximately 10% of students between grade four and nine reported being cyberbullied in the previous school term” (From Cross as in Chamers et al., 2016)
This means a significant amount of young people suffer as a result from cyberbullying in our schools. Teachers must be aware of the risk of cyberbullying and also understand effective solutions to manage cyberbullying if they notice it occurring within their own classroom.
In a study conducted to gather beliefs on cyber bullying and how to manage it,
“the majority of the participants identified that an effective anti-bullying policy should also contain both preventative advice and tools for intervention” (Chalmers, 2016).
Teachers must be able to educate students on the psychological ramifications of cyberbullying in order to reduce its prevalence among students and have programs in place – or tools for intervention –in order to enable those being bullied and those doing the bullying to stop the negative behaviour. Some tools for intervention could include providing a safe space (usually in the classroom) where students being bullied can feel safe or have someone to talk to, as well as certain online programs like kids helpline:
Schools are required to incorporate anti-bullying and anti-cyberbullying policies that rejects harmful behaviour both within and outside of the school environment. (Chalmers et al., 2016) As bullying events that occur inside or outside of school can be publicised online, schools have a responsibility to ensure these events cannot be isolated and are unacceptable wherever the bullying does occur. This is largely due to how cyberbullying interacts within the digital society, especially that of social media, which can see consequences of bullying behaviour online outside of school now also interfering within school grounds.
Australia was one of the first countries to provide governmental leadership, by supporting education authorities in all states and territories to develop a consistent approach to bullying, violence and child protection in schools. (Chalmers et al., 2016). This is a great united approach to reducing types of bullying in schools, particularly cyberbullying, which will see less children come into harms way through the use of digital technologies.
References
Chalmers, C., Campbell, M. A., Spears, B. A., Butler, D., Cross, D., Slee, P., & Kift, S. (2016). School policies on bullying and cyberbullying: Perspectives across three Australian states. Educational Research, 58(1), 91–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2015.1129114
Cyberbullying: Concepts, theories, and correlates informing evidence-based best practices for prevention. (2020). Aggression and Violent Behavior, 50, 101343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2019.101343
What To Do If You’re Being Bullied. (2017, September 27). Kids Helpline. https://kidshelpline.com.au/teens/issues/bullying
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