For all the benefits that the internet and social media have
brought to the world, there is a “dark side” that requires much more research
and attention.
Although bullying has been studied extensively since 1970s,
through the pioneering research of Olweus (1993), a new form of bullying has
recently arisen, coinciding with invent of social media.
Cyberbullying is when bullying occurs through
electronic means ( Li, 2007).
This can
occur over the phone, through text messages, Facebook, Twitter – in fact
anywhere that communication occurs, cyberbullying may exist (Smith et al
2008). Cyberbullying has been found to
have similar types of psychological effects on victims as traditional bullying,
most notably a negative impact on self-esteem (Patchin & Hinjuda
2010).
As many cases of cyber bullying
involve perpetrators that do not know their victims (Slonje & Smith 2008),
and as there are no teachers patrolling cyberspace as they would the
playground, cyberbullying amongst children is particularly dangerous. This is especially true as children are often
hesitant to tell their parents or person of authority that that they are
experiencing cyberbullying (Tokunaga 2010), and as there are no physical signs
(i.e. no bruises), it can be hard to determine if a child is a victim.
For the perpetrators, whilst some motivations
seem to be similar to more traditional forms of bullying, there are also
significant differences, most notably that this bullying can occur to a much
greater audience (i.e a schoolyard brawl versus a hateful post or image for
hundreds or thousands to see) and that bullies have much greater accessibility
to their victims (Slonje & Smith 2008).
Whilst children are perhaps at greatest risk, they are by no
means the only victims of cyberbullying.
Celebrities who rely on exposure for their livelihoods face a tough
choice – publicise themselves and their views on certain issues, which aids
their career and profile, but also opens them up to the “dark side” of online
trolls, those who seek to anonymously abuse people online.
Whilst abuse of people with high profiles
has probably always gone on (think tall poppy syndrome), never before have
anonymous people in society been so close to celebrities, and able to
communicate so directly with them. Two
recent incidents are typical of the types of behaviour that can occur online:
This long term effects of cyberbullying and anti-social
online behaviour is unknown. There is such
little data to study, that no one really knows what the effects of being
cyberbullied may be into the future for the victims, and whether cyberbullying
is going to get worse with the increase in use of social media. This issue is perhaps the most urgent area in
need of research that social media faces.
Li, Q.
(2007). New bottle but old wine: A research of cyberbullying in schools. Computers
in Human Behavior, 23(4), 1777-1791. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2005.10.005
Olweus, D.
(1993). Bullying at school: What we know and what we can do. Malden:
Blackwell Publishing.
Patchin, J.
W., & Hinduja, S. (2010). Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem. Journal of
School Health, 80(12), 614-621.
Slonje, R.,
& Smith, P. K. (2008). Cyberbullying: Another main type of bullying? Scandinavian
Journal of Psychology, 49(2), 147-154.
Smith, P.
K., Mahdavi, J., Carvalho, M., Fisher, S., Russell, S., & Tippett, N.
(2008). Cyberbullying: its nature and impact in secondary school pupils. Journal
of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 49(4), 376-385.
Tokunaga, R.
S. (2010). Following you home from school: A critical review and synthesis of
research on cyberbullying victimization. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(3),
277-287.
