por What is cyberbullying?
He cyberbullying or virtual bullying is an aggressive and intentional act, carried out repeatedly through the electronic contact by a group or individual against a victim who cannot easily defend himself.
It is a repetitive act of harassing, assaulting and harming another person through telematic means: internet, mobile telephony, etc In recent years, there has been a great advance in technology and digital media, and we are increasingly using the Internet for a greater range of purposes. activities, especially those related to communication.
In cyberbullying, children and adolescents use the Internet and its platforms to harass, assault, or psychologically attack others with an apparent freedom and little control.
It should be noted that when we talk about cyberbullying we refer to that abuse that is carried out between equals, andthat is, the act of harming that a child or adolescent does to another child or adolescent of the same (or similar) age.
Causes of cyberbullying
Rise of social networks and the internet
Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Skype, Viver, electronic messaging services such as Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo… All of them allow us to communicate easily and quickly.
However, they also isolate us from the real world.
Access by children and adolescents
The virtual world becomes especially important when used by children and adolescents, since they access it directly and autonomously (many times without the parental supervision) to a world that is very difficult to control.
Lack of control of parents and teachers
Parents and teachers are the authority figures of children and adolescents and it is advisable that they have some control over the activities that their children/students do on the Internet. When there is a lack of control, these acts of violence are more likely to appear.
Lack of education in values
Obviously, when a child or adolescent has values of respect, tolerance and kindness, they will not have violent behaviors such as cyberbullying towards friends or acquaintances.
How manifests cyberbullying? examples
The following are common examples of cyberbullying:
Publish and share with public Internet profiles content that may harm, embarrass or humiliate the person. The content can be real or intervened images, personal data, opinions, expressions, etc.
Impersonate the victim on websites or social networks, creating a false profile with the name and photographs of the person. Profiles are usually edited with negative or humiliating content to, as in the previous case, embarrass or outrage the victim.
Use profiles such as the one described above to add it to websites intended for mockery or ridicule. A common example is usually giving registration of the victim’s profiles on websites where it is about voting for the ugliest, dumbest, clumsiest person, etc. Subsequently, the profile is disclosed with the I want it to be seen by as many people as possible.
Using the victim’s false profiles to write in the first person as confessions about certain events, always with a humiliating speech The themes are usually sexual, personal, satirical anecdotes, etc.
Pretend to be the victim in forums or chats, expressing themselves in an aggressive or provocative way, with the aim of creating conflicts with people so that they later recriminate their behavior to the victim (not to the harasser, who does not show his identity).
«Hack» the access codes of the victim’s email or social network accounts to read their messages, violate their privacy, create conflicts with their contacts and change the password so that the victim can no longer access their own accounts.
Provoke the victim in the web services they use and that contain a moderator (chats, forums, online games), to get them to respond violently, and later denounce their reaction so that they are excluded or expelled.
Register the victim’s email address on unpleasant or disliked websites so that they receive «spam» on their mail.
Circulating rumors about reprehensible behaviors or actions of the victim through the network, so that their social circle reads it, believes it and exercises it their own forms of retaliation or harassment. In this way, the bully gets other people unrelated to cyberbullying to also reproach or harass to the victim.
Talking to the victim directly through chats or instant mail applications such as WhatsApp, sending threatening messages, repetitive and frequent, with the aim of annoying or intimidating you.
Consequences of cyberbullying
Cyberbullying has negative consequences for all those involved (aggressors, victims and observers), although logically, those who suffer the worst are the victims.
Through different studies, it has been shown that cyberbullying causes the same effects as traditional bullying, and the fact that the aggression is virtual and not directly or physically, does not constitute a protective effect on the victim.
On the contrary, the humiliation does not end with the time or the school space, it continues continuously, at all times, and inside the home.
The consequences that have been demonstrated today on cyberbullying are the following:
Cyberbullying victims are more likely to experience depressive and anxiety symptoms, behavioral and social adjustment problems, and drug use. of drugs.
They see their self-esteem and self-confidence diminished, their academic results worsen and their social relationships decrease.
Many victims of cyberbullying can become bullies.
Cyberbullying produces feelings of anger, rage, sadness, frustration and helplessness in the victims.
Cyber-aggressors tend to have a higher probability of moral disconnection, lack of empathy, antisocial personality and behaviors, absenteeism school, drug use and delinquent behavior.
What should you do if you are a minor?
To prevent and manage cyberbullying:
– Be very careful with the data, photographs and personal information that you enter on the network. Try to make this information only available to your contacts.
– Be very careful with what you expose in chats or public forums, never provide information about yourself, you do not know who is on the other side of the screen.
– Do not respond to provocations online, especially if you do not know the provocateur.
– When you are harassed, it is preferable that you save evidence of cyberbullying (messages, photographs, etc.), turn off your computer or mobile and consult an adult.
What should adults do?
To solve a cyberbullying problem it is important to:
– Transmit confidence to the minor so that if they have a problem like this, they do not hesitate to come to you, if they try to solve it on their own, the thing will can complicate
– When you are informed, respond calmly and serenely, support the minor and tell him that you will help him solve it.
– Inquire about the problem in question, and pay attention to its severity. If the aggressor possesses personal data, such as address or school, and the violence of harassment is high, it will not hurt to go to the police.
– If the cyberbullying is less serious, help your child to delete their internet accounts and delete all their data on the network so that the bully cannot return contact him.
– If the cyber-aggressor is a classmate of the victim, go to adults in their area to help you solve it (teachers at the center, parents or relatives of the aggressor, etc.).
References
Hernandez Prados, MA; Solano Fernandez, MI (2005). The safety of minors on the Internet. Proceedings II National Conference on ICT and Education. TICEMUR.
Mora Merchán, JA (2008). Cyberbullying: A new challenge for coexistence in our schools. Psychological Information.
Ortega R, Sánchez V and Menesini E (2002). Peer violence and moral disengagement: a cross-cultural analysis. Psychothema.
Tokunaga RS (2010). Following you home from school: A critical review and synthesis of research on cyberbullying victimization. Computers in Humans Behavior.