Cyberbullying: an Update on Intimidation in the Digital Playground

American Psychiatric Association Leadership Fellow

Resident Physician in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at
MGH/McLean/Harvard Medical School

What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying
is bullying,
intimidation, and harassment that happens with the aid of electronic technology.
Cyberbullying can happen through text messaging, social media, and emails. The
boundaries of cyberbullying continue to expand as new communication
technologies emerge.

Cyberbullying is emerging as a major
problem, with new research from the Bureau for Justice Statistics revealing
that 9% of teenagers aged 12-18 have reported being cyberbullied in a given
year.

Female
students are more likely to experience cyberbullying. The most common forms of
cyberbullying include harassment by text or instant messaging, or the posting
of hurtful information on the internet. Despite the high levels of
cyberbullying, an adult is notified in only a quarter of cases.

How is cyberbullying different than traditional bullying?

Cyberbullying
can continue 24 hours a day and is not dependent on location. While traditional
bullying often requires the physical presence of a bully, a child can be
cyberbullied at anytime and anywhere they are in contact with communication
technology, including their own cell phone. There may be no “safe” zone and
this may intensify the level of distress that the cyberbullying can produce.

Material
such as digital pictures, text messages, or social media posts designed to hurt
an individual can be rapidly distributed to a large group of people. Often it
is difficult to find out the source of the information, giving a degree of
anonymity to the cyberbully.

Harassing
and intimidating material, once distributed through digital means are also much
more difficult to remove. Often videos or pictures may stay indefinitely
available through digital means.

What are the effects of cyberbullying?

People who are
cyberbullied are thought to be at risk of the same consequences of traditional
bullying. These effects include increased depression, decreased self-worth,
hopelessness, and loneliness. There is some evidence to suggest that being
cyberbullied may result in suicidal feelings in 20% of teenagers, a higher rate
than in traditional bullying.

What can we do about cyberbullying?

Promote Good
Digital Habits

Keep
your children informed about the risks of the technology they are using.

Engage
your children in a discussion on how to best deal with cyberbullying by
formulating a plan for dealing with text messages or other digital content that
is upsetting to them. Children should be made to feel as comfortable as
possible in discussing their experiences with trusted adults.

Review
and teach them about privacy settings for digital media. Talk to them about
limiting the amount of private information they share about themselves.

Tell
children to keep their passwords safe and not to share them with friends or
people they don’t know.

Take Action

Approach
a child if you notice signs of changing behavior, especially if it is happening
when they are using the computer, their cell phone, or any other communication
device.

Consider
discussing the situation with the suspected bullies’ parents, the child’s
school, and other organizations they may be involved in.

Identify
and archive the cyberbullying material, it may be useful when contacting the Internet service provider, cell phone company, or in severe circumstances, the
police.

Consider
closing down targeted social media accounts or changing cell phone numbers.

Some
cyberbullies thrive on obtaining a reaction, avoiding replying to messages or
engaging with the cyberbully may also be useful in some situations.