Prevent Cyberbullying and Save a Life
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Prevent Cyberbullying and Save a Life "I had this God-awful feeling and I ran up into her room and she had hung herself in the closet" – Tina Meier1 “Cyberbullying is the willful and repeated use of cell phones, computers, and other electronic communication devices to harass and threaten others.” Cyberbullying is a growing topic of interest among many in the mental health community. Mental health professionals working with adolescents, parents and consulting with school administrators are focusing on cyberbullying awareness, assessment and prevention. There is a real need to understand the relationship between cyberbullying and suicide. Currently, professionals recommend that any teenager, who is a victim of cyberbullying, should be screened for psychiatric problems.2 Bullying has been around forever but cyberbullying is relatively new and it effects can be lethal. Teenagers may use technological applications for bullying, and the potential leverage, provided by the technology, magnifies the negative impact on the bullied victim. Recent news accounts report about several teens, who judged that they could not recover from the embarrassment associated with the online harassment and bullying. Some believed that they had no way out and they impulsively ended their lives. Death by suicide related to cyberbullying is referred to as “cyberbullicide.”3 Suicide, an age-old public health issue, claims more than 30,000 lives in United States every year.4 The impact of social media on suicide-behavior is being actively researched, assessed 1 Megan Meier Foundation, 13 year-old, Megan Meier, killed herself after an adult neighbor, allegedly, pretended to be a teenage boy and communicated with Megan. http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/megans-story.html 2 Bullying and Suicide – Psychiatric Times, Feb 2011 http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/suicide/bullying-and-suicide/page/0/1 3 Cyberbullicide – the relationship between cyberbullying and suicide among youth http://cyberbullying.us/cyberbullicide-the-relationship-between-cyberbullying-and-suicide-among-youth/ 4 Social Media and Suicide: A Public Health Perspective American Journal of Public Health, Supplement 2, 2012, Vol 102, No. S2 1 and understood. One study reported that cyberbullied, middle school children were twice (2X) as likely to attempt suicide as those who were not.3 “I realized that technology was being utilized as weapons far more effective and reaching then the simple ones we had as kids.” – John Halligan5 Cyberbullying differs from traditional bullying A bully tries to threaten, humiliate or hassle the victim. Although bullying and cyberbullying techniques are similar in some ways, the differences position online bullying to be more powerful. Online harassment may be ‘faceless,’ with the harasser using fake or anonymous online profiles. When the perpetrator is anonymous, the victim often does not know why they are being targeted, and the anonymity frees the bully to harass in more harmful ways. The online bully is shielded from the victim’s immediate response, e.g. fear, embarrassment, shame. Not recognizing the harm caused by their actions, allows the bully to ratchet up the attack(s). One teenager sending a hurtful text message to another teen can have negative effects. But, spreading rumors by using social networks, where the victimization is viewed by large audiences, magnifies the bullying and its harmful effect. If the bully’s negative activity goes ‘viral,’ the victim can easily become overwhelmed leading the belief that they can never regain respect because “everyone knows” the embarrassing details of the harassment. Because some parents and/or teachers are not technically savvy, they may miss the bullying and, unfortunately, the harm toward the victim continues. Also, cyberbullying problems grow because teenagers’ use of online devices, especially cell phones, is increasing rapidly. A majority of teens use the Web every day to access homework, socialize with friends, and play video games. Overall, about 24% of the students we have surveyed over the last seven studies have told us that they have been cyberbullied at some point in their lifetimes. - Justin W. Patchin, Cyberbullying Research Center6 Cyberbullying occurs throughout cyberspace, where teenagers gather Instant messaging (IM), text messaging, chat rooms, emails, and messages posted on social networks are the most common methods of online bullying. These technologies leverage 5 Ryan’s Story http://www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org/ 6 Cyberbullying Research: 2013 Update http://cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying-research-2013-update/ 2 cyberbullying’s impact by allowing the perpetrator to post embarrassing photos or videos taken in places, like a bedroom, where privacy used to be expected. Images on the Web usually are viewed by a small audiences but some of the messages go “viral” and are viewed by vast audiences. Online harassment began in chat rooms but moved to social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook. YouTube, is the most popular video-sharing site and it can be a potent source for embarrassing bullying. Bullying complaints are growing in virtual worlds and social gaming sites, and in interactive sites such as Spring.me (formerly Formspring)7, and Chatroulette8. Because it allows anonymous postings, Formspring gained a reputation of encouraging harassment and bullying. There are teenage deaths by suicide linked to cyberbullying on this site.9 Cyberbullying hurts! The victim may become fearful, refuse to be seen in public and stop attending school. Chronic bullying may lead to family problems and/or other acting-out behaviors. The bullying can cause victims to feel frustrated and angry or sad and depressed. Of course, depressed victims sometimes experience suicidal thoughts and those thoughts, impulsively acted upon, lead to death. Social media networking is growing Today, more than 95% of American teenagers are online and 80% of those online use social media, such as Facebook, MySpace and/or Twitter. Teenagers may be good or bad digital citizens of the social networks, where they spend much of their social time.10 2.2 million students experienced cyberbullying in 2011, up from about 1.5 million in 2009 – Cyberbullying Research Center11 Although many of the teenager’s online activities are useful and positive, some teens use the technology to communicate their aggression toward the vulnerable. With a modicum of anonymity, online bullies use the keyboard for an online, psychological attack that would be much more difficult for them to do in person. 7 Spring.me (formerly Formspring) http://new.spring.me/ 8 Chatroulette http://chatroulette.com/ 9 Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formspring 10 Teens Fact Sheet, Highlights of the Pew Internet Project’s research on teens. http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/teens-fact-sheet/ 11 Cyberbullying Research: 2013 Update http://cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying-research-2013-update/ 3 The incidence of cyberbullying is about 24% among 11-18 year-olds when it is defined as, someone “repeatedly making fun of another person online or repeatedly picking on another person through email or text message or when someone posts something online about another person that they don’t like.”12 “We have got to come to a realization that (children) are not going to come to us right away with their problems” - John Halligan13 Mental health professional must be educated and involved Mental health professionals, parents and teachers are seriously addressing cyberbullying. It will get worse if those who work with and guide our youth dismiss the problem or fail to take an active role to understand, intervene and work to prevent online bullying. To prevent cyberbullying from escalating and endangering more teenagers’ lives, adults must actively learn the technical skills necessary to keep up with teenagers’ online behavior. Teachers and law enforcement officials must have permission to intervene early and stop the bullying. Teenagers need an ‘open door’ to talk with adults, particularly counselors, teachers and/or parents, when they feel victimized. The team, including social networking companies, must work together to make teenagers safe in both the real and in the virtual world. As parents, teachers, and counselors learn more about the dangers of cyberbullying, together they discover ways to intervene and protect teenage victims, especially those who may be at risk of committing suicide. The warning signs that a teenager is being victimized by cyberbullying;14 1. abruptly stops using their computer or cell phone 2. is nervous when they receive an online message 3. avoids going to school or appearing in public 4. becomes upset after using the computer or cell phone 5. refuses to discuss their online activities 6. withdraws from friends and/or family 12 Cyberbullying Research: 2013 Update http://cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying-research-2013-update/ 13 Ryan’s Story http://www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org/ 14 Cyberbullying Warning Signs http://www.cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying_warning_signs.pdf 4 Cyberbullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youth who had not experienced 15 cyberbullying – Cyberbullying Research Center Schools must work to prevent cyberbullying A safe and respectful school environment reduces the frequency of bullying and harassment behaviors. Schools must routinely review their bullying policies. The school must teach students to be good digital citizens and policy must allow for discipline of students who use school computers