“Victims of bullying spare themselves distress by detachment; denying their ability to experience happiness.” – James Horace
In this world of high technology, with all our needs being met at the touch of a button, it is easy to bask in the glory of many wonderful achievements - and quite rightly so - however when it comes to cyber bullying, our world of technology has made it possible to give this despicable pastime an arena all of its own.
Cyber bullying by definition takes place online and has many outlets - blogs, e-mails, chatrooms and social networking sites are but a few. It comes in many guises, feeding on a cocktail of hurt, stress, isolation, humiliation, fear and sadly in some cases can cause death.
It can take the form of:
Abusive messages on-line
Spreading rumours about the victim
Prank texts/messages
Humiliating or embarrassing blog posts
Sexual videos/pictures being sent to others
This type of bullying is anonymous, resulting in less accountability by the bully and the possibility of it reaching more intensive, malicious behaviour with far-reaching effects. In a society where many of are never switch off from our online devices, this can mean relentless pursuit and 24/7 harassment of the victim.
Research has shown that cyber bullies do not fit the mould of the traditional bully who is usually domineering, aggressive and disliked. Very often the cyber bully can be a classmate or friend who may harass and demean for reasons such as: jealousy, peer acceptance, revenge or simply for fun.
The world of the cyber bully has a non-stop agenda with high frequency levels of abuse over a short period of time (usually one month or less), however the results of such intensive torment can last a lifetime, robbing the victim of ever reaching their full potential. It can be very difficult and, in some cases, impossible for to move on from how this abuse makes a person feel.
In order to identify this behaviour, firstly know what to look for.
A barrage of hateful e-mails
Embarrassing images of the victim
Threatening verbal messages
The creation of an almost identical screen name in order to invent embarrassing situations for the victim
Once the behaviour has been identified, take the following action.
Ask for help from a parent, teacher or trusted person
Do not respond to the bully's messages
Do not threaten the bully
Save the evidence and then block them from all social media
Safe-proof all of your personal accounts
If provable with evidence, report to the police with the help of an adult
Cyber bullying is considered a crime if it involves hate related comments, intimidation or threats of violence. Report any of this to the police.
I believe that what we do and say in life makes a difference - it’s simply up to us to decide what kind of difference we want to make.
Commenti