Cyber Bullying

 

Cyber Bullying - Help and Support for Dealing With Cyber Bullies

Cyber bullying is abusive behaviour using technologies. The cyber bully uses a range of strategies which can be categorised as follows and each category provides some clues to effective help and support

 

1. Emails to a known address of the cyber bully victim

2. Mobile phone text messages to bully the victim

3. Social networking sites messages abusing or denigrating the victim

4. Information technologies accessible by the cyber bully including video message boards.

If we examine the logistics and practicalities of cyber bullying via these media, solutions can be presented which should enable the victim to ignore, redirect, delete or track the bully and their abusive messages.

1. Emails: the relevant factors here include:

a) The cyber bully must be aware of the email address of the recipient in order to send intimidating or abusive messages.

b) The messages remain private as the victim is fearful of the abuser

 

Solutions:

- change the email address of the victim and do not distribute unless to known and trusted individuals;

- redirect the abusive cyber bullying material to a protective source such as a parent or school liaison for further intervention;

- allow students an individual email address since generic addresses such as 'student name /number@name of school or institution' provide a template for locating someone to abuse.

- train the victim to ignore, redirect or delete all emails from the abusive source so as to avoid exposure to the abuse.

 

2. Mobile Phone Text messages: the relevant factors here include:

a) The cyber bully must be aware of the phone number of the recipient in order to send intimidating or abusive messages

b) The messages remain private as the victim is fearful of the abuser

 

Solutions:

- change the phone number and distribute only to trusted friends and family

- Forward the abusive message, without opening, to a protective source

- train the victim to ignore, redirect or delete all emails from the abusive source so as to avoid exposure to the abuse.

However, this is generally not what happens and the consistent access of the cyber bully to their victim via these electronic means can prove to be highly destructive. Supportive strategies within the home and school such as limiting access to mobile phones and supervised computer time, can offer some protection. Allowing unlimited access to mobile phones and computers without monitoring the content is the equivalent of locking a child in their room with their abuser and this is an inadequate response. Parents may want to consider overnight restrictions on mobile and internet usage to limit access if the child is being bullied by these means. These solutions may seem obvious but the complicating factor always is the distressed mental state of the victims of cyber bullying and their reluctance to expose themselves to further and possibly physical abuse should they use these responses.

 

3. Social networking sites: the relevant factors differ here:

a) the site is often a private and exclusionary site accessible only to the cyber bully's selected friends. The victim therefore often hears by proxy about the abusive or denigrating information and cannot retaliate on the site or correct misrepresentations.

b) the cyberspace rules are very different for such sites. There is the issue of 'freedom of speech ' which has been used in some litigation to uphold the right of the cyber bully to denigrate or criticise, even slander the victim with no recourse to legal sanction.

 

 Solutions:

- the victim cannot engage with the abuser so must be advised to ignore their postings and contribute to other more productive social networks

- the victim may open an individual site to counteract the abusive or libelous allegations of the cyber bully

 

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