Blog 3- Cyberbullying

 

 [Cyberbullying: adults can be victims too].(2021).CSUltimates. https://csultimates.com/blog/2021/07/cyberbullying-adults-can-be-victims-too/

The Importance of Cyberbullying Education

“Cyberbullying is the use of digital media (such as apps, text messages, and websites) to intimidate, upset, or harm someone. It includes repeatedly sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, or mean content about someone else on purpose.”(Teachers’ Essential Guide to Cyberbullying Prevention, 2023).  Cyberbullying is one of the fasted growing and used forms of bullying around. It is one of the easiest forms of bullying due to how accessible it is for people to communicate with each other now. Although cyberbullying can be done by anyone of any age it is especially crucial that as educators we try and prevent cyberbullying and bullying of any kind among the younger generation who are our students. It is so sad and disappointing that children are still getting bullied and targeted at school, out of school and online everyday. As educators we are the ones who need to educate these children about the effects of cyberbullying and bullying in order to try and prevent more children from becoming depressed or suicidal because of their peers. There are so many children using technology everyday and it is one of our responsibilities as educators to teach these children how to use media and technology respectfully. 

Dark Cloud, was a very impactful documentary to watch and listen to. I was very impressed with the parents whos' children have been victims of cyberbullying and have passed away due to the wrongful actions of others via social media. One point that stood out to me was one of young girl, Brooke Boutilier, described her experience with cyberbullying. She described the “phases” of cyberbullying that she received. She described that at first it just started with a few hateful messages every once in a while in response to her posts on snapchat saying, “No one cares” or “No one likes you”. But as time went on the cyberbullying progressed from just rude comments to very hateful messages saying “Your life is worthless” and “You need to kill yourself”(Dark Cloud, 2020). And you would think that it would stop at that but no, the messages continued and eventually progressed to phone calls. She would receive phone calls in the early hours of the morning over and over and over again especially on the weekends because this is when the groups of girls would hangout together. I think one of the most disappointing and sad parts about Brooke’s experience with cyberbullying is that she was bullied by her former friends. People she used to call her friends were now telling her these disgusting things for no reason at all. 

Personally, I think that people who cyberbully are cowards. I know in this case we are talking about children, so it is not great to call a child a coward. But, when cyberbullying you do not ever have to bully someone face to face if you do not want to. You can hide behind a screen and say whatever you want without having to face the person you are bullying. It just reminds me of the saying, “ If you have a problem with me, say it to my face”, and now with technology you never have to say anything to anyone's faces anymore so it enables people, especially children who are not educated on cyberbullying, to participate in this form of bullying.

As educators, we are the people who need to lead the way when it comes to cyberbullying education and the prevention of cyberbullying. By educating students on the effects cyberbullying has on people, the ways you can help if you know someone is getting cyberbullied and ways you can identify if someone is getting cyberbullied, it can help prevent so many future children from being cyberbullied and have to be victims of this bullying. Being a bystander is one of the worst things someone can do so there are many ways that educators can inform students on how to help. According to “Cyberbullying: Identification, Prevention, Response”, “By actively standing up—in that moment or right afterward (by defending and/or encouraging the target, helping to block and report the harassment, saving digital evidence, and reaching out to an adult), they can make a big difference in improving the  situation” (Cyberbullying: Identification, Prevention, Response, 2023). This is a very important thing to teach our students as future educators. We have to teach and demonstrate to our students how to be active members of society and this is one of the ways to be active. It takes a lot of courage to stand up and help against cyberbullying especially if you know the people involved but it is crucial that someone speaks up instead of letting it go. 

As for parents, it is equally as important that they know the different warning signs of cyberbullying whether their child is being bullied or is the bully. I think that it is important for teachers to inform the parents of these signs in order for them to help enforce what the students are learning in the classroom about bullying. This is because while some bullying might occur in school, cyberbullying mainly occurs outside of school. And if teachers think that cyberbullying is taking place amongst students, teachers need to be proactive and inform the parents about what they think could be happening. Two of the big warning signs of cyberbullying are, “A child hides their screen or device when others are near, and avoids discussion about what they are doing on their device” and “A child becomes withdrawn or depressed, or loses interest in people and activities”(Tips for Teachers, 2023). In my future classroom when I see these signs or think there might be a chance that cyberbullying could be happening, I will immediately inform the parents of the child or children and bring it to the school’s attention so that as a team( myself, the parents and school admin) we can rectify the situation before it gets to a point where the effects are irreversible.

In my future classroom, cyberbullying and bullying is going to be one of those things that I will constantly bring up to try and prevent it from happening.  I want it to be known by my students that it is not right and that being a bystander is equally as bad. By reading books, watching videos and having lessons on cyberbullying/bullying I hope that it will become engrained in my students minds so that if they come across this type of situation, they can take action and help or not participate in this very harmful way of bullying.

References:

Dupej, H. & Embry, M. (2020). Dark cloud: The high cost of cyberbullying. TELUS Wise. 

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2023). Cyberbullying Identification, Prevention, and Response. Cyberbullying Research Center (cyberbullying.org).

Tips for Teachers: Warning Signs a Child is Being Cyberbullied or is Cyberbullying. (2021, May 21). stopbullying.gov. https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/tips-for-teachersLinks to an external site. 

Wilkey Oh, E. (2019, March 25). Teachers' Essential Guide to Cyberbullying Prevention. Common Sense Education. https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/teachers-essential-guide-to-cyberbullying-preventionLinks to an external site.