Cyberbullying in simplistic terms is someone who bullies others through various online forums such as, chat rooms, emails, text messages, online gaming, and Facebook and other social media platforms. Within these forums, the perpetrator, or bully, is singling out a person with less power to defend themselves and inflicts repeated aggressive behaviors in order to cause harm to the victim (Faucher, Cassidy, & Jackson, 2015).
Top Ten Forms of Cyberbullying
In reading the article From Sandbox to the Inbox: Comparing the Acts, Impacts, and Solutions of Bullying in K-12, Higher Education, and the Workplace, it was shocking to read that, within the K-12 world, 36% of students reported to being victims of cyberbullying, but it was even more shocking to read that 32% admitted to cyberbullying others.
The impacts from cyberbullying are very real and overwhelming. Depression, lack of self-esteem, anxiety, stress, suicidal ideation, and psychosomatic problems (headaches or sleep disturbances) are all possible impacts. This impacts also outreach to other areas of the victims' life, such as school, because other impacts can include school avoidance, concentration problems, and academic problems.
Librarians have a special role in doing their part to help stop cyberbullying. They can first start by bringing awareness to the issue and encourage students to talk about their experiences. Students need to clearly understand what constitutes cyberbullying and why it is wrong. Students need to know that not reporting knowing or seeing someone else being bullied is also being part of the problem. Explain to them their options if they find themselves in this position. Likewise, how to report if they themselves are the victim. Community High School District 99 has come up with a really interesting way to combat cyberbullying by establishing a program, Digital Citizenship Project, that focuses on digital citizenship rather than just cyberbullying. One aspect of the program that I found really interesting was that high school students were partnered with middle school students to act as mentors and guide the younger students on anti-bullying best practices. For more information about the project, please click here.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month - Here are some resources that might be helpful:
- StopBullying.gov
- Standing Up, Not Standing By: An Anti-Bullying Toolkit for Educators (CommenSense)
- Books about bullying (broken up by age groups)
- Bullying Statistics
- More Than Just Books: Librarians as a Source of Support for Cyberbullied Young Adults
- Shaping Digital Citizens
References:
Faucher, C., Cassidy, W., & Jackson, M. (2015). From sandbox to the inbox: Comparing the acts, impacts, and solutions of bullying in K-12, higher education, and the workplace. Journal of Education and Training Studies. 3(6), 111-125.
Orech, J. (2012). How it's done: Incorporating digital citizenship into your everyday curriculum. Tech & Learning, 33(1), 16-18.
Cyberbullying is so real to me now as a parent to preteens. I am glad we are addressing the issue with our students. What can we do to help parents become more proactive than reactive?
ReplyDeleteMelissa- I was also surprised with the number of students who admitted cyberbullying in the article, From Sandbox to the Inbox. I was also shocked about the number of adults who bully in the workplace! It even happens between college faculty members rather than between instructor and students. Sounds like adults could use a few digital citizenship classes as well!
ReplyDeleteYour post makes me think about how victims of cyber-bullying can act like victims of other abuses act- suffer silently through the abuse because it is "not that bad really." An important element of cyber-bullying curriculum is teaching students that even if their experience with cyber-bullying wasn't as bad as it could have been, it is still abuse and abuse needs to be reported
ReplyDeleteMelissa,
ReplyDeleteI was not very shocked that 32% of students admitted to being cyberbullies. I think for students, its easier to be a cyberbully than a "traditional" bully. I have had reports of students who were cyberbullies to others, and they were someone I would have NEVER suspected to engage in that type of activity. The reality of cyberbullying is that literally anyone can be bullied by anyone, and I think that is what makes cyberbullying more dangerous than the more traditional bully.
Cyber bullying is not going away and we need to educate both our students and parents on how to recognize, prevent, and deal with it. Technology gives people instant access to information and to post information. Once it is out there, there is no getting it back.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, Your blog post has tons of great resources, and that is very helpful, as just like we try loads of different teaching methods to get objectives across to our students, we need to cover cyberbullying in lots of different ways. Kids can be so very literal and concrete, and unless we talk about ALL the different ways that cyberbullying can occur and its many effects, we will not be solving the whole problem.
ReplyDelete