Cyber bullying: a reaction

Spent yesterday compiling information on cyber bullying for my work, and I find that a lot of mainstream education and approaches to tackling this issue are off the mark.

First, there's a lack of empirical research. Second, what research we have is largely sketchy and utilises research methodologies which may not work online. Thirdly, interventions for cyber bullying are mostly adapted real-world bullying interventions. Hey boys and girls, net dynamics are not a facsimile of real world interactions, different kettle of fish here!

The sources I've read (mostly federal, state and education-based sites) suggest that the a cyber-bullied young person will (1) appear depressed or have mood swings, (2) cry or have nightmares, (3) have increased antisocial behaviour, and (4) spend a lot of time on the computer. While this may be true, remember that the average teen very often displays some or all of these 'symptoms'. Also note that the only 'symptom' related to the net at all is 'spending a lot of time on the computer'. Common sense dictates that amount of computer usage isn't necessarily related to type of computer usage. Obviously these 'identifying symptoms' need to be better defined.

Suggested intervention strategies to manage cyber bullying include putting the computer in a public area, in-school education and parental monitoring of internet activity.

To be fair, the intervention and identification measures are responsible and make a certain amount of sense. But in my opinion, they are also off the mark. Education and watchfulness do work, but they fail to take into account the insidious nature of cyber bullying and how net dynamics function.

In the real world, bullying often has finite consequences with practical immediate solutions. But the net doesn't work that way. Insults, remarks and comments don't go away, but remain on the net for anyone with a search engine to discover. In the real world a hurtful comment can be forgotten. But on the net, the victim can unfortunately continually re-read the comments or remarks if they choose - or sometimes have it thrown in their faces - thereby continually re-wounding a wounded psyche.

Another issue is that the net has a global scope. An Australian teen can easily encounter scathing remarks made about a 14 year old Brazilian. This scope potentially expands the victim's degree of humiliation. The feeling that "everyone knows" is profoundly hurtful and damaging. Doubly so because on the net, literally everyone can know.

The net's anonymity also undermines trust and can create fear, anxiety and distrust in persons. It is difficult to trust someone when someone you 'trusted' posted your deep dark secrets on the net just to hurt you. I don't think we need to go very far to consider the potential effect cyber bullying has on young persons. Remember this and its fallout?

I would say that cyber bullying has far more severe negative outcomes than 'real world bullying', especially among the young.

Educators and support organisations need to recognise that an internet-based problem needs to have an internet-sensitive solution. You can't fix the problem if you don't completely understand the problem. You can't accurately research the problem if don't take net dynamics into account. Cyber bullying is a problem that doesn't end just because you regulate internet usage, new solutions need to be found and more research needs to be done.

I really want to try and research the role of the net/net usage on psychological health when I do my masters.