eNEWSLETTER
May 2008
Our Mission Statement:
"Providing a range of innovative professional services, empowering our clients to positively address issues affecting their lives."
Cyber Bullying
Many of you no doubt would know of the traditional forms of school yard bullying and over the years you may have been the victim or know someone who is was bullied. You may recall how we’ve discussed bullying in previous issues of our newsletter. But in an age of increasing advances in technology a new form of bullying has emerged: Cyber bullying.
There are many new forms of technology that are now being used to tease and make fun of others, spread lies, rumours and send unwanted messages that can defame the receiver. Two forms in particular that comes to mind are the mobile phone and the internet. With 9 out of 10 high school students now possessing a mobile phone or access to one: SMS messaging has become a new tool of the bully. More often than not the internet provides a readily available source of information and people are now being bullied in chat rooms, discussion groups, instant messaging sites such as MSN Messenger and more commonly emails. Others avenues include websites such as My Space, Bebo, Facebook, and Xanga that can sometimes glorify bullying and violence.
It is an epidemic that affects not just the school yard but is often utilised in the office place as an anonymous form of bullying. Rather than the power play in traditional methods of bullying, cyber bullying seems to be more concerned with status and image. In a recent newspaper article in the Courier Mail: there was an article where two teenage girls aged 18 and 19, cyber bullied and stalked a 15 year old high school student, sending threatening SMS message, hang up phone calls and online attacks. These attacks escalated to physical violence that threatened the life of the 15 year old.
Many of you may seem shocked by how this simple case of bullying leads to violence but in recent years there has been some cases where cyber bullying has led to teenage suicide. Many teenagers are unable to handle the psychological effects of what has happened to them and these affects don’t disappear with time as many hope.
Methods being used
For those of us who may not know the terminology here are a few of the basics that might shed some light on what cyber bullying involves.
- Flaming: sending angry, rude, vulgar messages
- Harassment: Repeatedly sending offensive messages
- Cyber stalking: threats of harm or highly intimidating messages
- Outing/trickery: posting sensitive and private information about a person or engaging in tactics to solicit embarrassing information from a person that is then made public on the internet.
- Denigration – teasing, making fun of and put downs.
Impacts
- More emotionally damaging
- Can occur 24/7 with wide rapid distribution of material impossible to remove or hide.
- Illusion of anonymity (identity)
There has always been a stigma with bullying whereby parents are generally the last to know what’s happening to their children at school. Cyber bullying is no different and there is still an ingrained tendency for victims to not report what is happening to them. This can be because of a number of factors including fear and the fact the victim may not know their attacker.
Signs to look out for
Many of these signs are common with teenagers in this day and age but the combination of all of these factors can indicate that a child may be the victim of cyber bullying.
- Spending a lot of time on the computer
- Becoming anti social and losing friends
- Mood swings
- Feeling depressed and arguing without reason
- Unwell
- Difficulty sleeping and nightmare
If you know of a teenager who is seriously depressed and is exhibiting these signs is it critically important for you to find out what is happening to your child ONLINE. Awareness is one of the most important preventative measures in combating cyber bullying. It is important for you to take an active role, research as much as you can on the topic; consult the school on their practices for handling bullying and even suggest positive ways to address the issue. Another way is to seek counselling to address the issues you may be going through or someone you know is. If you feel like talking to a counsellor or psychologist to assist you in making the changes you need to improve your social and working life. Why not give us a call on (07) 3862 6622.
Office hours are from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. After hours and Saturday appointments are available on request.
Useful References
- Australian Government (2008) Cyber bullying, http://www.netalert.gov.au
- Kelm, Tony (April 23 2008) One, Two to you Too, The Courier Mail p. 4
- Willard, N (August 15 2005) Cyber bullying and Cyber threats, OSDFS National Conference, http://csriu.irg and http://cyberbullying.org . Centre for safe and responsible use of the Internet.
- Campbell, Marilyn A (2005) Cyber bullying: An old problem in a new guise?. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling 15(1):68-76.
Office hours are from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. After hours and Saturday appointments are available on request.
Until next time then...
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.” - Harvey, S (American industrialist founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co 1868 - 1938