Cyberbullying means using social media to intentionally cause harm to others who cannot easily defend themselves against aggressive online acts. It often causes serious long-lasting effects like depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies. These issues can follow the victims through the remainder of their lives. Of course, bullying in general does terrible damage. Cyberbullying is no exception. Various organizations are working toward providing information about appropriate support and assistance for victims. Still, more work needs to be done.
Cyberbullying especially impacts the mental health of middle school and high school students. Cyberbullies often maintain anonymity, a large audience, unlimited access to victims, and little to no oversight. Some researchers consider certain types of bullying less damaging, like random insults. But the use of provocative images, perceived serious threats, and blackmail cause serious mental and emotional upheaval. All of this leads to poorer scholastic performance. Hase notes that, on average, 20% to 40% of middle and high school students reported being bullied online or by text. This degree of victimization should trouble everyone concerned with healthy academic environments.
Ortega explains some emotional impacts of cyberbullying. Victims suffer psychosocial problems like depression, social anxiety, and low self-esteem. She points out that 93% of the victims experienced upset, embarrassment, anger, frustration, vulnerability, fear, sadness, defenselessness, hopelessness, depression, and anxiety. Cybervictimization can also cause affective disorders and a greater chance of internalizing adjustment problems. Over time, persistent cyberbullying can lead to sustained mental illness.
Cyberbullying also affects college students. More often than not, it leads to depression and substance abuse. College students report a number of cyberbullying behaviors. Young adult victims report greater incidence of depression and suicidal thoughts. They also exhibit greater hostility and delinquency. Selkie sums this up neatly in one sentence: “cybervictimization was associated with fear for one’s safety, poor sleep, somatic symptoms, and emotional and peer problems, while perpetration of cyberbullying was associated with substance use and less prosocial behavior.”
Depression and alcohol do tremendous damage in Academia. Studies show that 30% of college students reported a diagnosis of depression, and 9% contemplated suicide in a 2014 study. Selkie’s research team put the figure for students using alcohol in any given month at 65%. Half of those are binge drinkers (who drink five or more beverages at one event in a two-week period). Heavy alcohol use points to increased suicide ideation. These habits formed as young adults often can and do continue as the pressure of careers and family accumulate.
Workplace cyberbullying becomes an occupational hazard after college. Cyberbullying episodes can lower job satisfaction, increase blame attribution, and intensify mental strain. The degree of cyberbullying varies from one occupation to another. However, higher levels seem to occur in the health occupations. Studies of trainee doctors show that nearly half of the trainees in the subject pool had experienced acts of cyberbullying during their training. These episodes contributed substantially to job dissatisfaction and ill health.
One research study shows that negative workplace events that violate employee dignity poison the environment severely. This disempowerment “can therefore aid our understanding of how cyberbullying might provide negative outcomes through its violation of dignity and norms of respect, which results in a formidable process of disempowerment.” When victims blame themselves for being harassed, they internalize negative events that lead to ill health. Blaming oneself elicits feelings of shame and guilt. Victims don’t like their jobs under these circumstances. As a result, everyone suffers.
Adolescent sexting and cyberbullying go hand-in-hand. Teenagers spend a fair amount of time finding out who they are and establishing a sense of their relationships to others. They form core values, and peer relationships intensify. Often, they indulge in risky sexual behavior. Sexting is the practice of sending sexually explicit language and images via smartphones. A significant percentage of adolescents are sexting these days. The numbers will likely increase with America’s growing population.
Studies have shown that adolescents average fifty hours a week on their phones. Their hormones are raging, and they’re prone to impulsive behavior. Korenis and Billick report that teens who send “sexually explicit text messages are more likely to be engaging in sexual behavior and risky sexual practices. While many teens may be sending these messages, the majority of them reported being genuinely bothered by being asked to send a naked picture.” The years between adolescence and adulthood have always been challenging. Still, modern technological advances have intensified this difficult navigation process. They make it easy for those inclined toward online bullying.
Suicide is a public health problem. The internet’s role, here, is open to debate. Researchers struggle to determine how much influence the internet plays in suicide ideation because of the difficulty of isolating internet use and other contributing factors. Herba argues that girls think more about suicide, and older children and adolescents are more likely to exhibit suicidal behavior. This should be considered a public health problem, and we need to evaluate this influence.
Cyberbullying, when linked to suicide, is called cyberbullicide. Luxton notes, “Although cyberbullying cannot be identified as a sole predictor of suicide in adolescents and young adults, it can reduce risk of suicide by amplifying feelings of isolation, instability, and hopelessness, for those with preexisting emotional, psychological, and environmental stressors.” The internet offers a number of sites that provide directions on how to commit suicide and describe lethal means to kill oneself.
Message boards and chat rooms provide how-to information and encouragement to those looking to commit suicide. You Tube, Facebook, and other video-sharing sites reinforce the idea that self-harm is normal. Offshore, unregulated pharmacies, serve as a significant source for obtaining illegal or counterfeit drugs for this purpose, without a prescription. Certainly, adolescents can find a wide variety of instruction and practical help. At this fragile stage of development, they can easily make hasty and sometimes fatal decisions.
Social networking sites aimed at preventing suicide can provide social relationships with peers in similar circumstances. They offer crucial information about prevention programs, crisis help phone numbers, and other supportive and educational resources. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline has a very popular Facebook page. So does the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, which has over a million total fans. Both groups have links to helpful web sites and hotlines. Each provides information about warning signs of suicide.
Hundreds of suicide prevention groups populate Twitter, and hundreds more populate Blogger.com. Users can interact, share stories, disseminate information, and publicize events in their localities. You Tube has many PSAs (Public Service Announcements) that provide helpful information. The Department of Veterans Affairs produces PSAs that encourage veterans and service members to get help. Nonprofit organizations and universities have announcements, both locally and nationally, that provide helpful information. Individual users have produced video memorials for friends or families who have lost someone to suicide.
An innovative social media platform produced by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline features stories by animated avatars. Here, a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth allows users to interact on screen. Users can create images of their avatars. Then they can write or record by voiceover their individual stories. The system displays contact information, as well as links to other helpful sites. The use of this form of social media provides an anonymous, personalized, and interactive experience geared toward suicide prevention. Engaging the user’s mind with these interactive methods helps the user transition from despair to the assistance that awaits.
Proactive prevention social media sites help in the effort to reach troubled youths. Google’s search engine has an algorithm that recognizes signs of despair. It displays a link to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline when keyword searches suggest that is a possibility. Facebook has a page that recognizes when a person is looking for pro-suicide information. This helps monitors remove such sites. Facebook and other similar sites work with CEOP (United Kingdom Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center), supplying an easy way to report cyberbullying. Their application is being used to report anyone who posts harassing, threatening, and hateful comments. Its Facebook page shows information surveys and resource links intended to make every visitor to the site aware of the cyberbullying problem.
Facebook also works with the United Kingdom and Irish Samaritans charities on a reporting system. This makes it possible to report anyone believed to be considering harming themselves. Monitors collect information on the person reporting, the date and time, and the person being reported. The Facebook staff gives priority to these postings, communicating them to the Samaritan team members, who then provide guidance and support. The U.S. military also uses social media through its site Afterdeployment.org to provide psychoeducation and support. Those who seek help can find it.
School administrators should form written policies defining cyberbullying in detail. These policies should include what is and isn’t acceptable and what the consequences will be for abuse, both at school and away. Accordingly, classes on these policies should be created and taught to both students and parents. Schools should educate parents especially on how to notice the signs and symptoms of cyberbullying. Likewise, school counselors should meet with teachers on a regular basis, defining what is appropriate in internet use. Administrators must organize a task force to enforce these programs.
These programs and policies must begin with school administrations being made aware of these proposals. Simmons and Bynum suggest that “Administrators should build a relationship with the local police department, perhaps inviting ‘cybercops’ to school to speak to parents and students on proper internet use.” All schools in each district must enforce these same rules so that as students move through grades or change schools, the rules remain consistent. Obviously, everyone should feel safe in reporting incidents of abuse, and all such incidents should be documented. This program would require a great deal of effort, but over time, students would benefit.
Cyberbullying does incalculable damage. Our experiences in adolescence and young adulthood shape what kind of adults we become. Reactive behavior hasn’t been working in this regard. Every stakeholder involved in this crisis must think and act proactively to make a difference. We must pay more attention to cyberbullying. Awareness and prevention of electronic harassment will benefit everyone. America needs to become a more civil place. Proper intention engenders meaningful social outcomes.
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Myrna Vander Meulen has attended Northwestern University, University of Colorado, and Pikes Peak Community College. She has been a wife, mother, entrepreneur, and Real Estate Broker. Currently, she enjoys camping and skiing in her home state of Colorado, as well as domestic and foreign travel. She also volunteers through her church and lodge.
