“I allowed myself to be bullied because I was scared and didn’t know how to defend myself. I was bullied until I prevented a new student from being bullied. By standing up for him, I learned to stand up for myself.” Jackie Chan, martial artist, actor, film director, producer, stuntman, and singer. His story of cyberbullying may be viewed at YouTube
10-year old Jack is a big fan of online gaming. He’s been practicing and playing as much as he can but he’s not as good at it as he’d like to be. One day, he’s playing online with other children when one of them starts criticizing his gaming skills, calling him names and threatening to stop hanging out with him at school. Situations like Jack’s can quickly snowball if other children join in to make fun of him or he is ostracized online or at school. His self esteem could suffer, and he could have trouble focusing at home or at school. He might retreat and not want to talk to anyone about what is going on. Or worse, he could contemplate harming himself.
Jack’s story is just one example of the effects of cyberbullying. Tweens (8 – 12-year-olds) average 5 hours of screen time every day (Rideout & Robb, 2019). During the one and half years of the pandemic, the amount of time was likely even greater. The sheer amount of time spent online means that children are interacting constantly on social media, text and chat and in online games. This interaction has led to an alarming increase in the amount of negative behavior, including cyberbullying, a type of bullying that takes place on devices like phones or computers. According to Stopbullying.gov, “Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behavior.” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], n.d).
14.5% of tweens report that they have witnessed other students being cyberbullied. (Pachin & Hinduja, 2020). Some hopeful research indicates that many of these children don’t just sit by and watch a peer being cyberbullied (bystanders). Those who step in to help (upstanders) are remarkably effective in stopping bullying.
It is the authors’ intention to look at the unique aspects of cyberbullying and to consider how any witness can or might become an upstander to bring about a more satisfactory outcome in incidents like these. Who could be the unique ally who will stand up to abusive behavior in a safe manner? How can an upstander help when bullying takes place online?
In this article, the authors, anti-bullying experts, will provide more detail on cyberbullying information and statistics as well as practical information about how parents, teachers and students can learn how to prevent cyberbullying and intercede when necessary to stop cyberbullying attacks.
The stars (*) in each section will offer suggestions to students, parents and teachers about how they can learn more and help others.
Cyberbullying information and statistics
TikTok Stars on Cyberbullying at YouTube
In addition to potential health problems that can be associated with the amount of screen time that tweens spend online, like mood and weight problems, poor grades and sleep issues, tweens and teens are also exposed to an increasing number of social challenges online, including cyberbullying. As many as one in 5 tweens has been cyberbullied, has cyberbullied others, or has seen cyberbullying. (Rideout & Robb, 2019). These alarming statistics highlight that our children and students are on the verge of a growing crisis.
Studies have shown that many students are accessing ways to help themselves when they are the targets of cyberbullying. In a study by the Cartoon Network, some of the most common solutions that students use to stop cyberbullying are: blocking the person who is cyberbullying them; telling a parent or ignoring the person (see CHART A for more information below). It is encouraging that students feel empowered to address the problem and see some success when they do so.
CHART A
(Chart taken from Tween cyberbullying in 2020)
What would a student do if they witnessed a bullying incident? Would they correctly perceive the behaviors of the individuals who are the bullies and apprise realistically the effects on the targets of the bullying? Research indicates that another layer of support for students has been critical in stopping bullying of all types. According to Pacer.org, “Bullied youth were most likely to report that actions that accessed support from others made a positive difference. They report that allying and supportive actions from their peers (such as spending time with the student, talking to him/her, helping him/her get away, or giving advice) were the most helpful actions from bystanders.” (Davis & Nixon, 2010). Even more dramatically, when a peer intervenes, 57% of bullying situations stop. (Hawkins, Pepler & Craig, 2001).
The good news is that almost 70% of tweens report that they do step in when they see bullying in school and 66% when they notice it occurring online. (Rideout & Robb, 2019). Those who step in to help are referred to as “upstanders”.
So how can parents and teachers help these peer allies continue to intervene when they see cyberbullying take place? And how can they encourage reluctant bystanders to become upstanders?
Suggestions may be found at the next posting!