1.1 Cyberbullying, harassment and ostracism
One of the biggest concerns that people have about using social media is the possibility of experiencing negative interactions such as intimidating or threatening behaviour online, sometimes called cyberbullying or Trolling.
UNICEF describe cyberbullying as ‘bullying with the use of digital technologies. It can take place on social media, messaging platforms, gaming platforms and mobile phones. It is repeated behaviour, aimed at scaring, angering or shaming those who are targeted.’
It may surprise you to know that all of these examples in this question are listed by UNICEF as being examples of cyberbullying. Therefore if you have experienced any of them you may have been subjected to cyberbullying. The negativity of these experiences is often downplayed, or is so common that you can become desensitised to them.
Some groups are more likely to be subject to these experiences than others. For example, it has been suggested that interactive online environments, including social media, can provide a new place for misogyny and gender-based aggression (Bartow, 2009) and other forms of discrimination such as racism (Criss et al., 2020).
Firstly, the motivations behind it can vary. For example, popular students may bully because they think it helps them stay popular or they enjoy the power it gives them. While others may cyberbully because they are struggling with their own self esteem or have a desire to fit in. There could be many other reasons why a person chooses to behave negatively online.
The second important difference is that cyberbullying leaves a digital footprint. This means there is a record of the abuse that you can gather in the form of screen shots or by saving messages. This can prove useful and provide evidence to help stop the abuse. Here is a useful reminder of practical steps you can take if you are being bullied online.
Transcript: Video 3 How to deal with cyberbullying (Please note this video has no spoken audio.)
1. Don’t blame yourself, if you experience bullying behaviour in social media make sure your internal dialogue doesn’t default to thinking that you have caused this or brought it on yourself. You do not deserve to be a victim or be treated badly.
2. Don’t respond in anger. Responding in anger can often mean we retaliate or behave badly ourselves. This could cause you to break the rules yourself and get into trouble. Step away from the social media and give yourself time to think before making any response.
3. Take Screenshots: messages can be deleted and if you think you might want to report the bullying now or in the future it is best to take a screen shot and save the photos to a folder that you do not routinely look at. This will mean you are not reminded of them but have evidence if you need it.
4. Check your social media policy: this can help you to see if any rules have been broken that the university can act upon.
5. Tell your tutor, or another trusted person what has happened: by talking about it you can get clear in your head what action if any is needed. It can also help you to gain perspective on the emotional impact it may be having on you.
6. Take action to make sure it doesn’t happen again: consider reporting the behaviour to an admin for the group or if possible in the social media app itself. Then consider blocking the person or muting the group or chat for a while to give yourself space.
7. Consider what your role is within these spaces: if you witness online bullying happening try to be an upstander. This doesn’t mean that you pile into the negative conversation but you try to discreetly or privately reach out to the person who was the victim of the bullying to support them.