Hip, Connected, and Dangerous: Youth and Cyber-Bullying

I recently gave a presentation titled “Hip, Connected, and Dangerous: The Youth and Cyber Bullying” at the WWW2010 Conference in Raleigh, NC.  This presentation was part of the sub-conference Social Media Future Academy, held in conjunction with the main conference.  The SMFA was geared toward high school students who are seeking a better understanding of the social media platforms that are connected to their every day lives.  Over 40 students came to the conference, attending 4 presentations, viewing a poster session, and participating in engaging conversation.

During “Hip, Connected, and Dangerous” students learned the fundamentals of cyber-bullying.  According to stopcyberbullying.org, cyber-bullying occurs “when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones.”

Bullying used to occur in schools, on the playgrounds, or in any other public place where youth hung out.  Today, bullying still occurs in these spaces, but bullying is also happening online.  In short, bullies are finding ways to be better bullies.

Social media platforms like Facebook and MySpace have become the strongest outlets for youth to express themselves, connect with friends, and build relationships.  As youth spend more and more time online, the more they begin to depend on these social networks for whatever reasons they choose.  The more they dedicate their time to social networks, the more the dangers of cyber-bullying become prevalent.

The following graph (taken from ) outlines how the youth who are more connected to online social media platforms are at a higher risk for cyber-bullying.

Types of cyber-bullying include the following (as taken from cyberbully411.org):

1. It can take the form of a message on email or IM or a social networking site from someone who is threatening to hurt you or beat you up.
2. It might be rumors posted on your profile or spread online for others to see.
3. It might be the deletion of you on a friend’s “buddy list” to make you feel left out.
4. It could be a profile made by someone pretending to be you.
5. Or, someone hacking into your profile and writing comments pretending they’re from you.

I asked the students at the SMFA if they have been bullied in these ways, if they have seen someone being bullied in these ways, or if they themselves have acted as bullies to someone else in these ways.  Not surprisingly (although unfortunately) every student raised his/her hand.  This type of response was expected, and from that point on in the presentation I received a higher level of participation and comments.

When a student asked me the following question “Why can’t kids just turn off their computers if they are being bullied online?” I gave them a response that none had thought about before.  Turning off your social networks is not the answer, though it sounds like the easy one.  Since bullies are online finding ways to continue to taunt the youth they bully at school, the youth is no longer safe at home. If the youth who is being bullied at school can only find comfort in connecting with his/her friends made online, then an infiltration of his/her social networks can be extremely upsetting.  When a youth is no longer safe at home or online, he/she can begin to internalize his/her emotions and become depressed.

We then watched a news clip (shown below) of the suicide story of Phoebe Prince, a young high school student who committed suicide after being constantly bullied at school and online.  Stories like these are becoming more common.

Though bullying does not always lead to suicide, bullying nevertheless happens, and cyber bullying makes it worse.  Often we find ourselves saying tounge-and-cheek comments online, not realizing that the absence of inflection or tone of voice is heard in conjunction with the comment.  A statement like “Oh I hate you” that you may say in a sarcastic voice can sound like “Oh I hate you” with a mean and negative voice attached to it to someone who is unsure how to interpret your comment.  In this instance, cyber-bullying can be completely unintentional, when you had no idea that the person you are talking to is taking your comments the wrong way.  This concept was heavily discussed among the students at the SMFA conference.  For this reason, we collectively came up with a list of preventative tips for cyber-bullying:

1. Limit the amount of information you provide on social networks.  Duh, right?
2. Be careful who you add as a “Friend”
3. Never share your password, and always log out.
4. Do not respond directly to the cyber-bully.  Instead, save the information as evidence, because if the bullying continues, you can use the information to your benefit.
5. Do not encourage or participate with your friends when they bully someone online.

The last tip was the most important tip for all of us.  It is extremely easy to sit back and let your friends partake in different forms of bullying, whether it’s talking about people behind their back or letting a friend say mean things online or send ill-hearted texts.  As a group, we decided that it’s sometimes scary to tell your friends to not be bullies, but that if your friend is a bully, why are you friends with them anyway?  Not participating in the act, leaving the room when the acts occur, and not providing any type of encourage is a small step to making a difference in cyber-bullying.

Advertisement