What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. With children, it is the communication or posting by one or more minors using cyber-technology or digital media designed to hurt, threaten, embarrass, annoy, blackmail, or otherwise target another minor. Unlike physical bullying, cyberbullying can happen anytime, anywhere and everyone can get involved.

Children who are bullied are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, lower academic achievement and dropping out of school (CDC, 2018). They are also twice as likely to commit suicide or self-harm.

What makes cyberbullying different to physical bullying?

The messages, images, and videos posted online by bullies are in public. Most of these happen on WhatsApp groups, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media networks where they are open for all to see.

These posts can be shared, commented on, and spread from one platform to another. Before long, the post becomes viral (shared because the video is popular) and spreads even quicker. The victim has no control of the post. He/she can’t delete it or even influence how it is shared and what people say in the comments.

The bully can remain anonymous. As with all cybercrime, because the bully does not see how their actions impact the victim, they don’t realize the harm caused by their actions. The victim of anonymous harassment feels loneliness, fear and grows over-concerned with identifying the bully.

It is difficult to remove the content, especially if it was shared on multiple different sites or messaging apps. It is almost impossible to stop or contain. Even if the original cruel post is deleted, the damage is done because hundreds of others have seen it.

With cyberbullying being public, there are a lot more witnesses to the incident than with physical bullying. This makes the victim feel more embarrassed and publicly shamed.

The bullying that starts online continues in the real world. When the victim returns to school or any other social environment, the children who saw and contributed to the bullying often continue it in real life. 25% of teens on social media reported that the online incidents have ended up in face-to-face confrontations. (WHOA, 2013).

Cyberbullying can reach the victim in their homes or other places where they should feel safe and protected. It is almost inescapable.

Children who would not normally participate in physical bullying engage in cyberbullying because “everyone else is doing it” and they don’t want to be left out or become victims themselves. They might not start the bullying, but they contribute by sharing or commenting on the harmful post.

Sometimes they refer to a cyberbullying incident as something “funny”. It gets downplayed as “just a joke” but even jokes can hurt the subject of their teasing. Jokes can be just as cruel and damaging as blatant accusations.