Studies show that an overwhelming majority ofchildren disapprove of cyberbullying. That should cause us to question why then cyberbullying via social media has become so widespread. Here are six unique dynamics of social mediathat may be motivating or causing so many children to cyberbully:
(1) Social media platforms promise privacyor anonymity: Social media can make our children feel as if they are communicating in a secure vault where gossip or harassment will never reach the subject of the conversation. However, some of the worst cases of cyberbullying canoccur through posts or messages intended to be private, anonymous, or temporary, using social media platforms, such as Snapchat or WhatsApp,that advertise features like super encrypted or self-deleting messages. Unfortunately,withsocial media,there is no private;there is no anonymous; there is no temporary. Anyone can take apicture of a self-deleting message or forwarda supposedly private message. Again and again, we seethis supposed temporary or privatecontent spreadthrough social media eventually reaching the target of the bullying.
(2) Social media promotes sharing:Cyberbullying can be the mere act of forwarding, sharing, or reposting someone else’s harassing content. In the world of social media, it does not matter if a child authored the content herself. Forwarding something puts her stamp of approval on it, attaches her nameto it, and increases the harm for the target of the cyberbullying. Unfortunately, social media platforms want us to share content because that makes us all stay on the platforms longer. So the platforms teachchildrento habitually share anything they believe their peers might be interested in, including cyberbullying.
(3) Communication through social media does not includeface-to-face interaction: Numerous studies have shown that perpetrators of cyberbullying show less empathy towards their targets as compared with those engaging in traditional bullying. In theory, the reason for this decreased compassioncomes from the lack of face-to-face interaction. Clicking a button to send mean posts and messages hidden away from the sight of the target’s reactions and facial expressions reduces the perpetrator’s ability to understand how the target hasreacted to the unkind message. Without empathy as a deterrent, children are more likely to cyberbully.
(4) On social media, justice seems to meanbullying the bully: Cyberbullying can also include harassing messages and posts made in response to someone else’s cyberbullying. Often children, even adults, will see someone engage in cyberbullying on social media and respond by harassing the original perpetrator. The thinking may be that attacking the cyberbullyhelps the original victim, provides some sense of “digital justice”, or deters the perpetrator from further engaging in cyberbullying. As we study these cases, though, we find that attacking the original cyberbully just increases the total harm and further contributes to an already toxic environment. There are safer andmore effectiveways to respond to cyberbullying, like reporting the perpetrator to the platform or a trusted adult andsending a friendly, supportive message to the victim.
(5) Social media fosters a mob-like mentality:Seeing a group of people doing something, even when that something is cyberbullying, can make the observer feel like the behavior is socially acceptable or can cause the observer to disregard thenegative consequences of thataction. That is why, especially, when childrensee their friends and peers engage in harassment, they are more likely to join in. And, unfortunately, alot of children, about 89%, report witnessing cyberbullyingon social media.
(6) We all crave likes and shares and views:Driven by a desire to get likes, shares, and views, children can post or messageharassing content blinded to the fact that their posts may beharmful to another. In so many of the cases we study, children who have cyberbulliedseem to have beentrying to obtain attentionthrough pranks and jokes that are actually harassment. They were trying to be funny to impress others. The need forapproval on social mediacan, and many times does, override better judgment and empathy.Discussing these social media dynamics with yourchildren and students will helpprevent cyberbullying. If children can more accurately identifycyberbullying behavior,many will be less likely to engage in it.
