In the last decade, the young people in the world have quickly acquired an inclination to computers and the internet, thus, acquiring great benefits regarding social and relational aspects the electronic communication provides. However, a good number of people are continually being exposed to mistreatment and harassment while online, often referred to as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying can be defined as the willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of electronic devices (Hinduja & Patchin, 2012). Common forms of cyberbullying include sending threatening messages, posting harassing messages online or even uploading humiliating pictures and videos online without permission. Cyberbullying has severe effects, which mostly are negative depending on the coping degree of the affected; hence there is a need for policy formulation to mitigate the vice.
Some people would say that spending resources to cub and control cyberbullying is a far cry as compared to directing the resources to other significant issues. They would say that the cases are not common and recent studies have shown that cyberbullying is a low-prevalence phenomenon (Olweus, 2012) and this means that not many people in the digital platform suffer from it. This, however, does not certainly mean that the implications of cyberbullying are less than severe. Policy formulation is highly encouraged to ensure that cyberbullying is contained before it gets chaotic.
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Cyberbullying can be a handy tool that causes victimization and segregation among a population. This is experienced when the harassed person is dropped out of his or her social circle as the friends claim hanging out with them may be bad for the picture they portray. This is a common occurrence in adolescents that leads to depression due to the constant experience of stress and lack of support from peers. Wigderson and Lynch (2013) concluded that there is a significant relationship between cyber victimization and depression among adolescents and, to some extent, even the college students.
Depression is often associated with suicidal tendencies and cyberbullying is a major predisposing factor to depression. Therefore, cyberbullying can lead to suicidal behavior among the people involved, and this includes both the victims and the perpetrators. Studies done by Hinduja and Patchin (2012) have shown that both the victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying are more likely to think about suicide, as well as attempt suicide when compared to their peers not involved in cyberbullying. This is further supported by Kessel Schneider, O'Donnell & Smith (2015) who found a positive relationship between cyberbullying and suicidal behavior.
Cyberbullying perpetrators are also inclined to suffer from negative attitudes and behavior. Cyberbullying perpetration has been positively associated with hyperactivity, relational aggression, conduct problems, smoking, and drunkenness (Beckman, Hagquist, & Hellström, 2012). Campbell et al. (2013) in an Australian study on adolescents supports this as the findings were that the youth who cyberbullied others reported more social difficulties, stress, depression and anxiety compared to their peers who were not involved in any bullying. This can also be associated with the fact that a considerable proportion of the cyberbullied people are also bullied in the traditional ways, and this issue has not received much systematic research. All these negativities can lead to relationship disruptions hence an adverse effect on the society.
Cyberbullying has severe effects, which mostly are negative depending on the coping degree of the affected; hence there is a need for policy formulation to mitigate the vice. These effects of cyberbullying may be reported by people who are involved. It is, however, difficult to understand the extent that these problems are a consequence of cyberbullying. More often than not, researchers tend to incline on one particular form of bullying independent of the other or tackle both forms as independent issues, and yet they are strongly interrelated. In this digitized world, we live in now, there are no boundaries of privacy, and hence anyone can be a victim of cyberbullying. Better safe than sorry!
References
Beckman, L., Hagquist, C., & Hellström, L. (2012). Does the association with psychosomatic health problems differ between cyberbullying and traditional bullying?. Emotional and behavioural difficulties , 17 (3-4), 421-434.
Campbell, M. A., Slee, P. T., Spears, B., Butler, D., & Kift, S. (2013). Do cyberbullies suffer too? Cyberbullies’ perceptions of the harm they cause to others and to their own mental health. School Psychology International , 34 (6), 613-629.
Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2012). School climate 2.0: Preventing cyberbullying and sexting one classroom at a time . Corwin Press.
Kessel Schneider, S., O'Donnell, L., & Smith, E. (2015). Trends in cyberbullying and school bullying victimization in a regional census of high school students, 2006 ‐ 2012. Journal of school health , 85 (9), 611-620.
Olweus, D. (2012). Cyberbullying: An overrated phenomenon? European Journal of Developmental Psychology , 9 (5), 520-538.
Wigderson, S., & Lynch, M. (2013). Cyber-and traditional peer victimization: Unique relationships with adolescent well-being. Psychology of Violence , 3 (4), 297.
