Cyberbulling
Define
Use of digital media (smartphones, Internet or online video games…) with the intention of psychologically harassing others.
In a Cyberbullying situation, there are usually three types of roles: the bullied or victim, the aggressor and the bystanders.
Identify
Cyberbullism can manifest itself through various phenomena:
| Flaming – electronic messages, violent and vulgar, which provoke verbal "battles" online, between two or more contenders. |
| Harassment – rude, offensive, insulting, disturbing messages, which are sent repeatedly, through E-mails, SMS, MMS, unwelcome phone calls. |
| Cyberstalking – harassment that becomes particularly insistent and intimidating and the victim begins to fear for his or her physical safety. |
| Denigration – In this case, the cyberbully's goal is to damage the reputation or friendships of a peer by spreading gossip and / or other offensive material online. |
| Outing and Trickery – the cyberbully uses the spontaneous confidences or the confidential and intimate images of a peer, to publish them on a blog and / or disseminate them via e-mail. The cyberbully can also solicit, by trickery, "the friend" to share online secrets or embarrassing information about himself or another person and then spread them to other users of the network, or threaten to do so if he does not make it available to fulfill your requests. |
| Exclusion (or Ban) – Cyberbully intentionally excludes a peer from an online group, chat, interactive game, or other password-protected environment. |
| Cyberbashing – A boy or a group of boys attack a peer, while others film them with the videophone. The images are then published on the internet and viewed by users to whom the network offers, despite not having directly participated in the event, an opportunity for online sharing. |
The victim usually shows:
- Low self-esteem and social skills, with difficulty in relating to others.
- Fear, rejection or special concern at the idea of going to school, work or in a specific social environment.
- Passive communication style.
Act
3 volunteers are chosen and each participant is given a role (aggressive, passive and assertive) with a sticker to put on their foreheads (they do not know which role they have been given). We ask the rest of the group to interact with their peers according to that role. Once this part is finished, the 3 volunteers are asked how they felt and what they think is written on their stickers. From there, we work on empathy with each role, emphasising the advantages and disadvantages of each of them and relating these profiles to cyberbullying.
The following activity is proposed to reflect on Cyberbullying through discussions, videos, news articles in order to be able to work on three different levels:
- Cognitive: stimulation of the critical sense
- Emotional: promotion of emotional awareness and empathy
- Ethics: foster a sense of responsibility and justice
Approximate duration: about 2 hours
Purpose of the activity:
- Raise awareness on the risks of inappropriate use of the mobile phone
- Develop empathy towards those who suffer from cyberbullying
- Allows reflection on the personal responsibility, as actors and spectators, in front of situations of this kind, connecting to the issues of justice, respect and inclusion
Young people are asked to reflect on slides that report provocative statements on the topic to stimulate a debate. After each question or slide, the students are asked to vote by raising their hand if they agree or disagree with the statement, and exchange the reasons for their choice.
Projections of one or more videos or reading of a text concerning cyberbulling.
After proposing the initial idea, video or article, the students are asked the following questions:
– What emotions did you feel watching or listening to this story?
– How do you think the protagonist felt?
– Why do you think many people do not intervene in front of these situations?
– What are the signs that can indicate that a joke has gone too far?
In the final part, the students are asked to perform or watch a video with a cyberbulling situation, to reflect on how people normally react when they witness these facts and later to ask themselves if there is one right or wrong way of acting and what is the responsibility of each in these cases.
The children are split into 3 or more groups, each of them will prepare a poster to report:
- The signs that a joke has gone too far
- List the emotions related to cyberbullying and provide them with examples
- What to do if you are a victim or witness of a cyberbullying situation?
