SCHOOLS’ RESPONSIBILITY WITH REGARD TO CYBERBULLYING

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CHAPTER 2 CYBERBULLYING: DESCRIPTION, ANALYSIS AND THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 provided an overview of the area of research for this study by, among others, defining the objective and aims of the study and identifying the importance attributed to the study. Technology and adolescents seem destined for each other: both are young, fast-paced, and ever-changing (Huesmann, 2007). With the rapid technological advancements, “internet”, “SMS”, “MMS” “Myspace”, “blogs” and “personal digital assistants/PDAs” have become household terms, especially among adolescents. This new technology has been eagerly embraced by adolescents and has led to extended usage and an expanded vocabulary.
While it is undeniable that technological advancements have deeply enriched adolescents’ lives, it has also brought about many an iniquity, one of which is the growing incidence of cyberbullying. New digital media have many social and educational benefits, but more and more parents express concern about the dangers adolescents could be exposed to when using them.
The literature on cyberbullying remains thin; there is much more and established literature on other forms of aggression, particularly in adolescents. A better understanding of the co-occurrence of and commonality between cyberbullying and other forms of bullying and the unique aspects of electronic aggression will inform potential effective prevention approaches to cyberbullying.
Electronic aggression is any kind of aggression perpetrated by means of technology, including any type of harassment or bullying (e.g. teasing, telling lies, making fun of others, making rude or mean comments, spreading rumours, and making threatening or aggressive comments) via email, SMSs, instant messages (e.g. BBM), chat rooms and websites (including blogs) (Lenhart, 2009). The internet and cellphones have such power to change adolescents’ lives for the better, but when they are misused, they can cause real pain and distress. The instant online life of cellphones combined with poor impulse control make adolescents particularly vulnerable to online bullying (Skinner, 2011).
A variety of terms are used to describe and measure this new form of aggression, such as “internet bullying”, “internet harassment” and “cyberbullying”. “Electronic aggression” seems to be the term that covers the widest range of situations where new communication media are used to conduct aggressive acts. In such situations, an adolescent may be described as a victim, a perpetrator, or both. Some authors reserve narrower terms for specific subtypes of electronic aggression where young victims are attacked by adult perpetrators. For example, Aftab (2008, para. 4) suggests that terms such as “cyberharassment” or “cyberstalking” be used in such cases. For situations where electronic aggression is at the same time peer aggression, the most proper term seems to be “cyberbullying”. For the purposes of this study, “cyberbullying” is also the preferred term, as peer aggression is most common among 13- to 15-year-olds (Shafie, 2011).
Raskauskas and Stoltz (2007) describe cyberbullying as a means of indirect aggression in which peers use electronics to taunt, insult, threaten, harass, and/or intimidate a peer. It is classified as relational or indirect aggression because it is a deliberate attempt to inflict direct or indirect harm on peers through manipulation and damaging peer relationships (Berger, 2007). This type of bullying can consist of any of the following actions committed by an individual or group against another individual or group (SafetyWeb, 2010). These actions are:

• threats of violence
• hate speech
• harassment
• peer pressure
• bribery
• psychological abuse
• extortion

Research into the extent of cyberbullying indicates that it features in many adolescents’ lives. In 2005, the number of adolescents between 14 and 17 years of age who indicated they had been involved in cyberbullying was twice the number of that in 1999/2000 (Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2006).
Cyberbullying is also perpetrated against school staff members and other adults; there are examples of staff members being ridiculed, threatened or otherwise abused by learners using new media. Fifteen per cent (15%) of the teachers responding to a 2009 survey carried out by the Teacher Support Network and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers reported that they had been victims of cyberbullying. In May 2007, the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers surveyed teachers on cyberbullying over a period of five days, and almost 100 teachers reported incidents of cyberbullying by learners via cellphones and web-based sites that had caused them real distress and trauma. The cyberbullying of school staff is an issue that schools need to address in their whole-school cyberbullying strategy.
Considering this misuse by children and adolescents of new media, the lack of a clear school policy on cyberbullying, and the questionable effectiveness of traditional media literacy programmes, it is imperative that the school community work collaboratively and proactively to tackle this problem (Trolley et al., 2006). Discipline alone is not working (Fuentes, 2003), and if children and adolescents are to learn more appropriate, prosocial behaviours, we therefore need to look at assessment and therapeutic intervention (Jackson, 2006). It is not just the learners that must change, but the school environment as well (Trolley et al., 2006).

UNDERSTANDING CYBERBULLYING

Adolescents are highly connected to the internet; they know the popular sites of adolescents, the acronyms that users have created as an effort to save keystrokes, and the applications. And although many of them seem light years ahead in cyberspace, they still need adult guidance on tough issues such as cyberbullying.
The implications of cyberbullying for schools are significant. Even if the harassment occurs outside of school, victims frequently display behavioural problems or anxiety at school (Ybarra, Diener-West, & Leaf, 2007). Cyberbullying is now a pervasive and growing problem that can have devastating effects on adolescents’ lives and on those around such affected adolescents (Kowalski et al., 2008). Teachers, and parents, should engage adolescents in dialogue about the interactions adolescents have with others via new media. To help start the conversation, teachers could consider using the digital media literacy curriculum to facilitate discussions about appropriate online behaviour and cyberbullying.
Parents also need to be aware of comments, photos and videos their sons and daughters are posting online. Families need to talk about their children’s online activities just as they would discuss any other daily activity.
It has been noted that much of this type of bullying occurs in the home via cellphones and the internet; it is therefore vital that parents are informed and aware of what steps they can take to prevent any such problem (David-Ferdon & Hertz, 2007).
Parents often struggle with how much freedom and autonomy to give their adolescent children; it is important to find ways in which to balance privacy and protection.

The differences between traditional bullying and cyberbullying

While often similar in terms of form and technique, there are substantial differences between bullying and cyberbullying, some of which can make the latter even more devastating (Trolley et al., 2006).
Bullying among school-age adolescents is a common phenomenon, with three out of four learners reporting being bullied at some point during their school careers (Hoover, Oliver & Hazler, 1992). Olweus (1993) defined bullying as intentional aggressive and mean behaviour between individuals when there is an imbalance of power, such that the person being bullied has a difficult time defending him or herself.
Ybarra and Mitchell (2004) states that cyberbullying is also an intentional, mean and overt act of aggression towards another person. For example, a learner willing to abuse technology can easily wield great power over his or her target just by having the ability to reach a large audience, and often by hiding his or her identity. Mean cybermessages are easily repeated by forwarding them to multiple individuals and posting them on websites for hundreds of classmates to view. Cyberbullying therefore includes the same mechanisms as general bullying behaviours, but the bullying is done via a ubiquitous mechanism – technology (Kowalski et al., 2008).

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM, AIM AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY 
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM
1.3 SCOPE, DELIMITATION AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.4 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1.5 AIMS
1.6 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS
1.7 RESEARCH DESIGN
1.8 CHAPTER DIVISION
1.9 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 2: CYBERBULLYING: DESCRIPTION, ANALYSIS AND THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTION 
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 UNDERSTANDING CYBERBULLYING
2.3 USE AND ABUSE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY
2.4 SCHOOLS’ RESPONSIBILITY WITH REGARD TO CYBERBULLYING
2.5 THE PREVENTION OF AND RESPONSE TO CYBERBULLYING
2.6 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 3: PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF CYBERSPACE: UNDERSTANDING HOW ADOLESCENTS REACT TO AND BEHAVE IN CYBERSPACE 
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 ONLINE SOCIAL INTERACTION: PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE
CHAPTER 4: DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACY: EDUCATING ADOLESCENTS TO CREATE THEIR OWN FUTURE
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 THE HERITAGE OF DIGITAL AND MEDIA LITERACY
4.3 ISSUES TO CONSIDER WHEN IMPLEMENTING DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACY PROGRAMMES
4.4 AN SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE: JUSTIFYING DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACY EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
4.5 CONCLUSION
4.6. THE END OF THE REVIEW
4.7 PROPOSED MODEL FOR DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACY EDUCATION
CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
5.3. RESEARCH DESIGN
5.4 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY & FINDINGS 
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 PARENT AND LEARNER MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY SURVEYS
6.3 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS OF THE EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION
6.4 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 7: LOGGING OFF: LIMITATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 
7.1 INTRODUCTION
7.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
7.3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACY
INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES
7.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY
7.5 CONCLUSION
REFERENCE LIST
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