Answer

Executive Summary

In traditional bullying, children were subjected to harassment and different harms from colleagues leading to depression and mental illnesses. Traditional bullying still persists in schools across the world especially in Australia where it is estimated that at least 20%of students are bullied. However, with the continued access to technologies and the internet among children all over the world, cyberbullying is increasingly becoming rampant and even causing worse consequences. Cyberbullying is harassing someone over the internet and unlike traditional bullying, the bully in this case is more anonymous and he or she can be overly persistent since they can contact the victim from wherever and at any time. The ease of access to technology, desire to be popular in social media platforms and parental issues within the family are the main contributors of bullying among children. The main effects of bullying include mental illnesses due to poor development of cognitive abilities and avoidance of school due to fear of victimizations and reprisals.

Table of Contents

Contents

Executive Summary. 2

Table of Contents. 3

Introduction. 4

Findings. 5

Reasons for Engaging in Cyber Bullying. 7

Factors Contributing to Cyber Bullying. 9

Effects on Learning and Development. 10

References. 12

Introduction

            Children in the 21^st century are arguably the most tech savvy than in any other era in the past. According to Halloway, Green and Livingstone (2013), this is mainly supported by the advanced and continuing inventions in technology, affordability of the technologies and high consumption rates of these technological resources in the current 21^st century. The internet as a platform for communication, information sharing, interactions and as form of mass media is one of the most widely used inventions among children. In a study conducted in Europe between 2007 and 2010, aimed at noting the online experiences of children in the region, Ey, Taddeo and Spears (2015) state that 94% of children between the ages of 6 and 17 years had access to the internet. Another 6% between 8 and 11 years of age were in some form of social networking (Ey, Taddeo & Spears, 2015). This illustrates that the children are not only accessing the internet to gain knowledge but to also influence others or themselves based on the capabilities of the internet. Similarly, parents are being carried away by the “internet wave”, and just like their children, they are buying more internet enabled gadgets for themselves and their children while granting them full access to these devices, in a bid to give them a “killer instinct for success” (McDonnell, 2002, p. 22).

It is also clear through several researches that the 21^st century parents are busier to the point that they cannot be involved in all affairs of their children, thus, they expect the technologies-especially the internet- to fill the gaps they leave in their parenting roles (Kathy, 2005, McDonnell, 2002). Just like in the past when the inability to engage with children limited their self-esteem causing most children to be bullied, the internet, in the 21^st century encourages a new form of bullying called cyberbullying. Although bullying still exists at home and in schools all over the world, cases of cyberbullying are also very high and this is affecting the development and learning abilities of children in the 21^st century. This report will therefore use the social change theory, Bronfenbrenner ecological systems theory and the cognitive theory to illustrate how traditional bullying and cyberbullying as effects of the emphasis of technologies like the internet occur, and affect the learning and development of children.

Findings

Cyberbullying

            Cyberbullying can simply be defined as bullying over the internet. In details, Tanrikulu and Campbell (2015, p. 138) defines it as the “aggressive, deliberate and repeated behavior of an individual or group of individuals by using information and communication technologies to inflict harm on others”. In this regard, the attacker can either use a phone, tablet, computer or any other internet enabled device to harass his or her target. In Australia, cyberbullying is a crime under the Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures Act (2) of 2004. Nonetheless, the Criminal Code Act of 1995 emphasizes that cyberbullying can only be considered to have occurred if it can be proven that the internet or any other carriage service was used “to menace, harass or cause harm” (Campbell et al, 2010). Based on these definitions, it is clear that cyberbullying is not only a risk to children but anyone using the internet and other communication platforms. Children, are however at the greater risk of cyber bullying compared to adults. In Australia, Tanrikulu and Campbell (2015) report that cyber bullying is currently at 15% among students, which is 5 to 10% lower than the traditional rates of traditional bullying among Australian students.

Traditional Bullying Vs Cyberbullying

            Traditional bullying is similar to cyberbullying based on the fact that, the bully in both cases aims at harming the other person. However, in traditional bullying, non-electronic means are used to cause harm (Sticca & Perren, 2013). Traditional bullying can further be divided into: verbal, physical and social bullying. In verbal bullying, Kim et al (2016) state that the bully attacks the victim directly through face-to-face interaction and harasses the victim either by threats or giving comments that would hurt the victim. In an indirect verbal bullying, the victim may not be aware of the bully’s actions, but the bully will speak or spread hurtful information about the victim to people within the victim’s environment (Braadshow, Waasdorp & Johnson, 2015). In physical bullying, the victim faces bodily attacks aimed at causing pain and in social bullying the bully targets the social life of the victim by using rumors or hurtful information to ensure the victim is ostracized by their peers (Kim et al, 2016). The impacts of both types of bullying are similar and these include factors like: depression, lack of social support, low self-esteem, physical damage, and in extreme cases, suicide (Moor & Merry, 2014). One of the main challenges in handling both traditional and cyberbullying is the inability of the victims to tell whether they are being bullied or not since in most cases, children are not aware when they are being bullied, especially when it is not physical (Connolly, Husey & Connolly, 2014). Although some may know that they are being bullied, they fear the potential of reprisals (Connolly, Husey & Connolly, 2014).

            Another critical factor regarding the different types of bullying is the fact that cyberbullies enjoy anonymity and this makes it difficult to arrest and punish such offenders unlike in traditional bullying where the offender can be tracked (Tanrikulu & Campbell, 2015) Cyber bullies therefore enjoy some form of “protection” that cannot be accorded to traditional bullies. Furthermore, since cyber bullying can occur through any portable device, one can be bullied from wherever and at any time (Slonje, Smith & FriseN, 2013).  Such incidences limit the ability of the victim to lead a normal life since he or she has to avoid specific devices that they may need for their daily lives. Since the internet is also a platform for sharing videos and pictures, videos of cyberbullying can be reproduced and shared widely, thus affecting the life of the victim even more based on their reputation and environment. Notably, cyberbullying allows the bully to antagonize their victims further and longer leading to severe outcomes. The decision to bully a victim through exposing them to a wider audience also makes cyber bullying worse than traditional bullying as traditional forms of bullying take place in small audiences (Slonje, Smith & FriseN, 2013). Chalmers et al (2015) notes that traditional bullying in schools occur in small audiences due to the fear of being caught as institutions have strong policies that discourage bullying. Nonetheless, the fear of reprisal will always affect the efforts towards punishing bullies in both cyber bullying and traditional bullying.

Reasons for Engaging in Cyber Bullying

In a study to determine the correlation between the perpetrators of traditional bullying and those of cyberbullying, Tarinkulu and Campbell (2015) established that “trait anger and moral disengagement” are both perpetrators of traditional and cyber bullying. By definition, trait anger refers to the constant tendency to be angry whenever any form of provocation occurs Lonigro et a (2015), whereas Tarinkulu and Campbell (2015) define moral disengagement as a personal conviction developed by an individual, making them believe that specific ethical standards are not applicable to them. Tarinkulu and Campbell (2015) also sought to establish the reasons for cyber bullying and noted that some children do it to increase popularity while others want to feel powerful or in control. Since no child is born with all these characters and desires, it is correct to argue that these traits and desires are as a result of the social needs. In this regard, they are mainly learnt as ways in which the bullies can cope with their own personal issues. Once they notice that the outcomes of their actions grants them power, more esteem or influence, they fill the need to continue. This is founded on the social learning theory in which Bandura and Walters explained as the probability of gaining new behaviors through observing and practicing the noted behaviors (CLI, 2005). Based on the outcome of the action or behavior, one chooses whether or not to adopt a specific behavior or character (Cherry, 2012). In this regard, cyber bullies with anger issues and disrespect for laws and ethics chose to engage in cyber bullying in order to be popular as they may have seen others becoming popular in the process while a sense of power that results from the action causes them to feel like they have achieved in their quest to break an ethical standard.

Nonetheless, these reasons for bullying tend to be general as even traditional bullies seek power and popularity in form of approvals from friends at school. In this regard, to successfully illustrate the specific reasons for cyber bullying, it is important to understand how cyber bullying works in relation to the social change theory. According to Cherry (2012), social change theory is founded five main factors: First, learning is a factor of both behavior and cognition. In cyber bullying, the use of technologies is the main factor and thus knowledge on how the internet works through different devices helps to shape the desire to implement the bullying. In the 21^st century, the high proliferation of technological devices in societies makes cyber bullying an attractive platform for these tech savvy bullies. Second, learning in the social change theory occurs through noting the impact of the behaviors (Cherry, 2012). Through cyber bullying, the effects can clearly be seen by the bully making the act more desirable. Since these behaviors can be noted by their peers, they feel proud of the approval that would follow. Social change theory is also founded on the principle of reinforcement and for cyber bullies, the ability to repeat their acts, wherever the victim goes and whenever the bully wants, makes the act uniquely special for the bullies. Finally, cyber bullying allows anonymity and thus bullies prefer it for they feel that they can never be caught. In most cases, many are not caught and this causes some victims to find alternative solutions like exchanging their devices, switching environments or enhancing the security of their devices.

Factors Contributing to Cyber Bullying

            The first factor is the ease of accessibility of the technological devices and the internet, at home, at school and in commercial places (Ey, Taddeo & Spears, 2015). This allows bullies to easily meet their victims and continue harassing them based on their convenience. Furthermore, current security features expected to protect devices are also weak and bullies are also becoming more creative in hacking people’s devices (Cross, 2012). Additionally, the social media craze or the desire to be part of an online community and increase popularity in platforms (such as Facebook and Twitter) is exposing children to the risk of bullies (O’Keffee & Clarke-Pearson, 2011). Finally, yet most critical, parents are increasingly unaware of how these technologies and social sites are exposing their children to the risk of bullying (McDonnell, 2002). In fact, numerous researches seem to point to the fact that parents are also not aware about cyberbullying as a concept as they ae poorly educated on the same (Kathy, 2005). In general, the factors contributing to cyberbullying are based on the environment in which the child exists and thus the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems theory can be used to understand this environment better.

According to Bronfenbrenner, one’s development is always affected by the microsystem, mesosystem, exosytem, macrosystem and chronosystem (Lee, 2011). Microsystem refers to the people who are closest to someone in their environment, and they have a direct contact with, like family; mesosytem refers to the relations existing within the microsystem; the exosystem refers to the nature and health of the links within the microsystem; the macrosystem refers to the cultural context in which one is born and develops; and the chronosystem refers to the life changes one experiences within the microsystem as they grow. In this case, by failing to maintain the microsystem, parents cause a series of psychological challenges among the children that weaken their esteem causing them to either seek power among their peers through bullying them in social forums like social media plat forms where they could be seen or withdrawing themselves from their peers causing them to be bullied and suffer the consequences of cyberbullying (Lee, 2011).

Effects on Learning and Development

Moor and Merry (2014) note that one of the main effects of bullying to children is the development of mental illnesses like depression, social disorders, anxiety, mood changes, among others. This is best explained by the cognitive theory by Piaget, Skinner and Vygotsky. According to the theorists, a child’s development occurs in stages and for each of these stages, the child improves in various ways starting from the sensory-motor skills, illogical thinking at about 7 years, logical thinking at about 12 years and later abstract thinking stage after 12 years (CLI, 2006). Within these periods, they are bound to adjust their behaviors based on the levels of development of their minds as influenced by the issues within the environment. Accordingly, once children are bullied, they lose their social skills such as the ability to participate in class and in the process, they underperform leading poor performance and depression. Anxiety while in school environments also limits their ability to attend to tasks and even interact in essential extra-curriculum activities. Simoncini and Caltabiono (2012) note that extra-curriculum activities are able to influence positive behaviors among young children and therefore the need to promote such activities for improved behaviors. Ultimately, the school environment becomes unbearable and the children begin to avoid school since they do not want to keep struggling with their education, and also struggle with fitting in with his or her peers.