Technology, generally speaking, makes people more powerful. It increases our ability to connect, but also our ability to drive people apart. Learn to identify when technology is being used to bully, and you can reduce the negativity that technology can bring to individuals, but also humanity as a whole.
Communications technologies make sharing information faster, cheaper, easier, and more efficient. Business tech makes us more productive.
But no power is altogether good, or altogether bad.
For example, social media has provided humanity an unprecedented ability to connect people with groups and individuals that share their interests, but it is just as capable of driving groups and individuals apart.
Youth, teens especially, are uniquely capable of learning how to wield the power technology grants them, able to fully incorporate a new social platform into their lives before their parents have even heard of it.
Problematically, teens lack the moral understanding of how they should use this power, and regularly engage in actions that have consequences they don’t fully understand.
New media increases the range and power of our social interactions. Not only can we speak to someone across the world as easy as they were right next to us, but our messages last forever, and can be seen by everyone. Bullying is a social interaction and, enabled by new technology, is more powerful than ever before. Bullying online lasts forever, it can follow you anywhere in the world, and it can be observed by everyone.
If you’re a teen, it’s fundamental that you understand the power that you hold in your hand when you send a tweet or snap, upload or comment on instagram, or ask a question on ask fm. Actions on any digital platform have consequences that stretch long into the future. Present you might think that a clever quip is appropriate to send, but future you might regret it for years. Understand the power that digital platforms give you, and you can make decisions that guarantee you only ever experience their benefits, and none of their negative consequences.
Focus on Bullying Actions, not Just Bullying People.
There’s a common misnomer concerning bullying. Most believe that only bullies bully. The truth is that people bully, and every human being alive has probably both been a bully themselves, as well as a victim.
- Online, if you send a mean or threatening message, no matter your justification, this action likely classifies as bullying.
- If you are engaging in gossip on a digital platform, you are contributing to the spread of hurtful misinformation, and are cyber-bullying.
- Creating or contributing to a tumblr, blog, website, VSCO, or any other online material meant to slander, defame, or hurt another is not only bullying, but can also be a crime.
To a teen, most of these actions are simply part of being a teen. Youth engage in gossip almost instinctively. Gossip in the hallways has long been a staple of the high-school experience, but new technology has served to bring gossip out of the hallway and into public, international view. What you say among your friends in the hallway stays in the hallway, here one second and gone the next. What you say online can be seen by the entire world, and stays forever.
Engaging in gossip instinctively in the hallways is bad, but words said stay within the confines of the school, and are here one day, gone the next. Engaging in gossip online is just as easy and instinctive to teens, but the consequences are far more intense. Words said online are exposed to international view, and stay forever. Being upset one day and making up a rumor in the hallways may embarrass someone temporarily at school. Making up a rumor at lone will embarrass them permanently, and can follow a victim wherever they go for as long as they live.
Understand that we are all capable of bullying, and that most engage in bullying actions instinctively, and you’ve made a critical step towards reducing the problem for everyone. But when you’ve identified that you or someone you know is engaging in bullying actions online, what do you do?
Be Part of The Solution
When you understand that every human alive is equally capable of becoming a bully, or engaging in bullying actions, you also understand that we are all capable of being part of the solution.
By learning to identify actions that constitute bullying, we can see them when they occur and use our knowledge to spread understanding.
When you see a mean or hurtful thread, post, or message about anyone, where before you may have instinctively contributed to gossip; now you are capable of intentionally contributing to understanding by:
- Standing up against bullying behavior. If you see bullying content online, let everybody know that what’s going on is not ok. Reach out to the victim and let them know you stand with them. Reach out to the Bully and let them know that what they’re doing isn’t OK. Its important you don’t do so aggressively, as sending mean messages in response to a mean message makes you no less of a bully.
- Access authority. Parents, teachers, adults, police; those in positions of authority have incredible power that can be used to help victims and reduce the impact of bullying. If you or someone you know is suffering from cyberbullying, it’s important to understand that they never have to do so alone.
- Protect Yourself: If you see someone being harassed or threatened online, make a copy of everything before anyone has an opportunity to delete it. Nearly every prominent digital platform has have terms of use that explicitly forbid bullying and harassment, and the information you provide can prove critical to bullying problems being solved.
Capital Choice Youth Counselling
Cyberbullying is an unfortunate cost of the technological era that we live in, one that is primarily (but not exclusively!) shouldered by youth and teenagers. If you are a teen, it’s important you understand the power that you hold in your hand when you go to send a tweet, upload a picture, or contribute to discussion. Give this power the same thought and attention that you would a regular discussion with friends, and it will come back to bite you.
If you’re a parent, it’s critical that you understand the incredible power for harassment and bullying that your children carry in their pockets. Lasseiz-faire parental policy concerning tech use is not enough. Like new tech changes how kids communicate, it also changes what is required from parents. It’s important you cultivate an understanding of your kids online presence, as it is a parental duty in 2016 not just to raise kids to interact with the world, but the online world as well.