Introduction

Today’s children and young people have grown up in a world that is very different from that of most adults. Many people experience the Internet and mobile phones as a positive, productive and creative part of their activities and development of their identities; always on and always there. Above all information communication technologies support social activity that allows young people to feel connected to their peers.
Unfortunately, technologies are also being used negatively. When children are the target of bullying via mobile phones or the internet, they can feel alone and very misunderstood. They may not be able to identify that what is happening to them is a form of bullying, or be confident that the adults around them will understand it that way either. Previously safe and enjoyable environments and activities can become threatening and a source of anxiety.
As mobile phone and internet use become increasingly common, so has the misuse of this technology to bully.

What is Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is the use of Information Communications Technology (ICT), particularly mobile phones and the internet, deliberately to upset someone else.

What’s different about Cyberbullying?

Bullying is not new, but some features of cyberbullying are different from other forms of bullying:

• 24/7 and the invasion of home/personal space.
  Cyberbullying can take place at any time and can intrude into spaces that have previously been regarded as safe or personal.

• The audience can be very large and reached rapidly.
  The difficulty in controlling electronically circulated messages means the scale and scope of cyberbullying can be greater than for other forms of bullying. Electronically forwarded content is hard to control, and the worry of content resurfacing can make it difficult for targets to move on.

• People who cyberbully may attempt to remain anonymous.
  This can be extremely distressing for those being bullied. The person cyberbullying may never be in the same physical space as their target.

• The profile of the bully and target.
  Cyberbullying can take place both between peers and across generations; teachers have also been targets. Age or size is not important. Bystanders can also become accessories to the bullying; for example, by passing on a humiliating image.

• Some instances of cyberbullying are known to be unintentional.
  It can be the result of not thinking (something sent as a joke may be deeply upsetting or offensive to the recipient) or a lack of awareness of the consequences – for example saying something negative online about another pupil, or friend that they don’t expect to be forwarded or viewed outside their immediate group.

Examples of Cyberbullying:

• A web site about teenager David Knight of Burlington, Ontario had been active for several months before a classmate told him about it. "I went there and sure enough there's my photo on this web site saying 'Welcome to the web site that makes fun of Dave Knight' and just pages of hateful comments directed at me and everyone in my family." Whoever created the web site asked others to join in, posting lewd, sexual comments and smearing David's reputation. "I was accused of being a pedophile. I was accused of using the date rape drug on little boys," says David. Along with the web site, there were nasty e-mails too. "Here's an e-mail, 'You're gay, don't ever talk again, no one likes you, you're immature and dirty, go wash your face.'"
• Amanda Marcuson, 14, of Birmingham, Michigan, reported some girls in her eighth-grade class for stealing a pencil case filled with makeup that belonged to her. As soon as she got home, the instant messages started popping up on her computer screen. She was a tattletale and a liar, they said. Shaken, she typed back, ''You stole my stuff!'' She was a ''stuck-up bitch,'' came the instant response in the box on the screen, followed by a series of increasingly ugly insults. That evening, Amanda went to a basketball game with her family. But the barrage of electronic insults did not stop. Like a lot of other teenagers, Amanda has her Internet messages automatically forwarded to her cell phone, and by the end of the game she had received 50 - the limit of its capacity. ''It seems like people can say a lot worse things to someone online than when they're actually talking to them,'' said Amanda. The girls never said another word to her in person.
• Jodi Plumb, a 15-year-old girl from Mansfield, England, was horrified to discover an entire web site had been created to insult and threaten her. The site contained abuse concerning her weight and even had a date for her "death." Jodi found out about the web site when a fellow pupil tried to take a photograph of her with a digital camera and said it was for the web.
• When Montreal teen Amy Boucher discovered a web site about art where she could chat with others, it gave her a sense of belonging and acceptance. But all that changed when Amy got into a spat with another girl on the site over an unanswered e-mail. Amy tried to make up, but the girl rebuffed her attempts, and for the next three years made her the object of an online bullying campaign that drove Amy to depression. A posse of girls would taunt Amy over e-mail or sign onto the site under her name before launching attacks on other members that she would then be blamed for.
• Dallas, Texas high school sophomore Lauren Newby was the subject of nasty postings on a web site message board started by a former student at her school. The thread, which was called "Lauren is a fat cow MOO BITCH," made fun of her weight ("people don't like you because you are a suicidal cow who can't stop eating") and her bout with multiple sclerosis ("I guess I'll have to wait until you kill yourself which I hope is not long from now, or I'll have to wait until your disease [M.S.] kills you"), and urged her boyfriend to break up with her. The message board was exceptional not only for the viciousness of the attacks on Lauren (which included an entire page of the words "Die bitch queen!" repeated hundreds of times), but also because the violence online escalated into the offline world. Lauren's car was egged, "MOO BITCH" was scrawled in shaving cream on the sidewalk in front of her house, and a bottle filled with acid was thrown at her front door.

Preventing Cyberbullying

The best way to deal with cyberbullying is to prevent it happening in the first place. The key first step is deciding who within the school community will take responsibility for the coordination and implementation of cyberbullying prevention and response strategies. It is best if this person is a member of the school’s senior management team and/or the staff member responsible for coordinating overall anti-bullying activity. This person will need to have experience of making sure the whole school community contributes to, and are included in, activities. There is no single solution to the problem of cyberbullying. These are the five key areas schools need to address together to put in place a comprehensive and effective prevention plan:

• Understanding and talking about cyberbullying
  The whole school community needs a shared, agreed definition of cyberbullying. Everyone needs to be aware of the impact of cyberbullying and the ways in which it differs from other forms of bullying. Young people and their parents should be made aware of pupils’ responsibilities in their use of ICT, and what the sanctions are for misuse. Students and parents should know that the school can provide them with support if cyberbullying takes place out of school.

• Updating existing policies and practices
  Review and update the school’s anti-bullying policy plus other relevant policies – for example, policies on behaviour, pastoral care and e-learning strategies. Review your existing Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) – the rules that students have to agree to follow in order to use ICT in school – and publicise them to parents and students. Keep good records of any incidents of cyberbullying. Be able to conduct searches of internet use records at school. Knowing that the school is taking such steps may act as a disincentive for bullies to misuse school equipment and systems.

• Making reporting cyberbullying easier
  No one should feel that they have to deal with cyberbullying alone, but reporting any incident of bullying can be really hard for the person being bullied and for bystanders. Provide and publicise different ways of reporting cyberbullying in schools – for instance, a student council taskforce, peer reporting, anonymous reporting – and provide information about contacting service providers directly.

• Promoting the positive use of technology
  Technology is successfully being used to support engaging, positive and effective learning, and to realise and increase the potential of personalized learning by making learning more flexible, creative and accessible. Explore safe ways of using technology with learners to support self-esteem, assertiveness, participation and to develop friendships. Promote and discuss ‘netiquette’, e-safety and digital literacy. Show learners that the adults in the school understand the technologies they use – or get the students to teach them!

• Evaluating the impact of prevention activities
  Regular reviews are vital to make sure that antibullying policies are working and are up-to-date. Consider conducting an annual survey of pupils’ experiences of bullying, including cyberbullying, and a parent satisfaction survey. Publicise progress and activities to the whole-school community – keep cyberbullying a live issue and celebrate

Responding to Cyberbullying and Key Safety Advice

Cyberbullying is a form of bullying, and therefore all schools should already be equipped to deal with the majority of cases through their existing anti-bullying policies and procedures.

Supporting the person being bullied

1. Give reassurance that the person has done the right thing by telling someone, refer to any existing pastoral support/procedures and inform parents.

2. Advise on next steps:
(a) Make sure the person knows not to retaliate or return the message.
(b) Ask the person to think about what information they have in the public domain.
(c) Help the person to keep relevant evidence for any investigation (e.g. by not deleting messages they’ve received, and by taking screen capture shots and noting web addresses of online cyberbullying instances).
(d) Check the person understands simple ways to prevent it from happening again, e.g. by changing contact details, blocking contacts or leaving a chatroom.

3. Take action to contain the incident when content has been circulated:
(a) If you know who the person responsible is, ask them to remove the content;
(b) Contact the host (e.g. the social networking site) for a report to get the content taken down.
(c) Use disciplinary powers to confiscate phones that are being used to cyberbully. Ask the pupil to tell you who they have sent messages on to.
(d) In cases of illegal content, contact the police, who can determine what needs to be kept for evidential purposes.

Key Safety Advice

The schools have a part to play in ensuring cyber safety. Understanding the children and young people’s online lives and activities can help adults respond to situations appropriately and effectively.

For Children and Young People

1: Tips

(a) Always respect others – be careful what you say online and what images you send.
(b) Think before you send – whatever you send can be made public and could stay online forever.
(c) Treat your password like your toothbrush – keep it to yourself. Change your password if you suspect that someone has hacked into your profile. Only give your mobile number or personal website address to trusted friends.
(d) Ignore the person – Sometimes the easiest thing is to ignore the person and go on about your business.
(e) Log off if the harassment is bothering you.
(f) Block the bully – learn how to block or report someone who is behaving badly.
(g) Don’t retaliate or reply!
(h) Save the evidence –keep records of offending messages, pictures or online conversations.
(i) If there was a profile that was created about you without you knowing, contact the company who runs the website to have the profile or language taken off.
(j) If you are upset about what is being said, talk to someone you trust. Don’t feel like you are alone.

2: When to talk to parents

Many times, children are able to take care of the cyberbullying on their own. Sometimes, it gets out of hand though and it’s helpful to talk to an adult about what is going on. If you feel scared or overwhelmed, maybe even trapped, it is definitely time to talk to an adult.

If you don’t feel comfortable speaking with a parent, seek out other adults like teacher, school counselor or other family member such as aunt or uncle.

3: How to talk to your parents about cyberbullying?

Sometimes, you want to talk to your parents about what’s going on in your life, but you don’t quite know how to start the conversation.

Here are some ideas that might be useful:

• Be clear about what is going on. If you are vague, your parents may not understand what you’re saying and may be less able to support you.
• Talk about how you feel about the harassment. Do you feel hurt? Afraid? Frustrated? Annoyed? Just glad it’s over?
• Plan to talk to your parents when you can have their full attention. If they are busy with something else, they will not be able to listen to what you are saying as well.
• Look for answers together. Your parents may not know how to stop the harassment or bullying either. Suggest that you look online for answers together.
• It may even be that you know more this stuff than your parents does. If that’s the case, tell them what you know about internet harassment and cyberbullying, and share websites and other resources that you think will be helpful. This way they’ll have a better idea of what you’re going through.