Cyberbullying is an intentional, aggressive act by a group of people or an individual towards someone who finds it difficult to defend themselves, through electronic communication.
Types of Cyberbullying
There are several types of cyber abuse, which includes:
- Harassment - Repeatedly sending offensive messages to an individual or group, and can also include threatening, rude messages and could potentially lead to physical harassment in person, offline
- Impersonation - Creating a fake identity to harass someone anonymously. Also, the bully can pretend to be someone else and send hurtful comments to an individual
- Exclusion - Intentionally leaving a person out of an online group such as sites and chats. The group then writes malicious comments about the person they have excluded.
- Denigration - To criticise in a disrespectful manner
- Outing - Sharing personal/private information, pictures or videos publicly, and is then spread around the internet
Ways Cyberbullying can Occur
- Sending mean or offensive text messages, or emails to an individual or group of people
- Spreading rumours about someone that is not true being spread/posted or sent through social media
- Posting photos or videos that could potentially damage someone’s reputation
- Creating a fake identity/profile to harass someone anonymously and to pretend to be someone else to send hurtful comments to an individual or post a status anonymously
- Using avenues and social media to harass, offend, embarrass or threaten someone, including snapchat, facebook, instagram, twitter etc.
Why do People Engage in Cyberbullying?
- The bully is anonymous - being unidentifiable can be a reason for someone to engage in cyberbullying behaviour as they believe they will not be caught
- Behind a screen - cyberbullying means that bullies do not have to see their victims face-to-face and therefore, do not require as much confidence and provides 24/7 access to their victims
- Not having to see the victim’s reactions - some people choose to cyberbully because they are unable to see the victim’s reactions to what they are doing to them, and may not realise the emotional effect that the victim is having as a result of their actions
- Power - some cyber bullies feel more powerful, superior and dominant when bullying online and may feel as though they have control
- Dealing with their own problems - many bullies feel they need to bully to deal with and cope with their own problems such as emotional distress, anxiety, depression, issues at home or at school etc. and targeting someone may allow them to feel better about their situation, or feel as they can control an aspect of their life