Cyberbullying can have devastating impacts on the psyche of children who are very impressionable going through maturation with some unique underlying dynamics that magnifies the damage caused by traditional forms of bullying; making it hard to detect (Vaillancourt et al, Cyberbullying in Children and Youth…)
Monica Lewinsky’s frankness in her TedTalk video, The Price of Shame, revealed the emotional trauma she faced for many years, until coming to a point where she effectively determined “enough was enough”. It is unimaginable the enormous weight stressors she had to deal with, magnified many times over as the villain on a digital global stage. All the elements for a blockbuster release satisfied sans the award ceremonies she most certainly will not attend.
The stories of Kylie Kenney and Ryan Halligan are of kids that innocently got blindsided through no fault of their own in being mislabeled, misled, ostracized, and cyberbullied by their peers online. Kids for all intents and purposes, albeit with a quite different plot line to Ms. Lewinsky’s, were exposed to remarkably similar emotional traumas for which they were not equipped to deal with by themselves. One magnified dynamic zeros in on the reactive nature of kids to the pervasive, never-ending nature of cyberbullying. That is the ability to quickly react/respond without much prior cause and effect thoughts and this response irretrievably reaches a large audience. Unless kids are part of a healthy, strong, interventionist family unit and culture, they are not well equipped to deal with the fallout from the negative effects of cyberbullying. And this represents only a starting point. The interventionist mentality and approach MUST actively apply accountability to that child when they leave the home. To school, play, teacher conferences, church, community parks, friends vetting, etc., all which typically in today’s age converges to a conversation continuance in online conversations of one sort or another (Vaillancourt et al, Cyberbullying in Children and Youth…).
Mob mentality, crowd shaming, rumors, and the potential for plotting are all fueled by the potential for maintaining anonymity and distancing presented by the internet. Yet, I believe in us. A community of intentional educators committed to continuing to create significant learning environments for our kids across the entirety of their K-12 years and instilling entrenched desirable digital disciplines beyond. Teaching and modeling for them what good digital citizenry looks like. Helping them to practice the same. Holding them accountable as we go the extra mile in being interventions for validating or correcting their work. Providing enablers to drive home the authenticity of their experiences. Being persistent in pursuing parents’ involvement, no matter how trivial, mundane, or helpless it may seem at times. And knowing when to call in the help individually or collectively where/when we cannot go much further. Cyberbullying is a significant challenge. But remained unchallenged, the cruel statistics will continue to grow and impact us all negatively both in the short and long terms.
References
Lewinsky, M. 2015. The Price of Shame. TEDTalks. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U
Ryann’s Story Presentation. 2020. Ryan’s Story Presentation by John Halligan. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBiQBKF0kNg
Struglinski, S. 2006. Schoolyard Bullying has Gone High-Tech. Desert News. Retrieved from: https://www.deseret.com/2006/8/18/19969197/schoolyard-bullying-has-gone-high-tech
Vaillancourt, T., Robert. F., Mishna, F. 2017. Cyberbullying in Children and Youth: Implications for Health and Clinical Practice. US National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5455867/
