Abstract
Cyberbullying has become a phenomenon that is normalized due to the accessibility internet provides, which has led to cases of young people committing suicide as a result of victimization. The present study attempted to better understand how teenagers and adults experience the occurrence and consequences of cyberbullying while on social media platforms. An observational and personal experience of cyberbullying is necessary to help address deficiencies in defining the meaning of cyberbullying. Data were collected from different online forum discussions on the platform Reddit about cyberbullying. These discussions involved seventy participants, both with teens and adults, from 3 group discussions related to cyberbullying where some of the participants also shared their experience of cyberbullying. Based on the analysis, five different themes in these discussions appeared, namely; definition of cyberbullying, motivation for cyberbullying, context and conditions of cyberbullying, consequences, and strategies for cyberbullying. It appeared that teenagers were mostly affected by this normalized phenomenon due to their consistent use of the internet. This research also suggests that teenagers increase their access to social media for socialization, which leads to physical and mental well-being after they have been victimized. Gender differences among victims were not found. Analysis in this research also revealed that participants applied different strategies for preventing and overcoming cyberbullying and suggestions for coping with it were made based on their experience. The different forms of cyberbullying mentioned by the participants were not only limited to threats, spreading pictures, harassment, and rumors. Other forms also emerged from the participants’ discussion.
Findings indicate there are different ways in which perpetrators of cyberbullying reach their victims, also from online to offline environments. The participants with observational and personal experience also shared their thoughts concerning the consequences of cyberbullying. This research shows that cyberbullying is a serious problem that can cause the victims to feel emotionally disturbed with the possibilities of committing suicide.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Bullying is not a new phenomenon but it has become normalized as a serious problem in society and with the advent of computer technology, bullying has taken new forms.
Teenagers and adults alike are likely to have stories to share about their experiences as victims or witnesses. According to Limber and Small (2003), the age-old problem of being victimized by bullies has often been viewed as a normal part of growing up or even a “rite of passage” for children and adolescents. By definition, bullying refers to aggressive, intentional act or behavior that is carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly overtime against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself (Whitney & Smith, 1993; Olweus, 1999). It is also outlined as “a systematic imbalance of power” (Smith & Sharp, 1994). Although the term bullying has different definitions, a common definition asserts that bullying occurs repeatedly over time with the intention to harm other people aggressively, and it involves an imbalance of power such that a more powerful person bullies a less powerful individual (Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, Ruan, Simons-Morton, & Scheidt, 2001). As a result of continuous research, several categories of bullying have been distinguished. The common types are face-to-face bullying and relational bullying. Face-to-face bullying also takes different forms such as; physical aggression including hitting, kicking, punching, and taking, or damaging belongings (Slonje & Smith, 2008. P. 147). Verbal aggression is also a common type of face-to-face bullying that involves teasing, taunting, or threatening individuals. The conceptualization of bullying as relational aggression is defined as “harming others through purposeful manipulation and damage of their peer relationships” (Crick & Gropeter, 1995. P.711).
Spreading rumors about people is an example of an act of relational aggressive bullying. Junoven and Gross (2008) reported for teenagers that bullying was no more limited to school environments, but is a degrading means of aggression towards other teenagers using technological means. This form of bullying is known as ‘cyberbullying’.
The level at which the internet and social networking sites have been embraced by teens and adults gives room for bullying to take on dangerous new forms. Research has demonstrated that this form of bullying involves online harassment which is termed as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, which is intended to harm others (http://www.cyberbullying.ca). Cyberbullying is defined as a “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text” (Patchin and Hinduja, 2006, p. 152). The communication technologies used to harm victims involve emails, pictures, social media, and text messages. These tools are increasingly used to harass and harm victims. According to Willard (2007), cyberbullying comes in the form of aggressive and assertive communication, which are the two most common forms. Allanson, Lester, and Notar (2015) explained that other forms involve threats to harm the victim’s reputation, harassment, and the threat to physical safety and privacy.
Previous research shows that teenagers are often victims of cyberbullying or perhaps the bullies themselves. Carter (2015) reported that among teenagers, there is common access to technology that leads to increase in the use of social media. This is one explanation for the occurrence of cyberbullying. Further, Belsey (2004) explained that cyberbullies do not have to own to their actions due to anonymity, and cyberbullying is often outside of the legal reach of schools and school boards since it occurs mostly outside the school environment. The occurrence of cyberbullying can also be a continuation of previous bullying situation, whereby victims are bullied from school to the privacy of their homes. According to Beran and Li (2005), remaining anonymous online allows victims to assert dominance over individuals who may be too physically weak? to overtake the victims in person. These finding help explain why cyberbullying is so widespread: Tokunaga (2010) explained that worldwide between 20% and 40% of adolescents are the victim of cyberbullying, and another study found that 6-30% of adolescents have experienced cyberbullying victimization at some point in their lives (Sabella, Patchin & Hinduja, 2013). To deal with the cyberbullying difficulties some victims are afraid of telling parents or reporting their experience due to many reasons.
I have witnessed a scenario from a close relative. Daniel is 12 years old, a young teenager who just entered secondary school and recently got familiar with the internet and how it is used. Daniel was born with a genetic condition without the usual pigment on his body. It is generally termed as ‘Albinism’. He opened a new account on social media (Instagram) to connect with friends from school and neighbors at home. He uploaded some pictures of himself and other posts he finds relevant. He comments on posts which he finds attractive and likes them too. After a few days of using social media (Instagram), he said to me, “I had to remove all the pictures”. He posted and deleted the comments on his new account. Before he did that, he consulted me to ask if I knew how to block or remove a comment on a profile page. After I explained to him, I asked why he wanted to do that and he explains what the situation was for him. Daniel explained that after posting a few pictures he keeps getting comments on some of the pictures about the way his skin color looks like and the comments were not welcoming which made him feel uncomfortable and made him think a lot about being different from every other teenager in school. He tried to identify who the person was, but the profile of the person was without a picture or name he could identify. Daniel blocked the person for the first time and after a few days, he keeps getting different comments from another account.
He got annoyed and it was becoming a problem of thought for him. He later deactivated the account and decided not to use it anymore. While bullying is a real problem, cyberbullying is something that shouldn’t be ignored. Blocking is a feature that is commonly used. Turning off the computer or your phone is another option. Deactivating your Instagram account if it becomes that serious. There are too many ways around it for it to be taken seriously, but how do the victims deal with this socially and psychologically? Building and maintaining a positive social relationship is of paramount importance to students within the age group Daniel belongs to. In fact, according to Garrett (2003), “Bullying generally begins in the elementary grades, peaks in the sixth through the eighth grades, and persists into high school” (p. 11).
Due to the widespread usage of the internet, perpetrators have normalized cyberbullying as a form of behavior while making it difficult for them to get caught because of its anonymity. As the internet is being used as a vehicle for bullying, it is important to gain an in-depth understanding of how teenagers and adults experience the occurrence and consequences of cyberbullying as technology becomes more readily accessible. Cyberbullying has been reported to have an association with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Cyberbullying victims (10-16years of age) were more likely to experience suicidal thoughts and behavior than those who did not experience victimization (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). There has been previous research on cyberbullying, but limited research has been done on observational and personal experience. Furthermore, the issue of cyberbullying has become particularly prominent in the past years, and it is therefore important to build on previous work and expand scholarly knowledge of the phenomenon.
This thesis explores cyberbullying using social dominance theory, social constructivist theory, choice theory, and social disorganization theory as the theoretical framework. Social dominance theory explains the significant aspect of humans aligning within a structured social system. The second framework used was the social constructivist theory. The social constructivist theory explains how an individual’s perceptions of reality can influence other people’s construction of reality. Payne (2005), explains social constructivist theory as the theory that helps people to define, interpret the world around them, as it focuses on an interchange between people. The third theory used was the choice theory, which is a type of model that explains the behavioral patterns of people and how they can build positive relationships within their environment. Lastly, social disorganization theory is used as a framework in identifying negative effects in the context of technological changes that disrupt the norms of social groups.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Cyberbullying has been a tragic topic of discussion over the years both in media and documentaries. One the one hand, it has largely impacted the lives of young children, although research suggests that this isn’t occurring as frequently as we might think based on public focus on the issue. In any case, cyberbullying is a serious problem in society. The severity of bullies’ impact when their means of harm is through the internet cannot be ignored. Adolescent victims of cyberbullying are sometimes negatively affected in terms of their healthy social and psychological development (Breguet, 2007). Many victims are bullied from the moment they pick up their phones to check messages or e-mails, to the time they drop their phones to do something else.
1.3 Purpose Statement
The main purpose of my study is to determine examine teenagers’ and adults’ patterns of thought regarding, and experience with, cyberbullying, to further understand the occurrence and consequences of cyberbullying as technology becomes more accessible for a large number of people in society. The research offers a way to understand cyberbullying from a sociological perspective.
1.4 Research Question
Based on the above discussion, the following research question was examined:
How do teenagers and adults experience the occurrence and consequences of cyberbullying?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The issue of cyberbullying emerged with the development technology-based interactions and the widespread use of the internet. Cyberbullying broadly refers to a repeated use of electronic devices by a perpetrator to cause harm to other people (Hinduja & Patchin, 2012). This study aims to contribute to the understanding of how teenagers and adults experience cyberbullying. This study provides recommendations for teenagers, schools, parents, victims, and those who work to understand and eradicate cyberbullying. The findings of this study may aid schools in understanding the scope of cyberbullying and how victims are affected.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The study is limited to the analysis of online forum discussions, collected from the platform Reddit. The quantitative portion of the study is limited to the 94 participants from the 3 discussion forums included in the study. Also, the qualitative portion of the analysis was limited to the teenagers and adults who took part in the online discussions taking place on these forums.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Bullying: Bullying can be defined as “unwanted words or physical actions that can make a person feel bad” (Garrett, 2003, p. 5). Patchin and Hinduja (2011) explained that cyberbullying is a form of aggressive behavior from an individual whose intent is to harm other people resulting from power, intimidation, and dominance.
Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying is defined as the “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text” (Patchin & Hinduja, 2006, p. 152).
Harassment: Patchin (2015) explains that harassment is a devious act or unwanted actions of an individual or group including, threats, demands, and blackmail.
Harassment also includes the “repeated, ongoing sending of offensive messages to an individual target” (Willard, 2007, p. 6).
Blocking: Blocking is a term related to online media use, and is defined as “denying access if a person is blocked from joining a chat, he or she usually receives a message that says access has been denied” (Breguet, 2007, p. 54).
Victim: A victim is an innocent person harmed, through no fault of his or her own, by an external force or the wrongful act of another (Govier, 2015).
Perpetrator: A perpetrator is an agent who brings harm and damage to innocent victims (Govier, 2015)
Social Media: Patchin (2015) explained that social media is a collection of websites and applications that are dedicated to community input, that enables users of the platform to share information, communicate, and engage in digital networking.
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