Public Safety Canada defined cyberbullying as follows:
Cyberbullying is using computers, smartphones, or other connected devices to embarrass, hurt, mock, threaten or be mean to someone online. It is a serious issue that we can stop.
Cyberbullying is growing simultaneously with the advancement of mobile technology. There are different types of cyberbullying; it can include exclusion, harassment, outing, cyberstalking, fraping, making fake profiles, dissing, trickery, trolling, and catfishing.
Cyberbullying is becoming more dangerous than bullying for our youth; it can be anonymous and can happen at any time during the day, this leaves the victims feeling like there may not be an escape. The effects on adolescents can be trouble concentrating, academic struggles, quitting school, increased anxiety, depression, substance use, and suicidal thoughts.
Many solutions were put forward to fight cyberbullying but in my opinion, they are not effective for all individuals. For example, the recommendation to talk to their parents or a teacher. Children may not want to talk about it for many reasons and one that comes to mind is losing internet and device privileges.
ReThink app is a great start. It is an award-winning, innovative, non-intrusive, patented technology that effectively detects and stops online hate before the damage is done. Featured as one of Google Play’s most innovative apps, ReThink is helping cultivate the next generation of responsible digital citizens – one message at a time.
We should resolve modern, technological issues with the technology itself. Here is Trisha Prabhu the finder of the ReThink app.
Hi Maria,
People are also experiencing toxic bullying, misogyny, racism, sexism, and discrimination in online games. The ability to play anonymously has also resulted in bullying players, mostly getting away with their behavior. When online, targeted players adopt different strategies to cope. Plans may include confronting the aggressor, finding support socially, or altering their digital presence. It would be helpful if educational game designers could build algorithms to detect words/phrases that may uncover some of this toxic behavior and keep students safe as technology in digital games, AR, and VR progresses.
Passmore, C. J., & Mandryk, R. L. (2020). A taxonomy of coping strategies and discriminatory stressors in digital gaming. Frontiers in Computer Science (Lausanne), 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2020.00040
I agree Tamaka! Personally, when playing online games, I play anonymously. Gender plays a big role in online gaming, harassment of female gamers is a big issue and I am sure I am not the only female playing anonymously. It could be helpful to have this type of technology to keep students safe in educational online games.
Thanks for sharing Maria! Excellent TEDx from Trisha Prabhu with several spine-chilling stats regarding the issue of cyberbullying. This application is interesting and fills a real need, but I wonder how much it is or will be used by those who are not even aware of being bullies. One thing is certain, with social media and mobile technologies, bullying is possible 24 hours a day. In the past, if a young person was bullied at school, once they got home, they were usually far from their worries. They could also name their bullies, and the number of people involved usually remained quite low. Today, the bullied youngster looks at their phone in the middle of the night full of anguish to find that hundreds of people are witnessing this harassment and they are not even sure who it comes from. This is a dangerous problem that unfortunately does not seem to be improving.
Here is an article that provides an overview of cyberbullying:
Cyberbullying facts and statistics for 2018 – 2022 : https://www.comparitech.com/internet-providers/cyberbullying-statistics/
Thanks for sharing the statistics, Sebastien! Those are reported cases, so think about the cases that are not reported and some children did not want to talk about it. It’s really disturbing and makes me sad and have less hope in humanity. How can we be so cruel to each other?