Cyberbullying:

The act of bullying someone online with malicious intent - often as a result of difference or the inability/choice to conform and or meet particular standards.

Long Term Effects

Many victims of cyberbullying suffer long after it ends. Being bullied can lead to a lifetime of low self-esteem. This may cause chronic fatigue, insomnia and poor performance in school or at work. Depression is not uncommon, with some victims feeling an overall sense of hopelessness and worthlessness about their lives.

Unfortunately, the long-term effects of cyberbullying can become life-threatening problems. Nearly 20 percent of cyberbullying victims report having suicidal thoughts, according to the Cyberbullying Research Center.

Cyberbullying can also lead to long-term development changes in the human mind. These development changes can cause emotional and cognitive deficits. Cyberbullying can cause a change in the levels of stress hormones. These hormonal imbalances not only cause anger and violence among teenagers but also root physical and structural differences.

Facebook: Facebook has easy to read graphics to help kids, parents and teachers identify and prevent cyberbullying. Also, they give examples of scripts that can be used to help start a conversation about cyberbullying. Like many social media sites, Facebook has tools to block, flag and report people or posts. Facebook also has a section to help bystanders stop cyberbullying including discussion starters to help open a conversation.

Instagram: Instagram has community guidelines that list what is appropriate to post. They also allow you to block and report people who engage in cyberbullying. Instagram has an FAQ page that can help provide people with resources to combat cyberbullying. Also, Instagram has links to third party resources to help people deal with the bullying. Instagram also has resources for body image and eating disorder assistance because the focus on photos can sometimes have a harmful effect on body image or self esteem issues.

Twitter: Twitter uses the slogan “think before you tweet” which is an attempt to stop hateful tweets on the website. Also, twitter also has guidelines for what is not allowed and allows people to block, flag and report people engaging in cyberbullying. Because a big part of twitter is about freedom of expression, it wants people to feel comfortable tweeting what they believe. However, this can sometimes be problematic and twitter often does not act on reports until there have been multiple offenses. This means that people will sometimes be subject to a lot of abuse before twitter steps in. In April, 2015, Twitter banned “any speech that could incite terrorism, racism or violence against a person or group of people." However, a lot of twitter users still get away with cyberbullying under the pretense of giving their opinions.

AI: Can be used to detect words, phrases or behaviors that indicate bullying and flag posts those posts. One example of this is Instagram's "Comment Warnings" which use AI to detect potentially offensive content in comments and warn the user to reconsider before posting.

Prevention: One important way to resist cyber bullying is to prevent it from happening at all. As a parent or peer, it is important to notice for signs of cyber bullying such as abnormal internet usage or avoidance, strong emotional responses to media, or avoidance of social situations. If you notice someone else experiencing cyber bullying, or you yourself experience cyber bullying, it is important to report this to a trusted adult, or to the school. It is helpful to gather evidence of cyber bullying, such as screenshots of text messages.

Cyber Bullying at LWHS: We talked to students at LWHS to gain sense of how cyber bullying manifests within the Lick community. Of the students we interviewed, we found that most students do not feel that they experience cyber bullying, although about half of the students interviewed admitted to trolling or bullying someone online. Many students we interviewed also emphasized the difference between cyberbullying, and making fun of one of your friends online. This corresponds to the idea that a large part of the definition of cyber bullying, is the impact it has on the individual and the intent of the actions.