Cyberbullying consists in the use of ICTs to carry out attacks and peer harassment. Harassment through cyber networks acquires a different dimension from the other varieties of harassment. Learn how to detect cyberbullying in adolescence.
Those responsible for the School Action Protocol before Cyberbullying appreciate cyberbullying as a type of indirect harassment. For them, there are three types of cyberbullying :
Harassment or sending degrading images or videos about a person. The exclusion or dissemination of derogatory comments to provoke an expansive response. The manipulation or use of information found to disseminate them inappropriately among members of various social networks.
How to detect cyberbullying in adolescence?
Detecting that your children may be suffering from cyberbullying is a complicated task, especially when it comes to teenagers, as it is a stage where they become more reserved with respect to their intimacies.
In fact, in the beginning, detecting cyberbullying in adolescence when it is still being forged is an almost impossible mission. However, little by little, signs will emerge that, as parents, we must keep in mind and stay alert at all times.
Signs to detect cyberbullying in adolescence
First, pay attention to your use of the mobile, computer, or other devices, and see if the time your child spent on them has changed. Your mood may have changed after using the internet, or perhaps you are accessing social networks when you are not around.
On the other hand, and secondly, it analyzes how it behaves concerning the institute, its group of friends or its social behavior in general. For example, if your school performance suddenly begins to fall, you are looking for excuses for not going to class, or you lose interest in going out with your friends, something dangerous is likely happening in your child’s life related to his peer group.
Lastly, and most importantly, pay attention to your mood. Although teenagers often try to hide how they feel, or they really don’t know how to express it, emotions are the best clue to detect if your child is having problems.
If your child suddenly changes his mood and becomes angry or unusually irritated at home, he is probably relieving himself at home of what is happening outside.
Considerations about cyberbullying in adolescence
The Multidisciplinary Research Team on Cyberbullying (EMICI) has developed a protocol in which they create a series of relevant factors on harassment through ICT.
1. Scenarios of cyberbullying in adolescence
The first one would deal with the transcendence of virtual scenarios compared to traditional ones. The virtual scenes can become actual invaders of privacy of personal space of the victim, which affects long – term adolescent at all levels of his own life.
2. The anonymity of cyberbullying
The second consideration focuses on anonymity. This is one of the most relevant characteristics of cyberbullying since it deeply benefits the stalker in order to continue acting without revealing their identity.
3. Place where cyberbullying takes place
The third consideration focuses on the private or public nature of the aggression. That is to say if the situations in which the aggressions are carried out occur in an environment in which only the aggressor and victim are found, or in a public sphere, this being more frequent.
4. Roles of cyberbullying
Another relevant consideration would be the different roles involved in cyberbullying, and in which the EMICI authors differentiate six parts:
- Aggressor.
- Enhancer of the aggressor.
- Assistant of the aggressor.
- Defender of the victim.
- Foreign Participant.
- Victim.
Finally, we advocate the importance of knowing how to listen to our teenagers when they need it most. Many times, the most effective is to be sensitive to the concerns of your children and pay adequate attention to their needs. Let them know that they have your support and that they can share their problems with you to solve them together.
