Technology and cyberspace have become an integral part of today’s education. School children constantly use the latest technologies, including PCs, Smartphones, the Internet, and Social media, for learning and entertainment.
It is near impossible to separate children from the internet. However, as much as the internet is a fun and educational platform, it comes with different risks for students, one of the most prominent ones being cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying is a growing concern for both parents and teachers around the world. According to Cyberbullying Research Center, 33.8% of 12-17-year-old kids have become victims of cyberbullying in their lives. As the world is getting more and more digitized, it is only natural that the cases of cyberbullying will increase. So, teachers and parents alike need to take steps to minimize the risk of cyberbullying as soon as possible.
Cyberbullying is an online form of bullying that occurs over the internet through electronic devices like computers, smartphones, tablets, etc.
There are several types of online bullying actions that constitute cyberbullying. Some of them include:
What causes Cyberbullying?
Various factors cause cyberbullying. Some of them are:
How cyberbullying affects victims?
Cyberbullying causes serious harm to a victim’s physical, mental, social, and emotional life. A student will not be able to concentrate on his studies if he is getting bullied. Lower grades, lack of sleep, missing out on classes, developing social anxiety, mental disorders, depression, and suicidal thoughts are all effects a cyberbullying incident can cause to a victim.
Cyberbullying has become pretty common in schools now that remote learning has started getting popular. Since classes, assignments, and reports are increasingly happening online, students are being forced to use much more time on the internet, resulting in cyberbullying cases rising.
As per this 2017 research from Florida Atlantic University, 73% of students reported being victims of cyberbullying. Another report by Qing Li of the University of Calgary, Canada, suggests that one in four students have been a victim of cyberbullying. These research statistics show that cyberbullying has become a very serious problem in schools that all teachers need to be aware of.
It is difficult to recognize and confront cyberbullying as it happens online. As cyberspace gives anonymity, bullies can use it to perform repeated actions of cyberbullying without fearing consequences. It also poses severe challenges for teachers as they cannot witness the bullying behavior and cannot confront it. However, there are several strategies teachers can use to stop cyberbullying.
The first step is for teachers to accept that the cyberbullying problem is serious. Teachers not caring even as the cases of cyberbullying rise is negligent behavior that encourages cyberbullying. Only when you, as a teacher, take cyberbullying seriously can you come up with ways to confront it.
For teachers who want to prevent cyberbullying, observation is the key. As a teacher, you need to observe the behavior of your student. If a student suddenly starts showing erratic or unusual behavior, he/she may have been the victim of cyberbullying. In this case, talk to them and find out what is going on.
As a teacher, you cannot always witness a cyberbullying incident. However, there are cyber bystanders like classmates and friends who can see their fellow classmates getting cyberbullied. You should encourage these bystanders to report any incident that they see. Prompt reporting means prompt action is taken, which helps reduce the consequences of cyberbullying for the victim.
You need to have an action plan on how to handle reports of cyberbullying. Someone might report to you as a joke, and some reporting incidents may be severe (like cyberstalking) while some may be less severe (like expulsion). You need a proper response plan for all these cases.
As a teacher, you have to make sure that if a student reports an incident, it gets considered. You cannot make it seem like no action is being taken even after an incident of cyberbullying has been reported.
As a teacher, you can bridge the gap in communication between parents, students, and school authorities. You need to consult with parents regularly about their child’s online presence and make plans to reduce any negative online activities. Moreover, you can also communicate with the school leaders if you find a student of yours being cyberbullied.
Encouraging your students to become good digital citizens is part of the teacher’s duty. You need to teach your students not to engage in any online bullying or other inappropriate online behavior. You should also clearly explain the consequences of cyberbullying and how it is harmful.
Moreover, teaching your students not to share their sensitive personal information online and take their network security and privacy seriously also comes as part of your job. So, encourage students to behave well online. You can give praises and rewards for good online behavior along with punishments for those engaging in cyberbullying.
You should listen patiently to the troubles of a cyberbullied student and come up with constructive solutions to tackle those problems. Understand that no two cyberbullying cases are the same. So, there is no one-size-fits-all kind of approach when looking for a response to a troubled student who gets bullied often.
Calmly listen to your student and make them know that they can share their bullied experience with you. Be supportive of your student’s perspectives, and make thoughtful responses after carefully thinking about their problems. You can do a little bit of research on your own through the internet, talk to other teachers or their parents, and make sure to come up with good solutions to their problems and not misguide them.
Cyberbullying needs to be taken seriously. You need to make this point clear to your school leaders and students. Create project works and assignments related to cyberbullying in your teaching agendas. Make your students do a bit of research on cyberbullying.
You can also show various statistics in your class on how cyberbullying has increased over the years and how to keep yourself safe from it. Try to make the school authorities add cyberbullying lessons to the school curriculum. These are some of the jobs that only you, as a teacher, can do in the school.
Once a student gets cyberbullied, it becomes very difficult for him to re-integrate with his classmates. Social anxieties, self-loathing, depression, etc., cause anti-social behavior among the cyberbullied victims. So, helping these students re-integrate themselves into their class and making them feel safe during lessons will be your job as a teacher.
Helping victims re-integrate among their fellow classmates makes them more confident and friendly. Furthermore, after being re-integrated, the current victim can, in turn, help other victims in the future. This encourages positive behavior among students and negates the effect of cyberbullying to a minimum.
There is a saying: Instead of giving a man a fish, teach him how to fish. You are a teacher and cannot always be present whenever a student gets victimized online. So, a great option would be to make the students themselves the leaders in stopping the cyberbullying activities.
Oftentimes, students tend to understand other students better than their teachers. Thus, you can make the students, especially the senior students, leaders that help report a cyberbullying incident, make other students not engage in cyberbullying, etc. As students often copy their senior’s activities in school, making their seniors leaders in confronting the cyberbullying definitely helps in stopping cyberbullying activities in schools.
These are just some ways teachers can stop cyberbullying. As educators, supporting students through adolescence can be tough but knowing when to intervene and help can save lives.
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