The Disaster of Cyberbullying - Research Paper Example

Running Header: DISASTER MANAGEMENT Disaster Management: Preparing Interventions for a Chemical Attack at a Major Sporting Event Disaster Management Introduction In an era where information technologies are being regularly utilized by many members of society, especially the Internet, cyberbullying has become a significant problem. Cyberbullying consists of individuals who utilize various social networks to harass or cause emotional harm to another through the process of posting gossip about the person, spreading rumors or exhibiting a general hatred toward another in society. These efforts are targeted for the purpose of humiliating a person or defaming their character. Cyberbullying occurs through the use of text messages, posting of embarrassing videos and pictures, creating fake web profiles or using emails to stalk or harass the individual (Wang, Ianotti and Nansel, 2009). The Disaster of Cyberbullying Cyberbullying, in contemporary society, is considered to be a technological disaster. A disaster can be defined as an event as a result of, in part or totally attributed to human error, intention or failure of man-made systems (in this case technology) that leads to injury, death or significant psychological harm. As asserted by Patchin (2006), cyberbullying creates substantial psychological and emotional harm to the victim, including symptoms of depression, fear of attending school (where much cyberbullying stems from, and even dysphoric feelings of humiliation, embarrassment and social loneliness. When depression is an outcome of cyberbullying, it is often a sign of trauma, and when there are continuous occurrences and exposure to cyberbullying, the victim faces the risks of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is the true disaster resultant of cyberbullying, as the individual can face life-long problems including frequent nightmares, flashbacks and decreased capacity to function as contributing members to society (Olszewski and Varrasse, 2005). For a society to function properly and harmoniously, it requires well-adjusted citizens with positive socio-psychological characteristics. The prevalence of cyberbullying makes its continuing presence in society a disaster which requires prevention methodologies to ensure that these barbarous activities are ceased and society members are no longer victimized by its brutality. Keith and Martin (2005) provide evidence that bullying increases suicide rates, with the authors asserting that adults who have experienced bullying are four times more likely to have suicidal thoughts. Additionally, some individuals who have been the victims of bullying sometimes retaliate against the perpetrator, leading to shootings with the intention of murdering the bullying individual. Hence, increases in criminal behavior, including murder, and the inability of bullied individuals to cope and contribute effectively to society makes cyberbullying a major social disaster. This essay proposes the development of a disaster prevention education program capable of inhibiting future instances of cyberbullying, with specific target audiences identified and the program’s likelihood of success in achieving the goal of curbing disastrous cyberbullying events. Trauma associated with instances of cyberbullying is also explored with appropriate interventions proposed that will provide a buttress for victims who have been exposed to this disastrous phenomenon. Explaining why Cyberbullying is such a Monumental Disaster The Pacer Center (2013) provides statistics that a substantial 43 percent of middle school and high schools students have been victims of cyberbullying. Today, 95 percent of teenagers utilize the Internet and 60 percent have reported instances of exposure to cyberbullying (Pacer Center). An additional empirical study, recruiting 84 American students between 13 and 18 years of age, found that 49 percent of the students had been cyberbullying victims and 21 percent reported actually being the perpetrator of this activity (Raskauskas and Stoltz, 2007). Such a high prevalence of cyberbullying, for youths between 13 and 18 (representing the majority of victims), makes this a substantial technological disaster with long-term implications for society as a whole. In a partnership between the Secret Service and the United States Department of Education, 37 different instances of school violence were studied, occurring between 1974 and 2000. The study found that approximately 75 percent of these incidents were sparked by the aggressor reporting instances of previous bullying by others in the school, unfair persecution, and physical assault by other peer students (Vossekuil, et al., 2002). Bullying was the main underpinning rationale for engaging in violent school attacks (Patchin and Hinduja, 2006). Hence, the disaster of cyberbullying impacts the educational environment most significantly over any other population, with serious implications of brutal attacks and death of students as a form of retaliation against recurring bullying instances. Cyberbullying, additionally, is such a major disaster in society as it occurs 24/7 and maintains a potentially unlimited youth audience. It is during the adolescent years where peer sentiment and opinion are critical constructs in developing a sense of social belonging and self-identity that leads to successful and healthy adult adjustment. Cyberspace provides the bullying party with an opportunity to rapidly spread humiliating images and gossip against their victim and, often, such brutal comments and images remain on the Internet indefinitely, leading to no method by which to undo the damage (Shariff, 2008). Furthermore, while it might seem that schools should be well-equipped to discipline instances of cyberbullying, the reality is that school administrators are limited in their capability to effectively chastise perpetrators of this modern bullying. Many schools that become aware of off-campus, electronic bullying fear legal liability for violation of students’ free speech rights as provided by the United States Constitution. In a famous 1969 legal case, Tinker v. Des Moines, schools can only engage in disciplinary action against a student associated with off-campus speech when such discourse is proven to disrupt school activities or serves to obstruct the protected rights of others. This is why cyberbullying is not being prevented by school administrators in much higher capacity as legal precedents make it substantially difficult for schools to utilize their authority to restrain cyberbullying and ensure obedience to more balanced and appropriate student behavior. Quality Circles in Schools: A Prevention and Education Methodology Because schools are substantially-limited in their ability to prevent off-campus bullying, there is a need for the development of a prevention program that can serve to curb future disasters occurring as a result of cyberbullying. Even though 43 states, as of 2010, have implemented cyberbullying laws (Donegan, 2012), legislation, alone, has failed to prevent the disastrous outcomes of this dangerous social problem. Preventative actions, rather than post-incident legislation, is required to ensure that students do not experience lasting physical or psycho-social harm with substantial detriments to the development of a cohesive and harmonious society. Implementation of quality circles in school classrooms can theoretically change attitudes related to cyberbullying. Quality circles involve peers in the classroom coming together in a group to identify a problem, use structured discussion methodologies facilitated by educators, and identify potential solutions to reduce instances of cyberbullying. Paul, Smith and Blumberg (2012) identifies that quality circles, when implementing in schools, have been shown to reduce cyberbullying self-reporting by students and improves teacher knowledge of its occurrences and dynamics. According to sociological research, Roseth, Johnson and Johnson (2008) suggest that forced socialization between various out-group and in-group peers can facilitate positive peer relationships and, ultimately, build liking for out-group members created through cooperative, goal-oriented strategies. In today’s school environment, there are popular and unpopular students which lead to considerable hostility toward out-group members. Forced socialization in the form of quality circles can potentially alleviate these hostilities and reduce instances of peer rejection when educators utilize strategies for achievement of group goals and shared objectives. The role of the teacher in conducting intercession activities within the peer quality circle would be to alter mindset of students by proposing better peer relationship strategies and reinforcing the detriment that cyberbullying causes. Allowing students to share their experiences with cyberbullying and the complex and multi-faceted emotions associated with these incidents can theoretically improve empathetic reasoning and instill a sense of remorse for those who have, historically, engaged in cyberbullying. There is evidence that improved peer student empathy can be an outcome, as a study conducted by Slonje, Smith and Frisen (2012) found that in a sample of students, 70 percent of those who reported being bullying perpetrators exhibited a sense of remorse for these actions. With such a high level of student bully perpetrators exhibiting an inherent sense of remorse, the quality circle serves as a potential forum for reducing future disasters (i.e. suicide, assault or murder) that has been occurring in recent years in today’s schools. Educators, with assistance and support for senior-level school administration, can be instrumental in using cognitive behavioral therapy strategies (changing mindsets and improving logical rationalization with students), to reduce desire and intention to cyberbully others. Teachers can facilitate structured discussion about the appropriateness of bullying others and engaging students in discourse about what underpins the motivation to use electronic mediums to harass or humiliate other peers. As asserted by Hinduja and Patchin (2008) what underpins cyberbullying offending is that many perpetrators have been exposed to domestic violence for faced challenges associated with hailing from broken homes. They, therefore, take to the Internet as a means to bully others to avenge underlying anger and depression. Complex emotional maladjustment developed as a result of these aforementioned scenarios can translate into abusive behavior into adulthood, hence continuing the vicious cycle of violence that has invaded their lifestyles in childhood. Hence, quality circles would give teachers an opportunity to identify these challenges and utilize appropriate strategies for students to classify and learn to cope with such difficult emotional barriers. In the prison system, such circles, known as peer support networks, have been instrumental in treatment for those inmates suffering from similar, historical lifestyle problems that led to criminal behavior. Such circles, in the prison system, improve self-esteem of inmates when they share their learning experiences and peers provide emotional support (Solomon, 2004). Hence, quality circles, when implemented in schools as a preventative education program, can curb future disasters stemming from cyberbullying and serve as an intervention methodology to reduce existing trauma for the perpetrating student. Because schools, on the foundation of legal precedents, are virtually incapable of disciplining students engaging in off-campus cyberbullying, quality circles are a feasible and relevant methodology for preventing disastrous outcomes associated with ongoing cyberbullying. These circles can identify at-risk students facing disastrous outcomes of cyberbullying with the school serving as the motivation and incentive for students to contact relevant policing authorities to report their experiences when such bullying includes threats of physical harm. Under the current system, statistics illustrate that only one-in-ten victims of cyberbullying are willing to report these instances to their parents and only one-in-five incidents get reported to police (Bullying Statistics, 2013). Trust in the educator for providing empathetic strategies and trauma-based counseling can serve as an encouragement to involve parents in these disastrous events and ensure that perpetrators are identified and, potentially, criminally charged as a deterrent to engaging in these activities into the future. Organizing and Operationalizing the Program Teachers who are recruited to arbitrate quality circles within the school environment must be provided with appropriate sociological and psychological training to facilitate aspects of cognitive behavioral therapy, counseling and mentoring required to make quality circles serve as an educational and effective prevention tool. It is therefore proposed that educators with the highest likelihood of success in this endeavor undertake training in key strategies that would be facilitated by school administration and state-level government representatives. A six week, in-depth course with contemporary psychological counseling and psychiatric care could facilitate this knowledge and provide relevant certification for those educators who successfully mastered these courses. In partnership with the Department of Education and leading experts in psychology, a relevant curriculum can be developed and distributed to middle schools and high schools as best practice in student psychology. Concurrently, parents can also be instrumental figures to work in partnership with school officials to address cyberbullying, understand its dynamics and social risks, and create parent/student dialogue about the problem. Patchin and Hinduja (2012) suggest that students have difficulty discussing these issues with parents and, in a focus group conducted by the authors, several students indicated that it is easier to simply act out against the perpetrator than discuss the difficult and sometimes embarrassing aspects of being a victim. Parents should be sent newsletters and invitations to attend workshops held in the school environment to discuss cyberbullying, its potential impact on society, and how to address the issue with students reluctant to report its recurrences. Facilitated by trained educators and administrators, parents can become deterrents to engaging in cyberbullying and assist youths in identifying with the complex emotional challenges that being a perpetrator or victim entail. This program can also be operationalized by lobbying the government to develop new legislation to improve Internet safety which can identify instances of cyberbullying and refer relevant authorities to engage these perpetrators when instances have been reported through new safety protocols. If police authorities or federal authorities begin identifying and intervening with perpetrators that have engaged in these disastrous behaviors, it will send the message that such activities will be witnessed and appropriate punitive action taken to serve as a social deterrent (instilling fear) as a preventative method. Using public relations materials and other news mediums to report on these activities would educate potential or existing cyberbullying perpetrators that their efforts will not go un-chastised and serve to correct the motivation to continue engaging in these scenarios with long-term implications for a health society. Conclusion The quality circle methodology, training educators with proper counseling and trauma support strategies, facilitating parent/school partnerships and lobbying the government to change Internet safety legislation are the most viable preventative education strategies necessary to curb the substantial social damage caused by high-prevalence cyberbullying activities. The government, today, provides ample economic appropriations to improving education in the United States and, with simple reallocation of budget, such a program is relatively low-cost and feasible for reducing the cognitive and emotional incentives of cyberbullying perpetration. Combined with trauma interventions for those who are seriously challenged and burdened by being a victim of these activities, such a program can have substantial benefits in deterring cyberbullying and providing the appropriate legal and emotional support needed to avoid the common retaliation that victims turn toward in order to prevent future bullying events. This proposed program can ensure that students do not become aggressive toward their perpetrators and seek more productive strategies to cease those with motivations to harass, violate and humiliate using Internet mediums and other telecommunications technologies. It will take creating cooperatives with police authorities, the Department of Education, parents, and representatives of the American school system in order to make quality circles as an educational and preventative program effective and maintain long-term benefits to society. The multi-faceted and complex aspects of what underpins cyberbullying behavior and the emotional damage created for victims requires a blend of legislative reform and in-school socially-based curriculum to ensure that youth disasters do not occur into the future as a result of being bullied in the cyberspace environment. This proposed preventative educational program, based on all evidence, maintains the most likelihood for success and changing the mindsets of perpetrators who seek to harm others as a means of illustrating social dominance by using cyberbullying with lasting disaster on the production of a well-functioning and harmonious American society. References Bullying Statistics. (2013). Cyber Bullying Statistics. Retrieved May 20, 2015 from http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html Donegan, R. (2012). Bullying and cyberbullying: history, statistics, law, prevention and analysis. 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