The Effect Cyberbullying has on the Mental Health of a Child

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cyberbullying is one of the leading causes of anxiety and depression in young people.

 

Bullying, in all sense of the word brings a negative mindset, associating with mental health issues. It is a blessing for children to have access to the internet, so that they can learn new topics and become educated on life lessons. But what happens when the in-school bullying, moves online.

 

Technology is very important in today’s world. In 2020, when the Coronavirus Pandemic halted teaching, schools had no other option than to close. For over a year, students across the globe resorted to online teaching to be educated via video sites like Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

 

Cyberbullying is defined as “The use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature”.

 

With social media becoming the main entertainment of today, millions of users have access to share their thoughts and opinions on sites like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. 

 

In a survey for Children’s online behaviour in England and Wales, 9 out of 10 (89%) of children aged between 10 and 15 years old, said that they went online every day. 

In a separate survey, nearly 3 out of 4 children (72%) of the same age who had been cyberbullied, said at least some of it was at school or during term time.

 

According to Papyrus, an anti-cyberbullying organization, in a 2018 study it had shown that more than 200 schoolchildren die by suicide a year in the UK.

 

In 2020, it was reported that 1 in 5 children between the age of 10 and 15 in Wales and England suffered at least one form of bullying. In this study, it was also found that 1in 4 children did not report any of the online bullying. This is highly likely due to the lack of education they were given on the topic of cyberbullying.

 

Warren Doyle is an Anti-Bullying Ambassador for several schools based in Dorset. He also works with LGBTQ+ and diversity teams which often get targeted.

 

                                                                                    When asked if everyone on a social media platform should be verified to prevent                                                                                               anonymous cyberbullying, he said that he would “be all for it, when we see some of                                                                                           the terrible attacks people receive online from anonymous accounts, it can be                                                                                                   disgusting, so having a verified account could help towards preventing that.” 

 

                                                                                    Mr Doyle educates his students using E-safety workshops, assemblies, and focus                                                                                                groups. 

 

                                                                                   “I would say I have done a lot of work with our young men as we have had issues                                                                                                with respect around women.” 

 

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Mr Doyle also mentioned: “Often when a child is a victim, they are alone or do not have the ability to coherently discuss the hurt they suffer through cyberbullying. Without that immediate support a child can suffer not only in the short term, but long-term mental health issues can arise.”

 

Warren added: “A child’s mental health could be severely impacted due to cyberbullying. Often when a child is a victim, they are alone or do not have the ability to coherently discuss the hurt they suffer through cyberbullying. Without that immediate support a child can suffer not only in the short term, but long-term mental health issues can arise.”

 

In a survey from OFCOM in 2022, it was found that the most common way for children to be bullied via technology was through text or messaging apps (56%), followed by social media (43%) or online games (30%).

 

In the same survey it was discovered that 4 in 10 children, all between 8 and 17 years of age (39%) have experienced bullying, either on or offline. Among these children, the bullying was more likely to be via a device (84%) than face-to-face (61%).

 

Lauren Seager-Smith is the CEO of Kidscape, a bullying prevention charity that works in schools and communities throughout England and Wales. In her own words, “Like with all forms of bullying, we help children to think about practical steps to both prevent and respond to cyberbullying.” 

 

Lauren strongly believes that prevention is the best way to tackle these issues. She includes her ZAP workshops which help build resilience and confidence, and a Parent Advice Line.

 

She also added: “From a prevention perspective this includes thinking about how they treat others online, what it means to have happy and healthy relationships -whether face to face or online, the importance of privacy and what to consider when you are sharing information with others online.”

 

Founded in 1985, Kidscape’s mission is to “provide practical support, training, and advice to challenge bullying and protect young lives.”

 

When asked about what Kidscape do to contribute to preventing cyberbullying, Lauren said: “Children often tell us that cyberbullying is an extension of what is happening in the school day, and is usually perpetuated by their peer group, rather than strangers. We help to educate children in all aspects of online safety, including cyberbullying, and give practical support to children and families who have been impacted by cyberbullying.

 

Kidscape therefore hold workshops which help build resilience and confidence, and a Parent Advice Line.

 

Kidscape, as a company have been cyberbullied in the past, Lauren said: “It has happened on more than one occasion but more recently we have been targeted for standing with the transgender community. Painful as it is, it helps to understand what it's like for children and young people, and means we are better at informing others of the best approaches to take.”

 

The Diana Award was set up in 1999 as a legacy to Princess Diana’s belief that young people have the power to change the world. Their aim is to empower young people to lead change through a range of initiatives that unlock potential, inspire action, and create opportunities.

 

Paul Hanmore is the anti-bullying programme manager at the Diana Award. 

 

Paul says his best approach towards preventing cyberbullying is: “Through empowering young people in schools to become Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and enact real social change in their settings.

 

Although Paul denied being personally cyberbullied, he did mention that he had been catfished online by someone on Facebook who stole his work photos from LinkedIn to hack other users. Paul said it was “a very distressing experience, especially as they took my valuable work life into negative and damaging territory”.

 

Paul added: "Much harm comes from fake profiles and people using these to target others. I also think more needs to be done to manage the age that young people sign up to platforms; it is not regulated or verified at all in my opinion and needs to change.”

 

Act Against Bullying is a regulated charity formed in 2003 with a specific demographic of children under 16. This charity was founded by Louise Burfitt-Dons.

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                                                    She set up a campaign called Cyberkind with the intention of promoting kindness on the internet as                                                               opposed to bullying.  She also raises awareness of the severity of cyberbullying and have compiled tips                                                         for dealing with it.

 

                                                    Louise’s brother Laurence was bullied at school and eventually took his own life. Her daughter also                                                                 suffered from bullying. Louise added: “As a writer, I decided to write and publish a set of monologues for                                                      schoolteachers to raise awareness of the situations that were often overlooked. They were called Act                                                              Against Bullying. When they were successful, I compiled information from a range of different experts to                                                        help victims.  It was then that I realised by creating a charity I could reach out to help many more                                                                    people.”

 

Much like Louise, Safeguarding Network UK provides consultancy services for settings working with children and young people in relation to safeguarding and child protection.

 

Director Andrew Martin said: “As with all types of bullying there would be an impact on the child’s ideas of their self-esteem and self-worth, as well as impacting an individual’s ability to concentrate and develop relationships.  Dependent on the extent of the bullying they may feel the need to harm themselves or may experience depression and anxiety.”

 

Jack Vandeheuvel is a victim of cyberbullying. From the age of 13, he was constantly tormented by his peers using social media. Using phone calls and WhatsApp, people would manipulate a friendship with Jack which led to him developing trust issues in the future.

 

In the interview, Jack spoke about his bullying experience as “very manipulative” if it wasn’t physical, it was emotional” “it was mean spirited”.  He felt like he couldn’t talk to his family about his bullying due to the fact it was only prank calls at the beginning. Once they started using WhatsApp and texts, Jack felt like he had proof and a reason to tell his family. 

 

“Now, it goes back to that time where you feel like you can’t trust anyone, usually it’s not a problem but it is that sort of trigger”.

 

Jack also mentioned that his school never had an antibullying week or any education on how to deal with bullying, both physical and online.

Listen to Jacks full interview about cyberbullying Here.

 

Anita Weldon is a Director at The Listening Ear, a charity dedicated to providing the best possible counselling to children and young people aged 5-19. 

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In Anita’s words: “It affects their self-esteem, and it affects their ability to make good choices,                                                                           because often when you're being cyberbullied it's somebody that you know. Sometimes it's not. It                                                                   can be like that, a wider group. But even when it's a wider group, it's often a group that you felt a                                                       connection with. So, you felt you belonged in this community and suddenly you're not. So, in that                                                                 way You don't know who to trust, who to turn to cause the this was kind of your group, your tribe,                                                              and suddenly they've turned against you.”

 

“It also breeds self-doubt within them.”

 

Anita also mentioned that she was recently involved in a case where a young girl was filmed at a party, acting in a way that she normally wouldn’t. This then led to the girl being cyberbullied through social media due to the film being posted online. 

 

Anita used to be a private counsellor but joined The Listening Ear after seeing great need that wasn’t being met with financially run therapies that are completely over inundated with applicants. 

 

She added: “your self-esteem is your sense of self. It's who am I as a person and when you're cyberbullied you question that because you're like well. Even if the cyberbullying is only targeting one of those issues within you, it will make you question everything about you.”

 

From a legal perspective, the Malicious Communications Act 1988 is the offence of sending letters with intent to cause anxiety or distress. This includes electrical communication which conveys a message which is indecent, grossly offensive, a threat or contains information that is false and known or believed to be false by the sender.

 

Other laws include the Protection harassment act 1997 which provides protection from acts of harassment like stalking and bullying. These laws were put in place specifically to tackle cyberbullying.

 

In the eyes of the law, “harassment is a persistent and deliberate course of unacceptable and oppressive conduct, targeted at another person, which is calculated to and does cause that person alarm, fear or distress.”

 

Alan Stokes is the founding director of Horizon, a counselling service based in Plymouth. 

 

Like Warren Doyle, Alan also explained that the company often get negative press due to online trolls, saying “we've had, people leaving negative comments about our service who have never actually used our service. So again, even for us as an agency, it can be very difficult for us to manage and for us to deal with because those comments are out there, everyone can see them.” This negative feedback can strongly damage the reputation of the company.

 

He said, “A lot of the education services haven't really picked up on it in the same way that bullying normal physical bullying or active bullying it is dealt with because I think it's harder for agencies and schools and colleges to manage it”.

 

He added: “There’s a hesitancy for them to see it as bullying. There's almost this acceptance. It's OK to call someone a name by text message or via an app or anything else. It's all. It's OK to say something nice, nasty via one of these means. So, then recognizing it and then then obviously transfer it into getting additional support can be difficult”. 

 

Founded in 2003, The National Bullying Helpline (NBH) are a well-known advice service highly endorsed by organizations such as OFSTED, The Samaritans, NHS and other major companies and public figures. The NBH was the first ever UK charitable company which addressed both child and adult bullying.

 

NBH have since created a new service, eCRIME Action, a website with a mission to “continue working towards eradicating anti-social behaviour in all corners of our society”. They do this by using their large platform to voice and speak out to raise awareness through targeted campaigns.

 

eCRIME was essentially created to allow emergency services to focus more on at risk and urgent cyberbullying eCRIME situations. 

 

Like Jack, there are others who have had their mental health affected by cyberbullying.

 

Harri Grey, a 20-year-old University student admitted they had been cyberbullied in the past. Due to an allergic reaction that day, Harri had been photographed and then photoshopped without their consent to look unattractive which were then posted to a website without their consent which were then posted onto a website called “Mugs Of Reigate School”. The website took almost 2 months to be taken down.

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Unfortunately, Harri never sought help for their cyberbullying, they added that their experience “really added to an already low self-esteem issue like when you're that age you’re already so susceptible to everything everyone says and so I think to have it then blown up on a social media site just like proves everything that your brain is already telling you about yourself.”

 

Harri also mentioned that they hadn’t been very well educated on cyberbullying in school, saying “I don’t think that we were educated enough, we just got taught what the best course of action was if it ever happened”.

 

According to Harri, once the website was published, they weren’t the only one to be featured on the site. Unattractive photos of other schoolmates soon appeared.

 

In comparison to bullying, cyberbullying never stops. Once you leave school and go home, you’re safe from physical bullying whereas once you are cyberbullied, you can’t escape from it once the school bell rings to let you go home.  What’s worse is cyberbullying can be anonymous, you have no idea who is sending you messages and causing you distress. 

 

With the use of an app like Instagram, even if you block the perpetrator, they can still recreate a new account under a different name. 

 

It can be challenging to speak to someone about being cyberbullied because, like in Jack’s case, he didn’t see what he was experiencing as cyberbullying until later because at first it was just prank calls.