Leave me alone!

Say No To Cyber Bullying!

Katie sits down at her desk and opens her laptop. She's in the last term of Yr.12 and has a ton of assessments on the go. There's a busy evening of studying ahead of her, but she opens her Facebook profile to check out how her friends are going, thinking perhaps she can get some help if she gets stuck on that algebra problem. As her news feed loads, she gasps. The sight on her laptop screen is too awful, too horrifying for her to take in all at once.
'You slut, I wish I'd never met you'
'Who do you think you are?'
'watch your back, we're comin for ya'
'wouldn't be at school tomoz if I waz u'
'do us a favor & go jump off a cliff!'

Tears stream down Katie's face. What had she done to deserve this? These girls were supposed to be her friends. Why were they being so horrible to her? She slams her laptop shut, and curls up in a ball on her bed, shaking with sobs.

News.com.au

Whilst the story above is fictitious, this is not a fictional situation. Bullying has moved from the school playground into the homes and bedrooms of children all over the world. Email, text messaging, social media and instant messaging services are the new forum for bullies. It means that for those experiencing cyber bullying, there is no escape. Not even home is a safe haven for them. It's no wonder then that the fallout from such experiences can include depression, anxiety, poor academic performance, school drop outs and in some extreme circumstances, has even led to suicide (Teach Today, 2008). This is a problem which will not be easy to address, and which requires a broad approach by many parties. Schools need to develop policies for dealing with bullying, a difficult task given that much of cyber bullying takes place outside of school grounds and school hours. It is imperative that a culture change take place, that we, as a society, stop regarding bullying as a normal part of childhood that must be lived through and endured (Campbell, 2005), and recognize the devastating impact it has on the victim, their friends, and their families.
Parents need to be more aware of what their children are doing online, and encourage open and honest communication, so that they are quickly apprised of any problems their child/ren might be experiencing. Simply taking away their access to technology is not a helpful solution. Young people are digital natives, raised on phones, internet and computer games. Taking away their technology is like cutting off a limb. Victims themselves need to find the strength within to tell somebody. As the saying goes, 'a problem shared is a problem halved'; once the victim shares their problem they are no longer alone and isolated.  Many ISP's and even Facebook and MySpace now have anti-bullying policies in place which mean that bullies can be tracked through their online presence and held accountable for their actions (Youth BeyondBlue).  This is a problem that will not easily be solved, but if all stakeholders come together with a common goal, some inroads can be made to ensure that more lives aren't lost.