What Are The Consequences Of Cyberbullying and Cyberstalking?
I was very much aware of bullying as a child, being bullied throughout my school years by kids that acted as if they were my friends. I was attacked viciously one summer by children on the estate that I lived on, calling me horrible names and writing them on the walls where everyone could see them. I was fortunate that social media was not about then, and neither were mobile phones. But, for many children these days, they are not so fortunate.
We mainly think of bullying as being in the school playground, but these days it has escalated to online. Cyberbullying/stalking is when hateful and malicious messages are sent either through text messages, emails, or even comments on social media posts. Cyberbullying is usually carried out by other children, most of them done anonymously. Of all the social networks that kids have access to, YouTube is the most likely medium to be cyberbullied on, at 79 percent, followed by Snapchat at 69 percent, TikTok at 64 percent, and Facebook at 49 percent.
What is cyberbullying and cyberstalking?
Dr Nuccitelli, licensed psychologist, cyberpsychology expert and internet safety educator, in an interview, shares the distinctions that he has made through his intense research. What he is sharing, is the different types of cyber crimes that can and do happen.
Cyberbullying — this is often child on child, in the form of:
- Sending hateful messages to their victims
- Posting incriminating photos of them online
- Making videos of them when they are unaware and sharing them around the school
Where child cyberbullying can be quite malicious and vindictive, when it is carried out by adults, it can escalate into:
Cyber Harassment
- Consistent harassment via emails, social media posts and text messages
Internet trolling
- Ongoing daily posts on social media, written to incriminate the abused
Cyber Stalking (the most dangerous)
- Following all the victims' posts, logging into their private accounts
- Imitating them, setting up new accounts in the victim’s name and pretending to be them. This could result in identity theft.
Do you know if your child is being abused by a cyberbully?
Unfortunately, most attacks go unnoticed because those who are being abused do not report them, often out of fear of shame or the threat of something worse happening. The consequences of this can be devastating, even to the point of a child committing suicide because they are unable to live with what is being said about them. They feel that they are alone and that there is no one that they can confide in to help them.
- Is your child acting differently?
- Are they isolating themselves more than usual?
- Do they flinch when messages come through on their phones?
There may be more happening that they are willing to talk about. These are the types of questions that we are asking at Lighthouse Global, because Paul S. Waugh, head mentor at Lighthouse, knows far too well what happens when a child is being bullied and takes their own life, having supported parents who have lost their children.
Here is the full interview with Dr Nuccitelli.
We at Lighthouse have been viciously attacked and abused online, that is why we want to be able to help others through our real life experiences and help them prepare themselves if it happens or even help prevent others from having to go through what we have. We also want to be involved in preventing more children from being maliciously abused online. We have set up Parents Against Trolls, which also include cyberbullying/cyberstalking and any other form of bullying, a site where parents, teachers or guardians can seek information and help as to the best form of action. If you would like to learn more about how to get involved, or if there is anything in this report or in the video that you would like to discuss, please feel free to contact us and one of our team will be more than happy to help.
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