Untangling the web

“
There is no direct confrontation,
so there is no emotion. You don’t
know how the other person is
feeling.”
There were no differences between students
going to school in rural versus urban communities
in the percentage of youth who had cyberbullied
others.
Being a perpetrator of cyberbullying was associated
with poorer mental health, although not as
strongly as was seen for victims. For example,
9% of youth who were exclusively perpetrators
(those who had bullied others through
the Internet or other technology but who had
not been bullied themselves in this way) had
attempted suicide in the past year compared
to 4% of those who had not been involved in
cyberbullying. However, 21% of youth who had
been victims exclusively reported attempting
suicide, which was comparable to those who
had been both victims and perpetrators.
In the workshops a number of youth
admitted that they had used technology
to victimize or bully someone else. Some
also said they had not realized that this
was what they were doing until they had
attended the workshop and talked openly
about their behaviour. They said that the
Internet felt so impersonal and anonymous
that they behaved differently to
how they would behave in person.
“If that person is on the other side
of the world, you will never see
them, never have to deal with
them.”
34 Untangling the web