Cyberbullying and Digital Wellness in 2022
As a parent, you can’t help but worry about your child, tween or teen as they gain more independence and explore the world around them. A very real concern for parents in this increasingly digital age is the prevalence of cyberbullying and what their children are doing or participating in online.
Keep reading to learn about the effects of cyberbullying, current trends, and how to talk to your child about a new buzzword, their overall “digital wellness.”
What Is Cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying occurs when someone uses electronic mediums, like social media, to bully another person. It can be insulting, demeaning, threatening, derogatory, or otherwise offensive, but the ultimate goal is to intimidate or make the other person feel bad about themselves.
Frequently, children cyberbully each other because they are insecure, jealous, or are experiencing some form of abuse or cyberbullying themselves and are lashing out to try to feel powerful.
Where Does Cyberbullying Happen?
Unfortunately, the virtual world can be a risky place, and nowhere online is completely safe from cyberbullying. Below are the most common places teens experience cyberbullying.
Social Media and Apps
Although there’s a lot of fun to be had on social media, it doesn’t come without its dangers. Social media sites and digital apps frequently provide the perfect setting for cyberbullying to occur as they are not always being closely monitored. Some of the most popular websites and apps include:
- Snapchat
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Kik
- Discord
- Twitch
- Whisper
A particular area of concern on many social media sites is their private messaging features, which provide another avenue for cyberbullying. In addition to cyberbullying, a heavy online presence can cause privacy concerns with things like location tagging–which reveals the location of the online user and can potentially make them easier to track.
Video Games
A lot of video games and consoles are designed to allow users to play with others online. Unfortunately, this gives cyberbullies another way to access a vulnerable young person. One example of cyberbullying in video games is when a player tells another player to kill themselves. Whether or not they are being serious, those words can still have very damaging effects.
Many people excuse cyberbullying over video games as just a form of teasing or “boys being boys.” But this can be a dangerous mindset that minimizes the effects of cyberbullying and discourages victims from getting help.
Texting
Cyberbullying doesn’t have to be online. Harassment or communicating threats over text messages is another form of cyberbullying that teens especially are vulnerable to.
The Effects of Cyberbullying on Teens in 2022
When the pandemic closed off all other avenues of connecting with peers, children and teens started spending more time online. With that increase in the amount of time teenagers are spending online, we’ve also seen an increase in the prevalence of cyberbullying and its effects.
Mental Effects of Cyberbullying
During such an unprecedented and isolating time, cyberbullying can have a huge impact on your teen’s mental health. Victims of cyberbullying report feeling increased levels of:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Isolation
- Humiliation
- Worthlessness
- Ambivalence towards school or hobbies
- Development of eating disorders
- Suicidal thoughts
Unfortunately, a lot of these things are hard to spot without your teenager outright telling you how they’re feeling.
Physical and Behavioral Effects of Cyberbullying
In extreme cases, the effects of cyberbullying can manifest physical and behavioral problems in victims, including:
- Skipping school
- Substance abuse
- Insomnia
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Engaging in self-harm
With such serious stakes, parents need to learn how to spot and prevent cyberbullying.
How To Prevent Cyberbullying
If you are needing advice on how to prevent cyberbullying or perhaps catch it early before it becomes an even bigger issue, connect or contact a Triple P Teen Provider or use Triple P Online to learn how to promote digital wellbeing. Triple P can also help you figure out how to involve your teen in developing rules for device monitoring and time management!
Warning Signs of Cyberbullying
Be on the lookout for warning signs of cyberbullying in your daily interactions with your teenager. Some warning signs of cyberbullying include:
- Becoming more emotionally withdrawn or isolated
- Hiding their phone screen when you are around
- Deleting social media accounts
- Losing interest in hobbies
If you notice these things in your teenager, it’s time to sit them down and get to the bottom of what’s going on.
How to Deal with Cyberbullying
Once you find cyberbullying in your house, whether your teen is the victim or the perpetrator, it’s important to know what steps to take next and how to deal with cyberbullying.
Report
When you see cyberbullying, report any instances to the platform it was posted on. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always get the results you’d like.
Many states have statutes against cyberbullying, so document every instance and report it to the proper authorities. It may seem like overkill, but these statutes are in place for a reason, to protect tweens and teens from the devastating effects of cyberbullying, so take advantage of them.
Support
Above all else, what your teen needs is support and unconditional love from you. Make it clear to your teen that you are there for them and want to help however you can. Remember that you aren’t expected to have all the answers, so it’s a good idea to reach out to professionals to learn how to deal with cyberbullying.
Connect with a Triple P Provider
The Triple P Positive Parenting Program is a unique program designed to support families and educate parents on positive parenting techniques, including setting healthy boundaries.
Whether you have found your teenager to be a victim or a perpetrator of cyberbullying, reach out to Northwest NC Families today for help connecting with a Triple P provider near you.