Cyberbullying - Blog Post #7

The prevalence of the bullying problem in schools is something that I think many of us are aware of, but we do not necessarily have the resources or tools to stop this behavior in an entire school. Something that stood out to me this week was the importance of having bullying be an issue at the forefront of instruction and school policies. Bullying has always been a problem in schools, and not one that has ever been easy to solve, but the prevalence of cyberbullying and its unique challenges, while not new, are certainly more recent. My understanding of cyberbullying in schools before this week was limited to what I've heard about and seen on the internet, but I haven't had to approach this problem from the perspective of an educator before. I've also heard debates about how much the school is responsible for what students do online outside of the school. While adding lessons on bullying prevention in library instruction could be one way to make an impact on students, these types of programs need to be implemented throughout the school to really create change. 

Image: The Cyberbullying Research Center logo, which is a graphic of an iPhone with a magnifying glass over a text bubble showing angry symbols and the name of the organization in big, bold lettering in blue and red. 

Something that surprised me this week was the finding that bystanders to bullying "experience physical and mental health impacts that are similar to (though less severe than) the impacts on the primary targets of the bullying" (Faucher et al., 2015, p. 117). Additionally, Faucher et al. (2015) show how bullying continues into adulthood, though we often think of it as a school problem. This makes the implications of anti-bullying into school curriculum even more vital. This isn't something that children grow out of or get over as they age, and clearly the effects of bullying do not just impact those that experience it directly. This is an issue for everyone, and according to Faucher et al. (2015), we know how to stop it: "The same types of solutions emerge regardless of context...We know what needs to be done, however, these solutions are not simple, quick, or easy. They require time, energy, money, and commitment” (Faucher et al., 2015, p. 118). It is a little disheartening that these solutions might not be used as regularly as they should because of the time and money it takes, but that is one of the reasons that consistently speaking about these solutions and developing ways of incorporating them into instruction is important. Research has shown that many students do not report cyberbullying for "fear of repercussions such as retaliation or having restrictions imposed on their access to technology, as well as the belief that adults will not understand, will not believe, or will not be able to help” (Faucher et al., 2015, p. 115). This pressure to not tell limits the ways educators can help, but I think it is the responsibility of educators to create a safe environment where students feel they will be heard.      

Image: A screenshot from the "Wrath" page of the "Seven Digital Deadly Sins" interactive website. The graphic shows the word "Wrath" in bold. Below the text is an illustrated image of two girls, one girl holding a cell phone looking smugly down at the other girl and one girl looking down in distress with her hand covering her mouth. The text over the image says "I bullied a girl."

During the readings this week, I was interested in the proposed solutions. It is difficult to know how to address cyberbullying with students. Videos like the ones included in “Cyberbullying Videos to Use in Presentations” seem a bit cheesy and outdated to me, though I’ve never taught young students about cyberbullying so maybe they still have an impact. An approach that seems more likely to resonate with students and one that I would try to use in practice is an educational program like Screenshots, which aims to teach students about digital citizenship as described in the study done by Bickham et al. (2021) about this program's impact on students. The study found that when students know more about digital citizenship, it creates “a foundation for developing future beliefs and healthy behaviors” (Bickham et al., 2021). In my library instruction, I plan to introduce digital citizenship practices early and often, and inform teachers about these practices as well. In order for anti-bullying practices to really take effect in a school, it has to be a continuous expectations built into the school community and values, rather than just a single lesson or presentation. Schools need "digital citizenship curricula that are flexible enough to be taught by a number of different classroom teachers or other specialists while simultaneously meeting numerous core curricular goals" (Bickham et al., 2021). As librarians, we can collaborate with teachers on how cyberbullying will addressed and prevented. By having a united, cohesive plan early for every classroom we could help make anti-bullying behaviors and respectful online behavior the norm instead of waiting for problems to arise and then taking action. 

Screenshots uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) that shows how behavior changes depending on a person's perceives that behavior (Bickham et al., 2021). In other words, students need to learn to not engage with bullying because they believe the behavior is wrong, rather than because they fear the consequences of getting caught. TPB creates a sense of "self-efficacy to performa an action" for students that allows them to monitor their own behavior (Bickham et al., 2021). This seems like a key aspect of bullying, especially cyberbullying. There is no way to control student's online behavior especially when that behavior is happening outside of school. In the "Seven Digital Deadly Sins" interactive website, there is one story in the "Wrath" section about a girl who cyberbullied another girl, but eventually realized how hurtful this behavior was and stopped. The interesting thing about that story is the girl had to find out for herself how scary the consequences for her behavior were; she hadn't been caught or punished. Giving students the tools to not accept bullying behaviors, both in themselves and their peers, is one way to prevent cyberbullying in long-lasting ways. 

References: 

Bickham, D. S., Moukalled, S., Inyart, H. K., & Zlokower, R. (2021, September). Evaluating a middle-school digital citizenship curriculum (Screenshots): Quasi-experimental study. JMIR Meant Health, 8(9). https://doi.org/10.2196/26197 

Cyberbullying Research Center. (n.d.) Cyberbullying videos to use in presentations. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://cyberbullying.org/videos

Faucher, C., Cassidy, W., & Jackson, M. (2015). From the sandbox to the inbox: Comparing the acts, impacts, and solutions of bullying in K-12, higher education, and the workplace. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 3(6), 111-125. https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v3i6.1033. 

National Film Board of Canada, The Guardian, & Jam3. (n.d.). Wrath. Seven Digital Deadly Sins. http://sins.nfb.ca/#/Wrath/27