Bullying - from School Yard to Social Media
Circa 1993, my final year of elementary school in small city Canada, a group of students, including myself, designed a notebook titled ‘The Slam Book’. Essentially, it was a book with one page per student in our class. The name was written at the top and the rest of the page was free for comment for those ‘privileged’ enough to write in it. Some comments were positive like “she’s awesome”. Some comments were negative like “she’s stuck up”. The book was quickly discovered, parents were contacted and stern warnings were given by the principal. I understand now that this was a ‘hurtful act of peer aggression’ as defined by Olweus (cited in Boyd 2014, p. 132). If I were to repeat this malicious behaviour then it would likely be an act of bullying.
Photo credit: Iammarino 2011
Placed in the context of 2015, bullying still occurs but increasingly within social media. Online you are deemed a ‘troll’ and ‘trolling’ can lead to criminal harassment (Boyd 2014, p. 132). The difficulty lies with identifying these cyber-bullies as they are often capable of using tools which can protect their anonymity (Johnson 2015).
Governments and the private sector are increasing their response with informational and interactive websites (see Cybersmart.gov.au and Digizen.org) and school campaigns for the younger generation in the hopes of preventing future cyber-bullies or victims. A social media ombudsman was campaigned by Senator Nick Xenophon (2013) to assist in expediting the removal of unlawful content. Contrarily, Attorney-General George Brandis (2014) believes that freedom of speech in Australia should involve the ‘right to be a bigot’ when referencing media pursuits of voicing one’s opinion.
The capability of governing online use and social media practice has many hurdles to overcome. An ombudsman has limited capabilities and can only enforce the statute law (McMillan 2014) and likely just be a drop in the ocean for complaints handling. Already in place is the Australian Communications and Media Authority (2014) complaints handling of ‘offensive or illegal online content’ which again may only be able to put out the spot fires of the bushfires created by online trolls. The social media forums themselves are limited by their own ‘community standards’ (Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2014) and will only remove content or individuals deemed to go against them.
Photo credit: Ardeon Group 2009
As discussed earlier, the anonymity of the offender is the greatest hurdle to overcome. Only the most serious online offenders are given the resources to investigate with the intent to criminally charge them. Perhaps in the future there will be either fee for use or identification checks required to sign up for a social media account to help deter the online offenders by making the ease of access either financially or logistically difficult.
In summary, bullying has evolved from school yard to social societies online. Schools and governments have recognised this shift and have instigated preventive and legislative responses to help curb the bullying. As the digital citizens evolve so too should the policing of its wayward citizens.
Ardeon Group 2009, ‘It’s better to be safe than sorry – surf the web anonymously’ [image], Ardeon, Surf Web Anonymously, 27 May, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.ardeon.org/2009/05/its-better-to-be-safe-than-sorry-surf-the-web-anonymously/>.
Australian Communications Media Authority 2013, ‘Online content regulation’, The ACMA Story, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/About/The-ACMA-story/Regulating/internet-online-regulation>.
Boyd, D 2014, 'Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?', in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, pp 128-52.
Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2014, The Politics of Platforms, 21 January, viewed 11 January 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hxcofU_o7Y>.
Childnet International 2015, ‘Welcome to the new Dizigen website’, Digizen.org, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.digizen.org/>.
Cybersmart 2014, viewed 8 January 2015, <http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/>.
Iammarino, E 2011, ‘New website aims to help prevent cyber-bullying’[image], Social Tech Pop, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.socialtechpop.com/2011/06/new-website-aims-to-help-prevent-cyber-bullying/>.
Griffiths, E 2014, 'George Brandis defends 'right to be a bigot' amid Government plan to amend Racial Discrimination Act', ABC News, 24 March, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-24/brandis-defends-right-to-be-a-bigot/5341552>.
Johnson, C 2015, ‘Prosecutors say tools for hiding online hinder cybercrime crackdowns’, All Tech Considered, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2015/01/05/375193167/prosecutors-say-tools-for-hiding-online-hinder-cybercrime-crackdowns>.
McMillan, J 2014, ‘Future directions for Ombudsman offices – four trends, two reflections’, Australian Government Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.oaic.gov.au/news-and-events/speeches/future-directions-for-ombudsman-offices-four-trends-two-reflections>.
Xenophon N 2013, Support Social Media Ombudsman, 4 September, viewed 11 January 2015, <http://www.nickxenophon.com.au/media/releases/show/support-social-media-ombudsman/>.
