Cyberbullying - The H1N1 of Technology: Causation

Part One: Causation

© Holli Kenley
On January 14, 2010, a bright young 15 year old high school student named Phoebe Prince took her own life after enduring a lengthy period of relentless cyber bullying. As reported by Kennedy ( 2010), the activity directed towards Phoebe was designed to humiliate her and made it impossible for her come to school. On internet sights such as Twitter, Craigslist, and Facebook, students reported that Phoebe was called names such as Irish slut and whore. Even more unimaginable, the tormentors posted various comments in the deceased girl’s Facebook memorial page. How is that we have to come to a place in our moral fabric that violating one another has become second nature to us?
Every day there seem to be more and more victims from random acts of cruelty. Children are bullied mercilessly not only in person but through the social networking sites. Young people as well as adults are taunted by humiliating messages or photos and degrading categorizations running rampant on the internet . Furthermore, in other cases, capable bystanders wait, watch and video-tape another person being beaten to a pulp with the sole purpose of exploiting the victim throughout the social networks. And the frightening part is that these horrifically insensitive betrayals are not coming from our stereotypical pathological criminals, but from our children’s classmates, our next door neighbors, our peers, and our co-workers. What is happening that is causing such a rampant and viral case of hardened hearts ?
Although the analysis and answer to this question is undoubtedly complex, I believe there are several societal trends that have developed into social norms. These norms have become the structures or basis from which our beliefs, thoughts and behaviors emanate, take hold, and then flourish. Let’s examine three of these societal trends.
• The anonymity of technology.
• The moral vacuum created by technology.
• The empowered persona behind technology.

The anonymity of technology
As society has quickly and readily embraced the various uses of technology, we have greatly diminished the need for person to person contact. This is understandable. However, it is when an individual is sitting in front of us, when we see each other face to face, we filter (at least to some degree) what we say and how we say it. We take on a persona that fits with the person we are with and one that is accommodating to us both. When we witness firsthand how our words or actions may have a negative or positive impact on the other person, we adjust our interactions accordingly. In other words, we are immediately sensitized to the effect we have on another human being. While remaining authentic and real with others, we still are conditioned to the responses of another precious individual. Technology has robbed us of that human interaction and it has subconsciously released us from the disastrous effects our words or actions can have on another.In a recent article cyber bullying, Ollove (2010) stated that although surveys show that incidents of physical bullying are lessoning across the country, cyber bulling is rising, especially among girls. Ollove went on to report that experts say technology removes the inhibitions and cushions the perpetrators from the consequences of his or her actions.
When we cannot witness or experience the pain of another person, we lose our ability to empathize and thus, to care. We detach from the human connection. Our actions become singularly focused and beneficial. With each ensuing act of cruelty that reinforces our role of invisible betrayer, we continue to detach our actions from another’s pain and we remain justified in our anonymity.

• The moral vacuum created by technology

We have long been aware through our nation’s development as an industrialized society that it is nearly impossible, and certainly in many cases, not beneficial to legislate morality. However, with each new generation and with the advances in technology, we are constantly challenged by the issue of right versus responsibility. The internet with all its social networking sites and communication wonders is no exception. Tragically, what started out as an advancement in our need to communicate more quickly and efficiently as well as to broaden our audiences, has turned into a race to curb, contain, and correct the dangers spreading like wildfire across the electronic fields.
Keeping up with the developmental speed and scope of technology and its continual influence upon our lives is indeed a formidable challenge. Passing laws to protect us against internet abuse , implementing them, and enforcing them takes time, money, and personnel. Unfortunately, perpetrators are aware of this. Thus, they typically offend and reoffend for lengthy periods of time without consequences. This, in turn, leads them to believe they are untouchable. Consequently, they are conditioned to repeat their behaviors with more and more victims being targeted.
In a study performed by the Cyberbulling Research Center (2010), a random sample of approximately 400 youth between the ages of 12 and 18 in 41 different schools from a large school district in the southern United States reported nearly 20% of the students in the sample admitted to cyberbullying others in their lifetimes, with 11% using cyberbullying one or more of the nine types reported, two or more times over the course of the previous 30 days. It is human nature that if we think we can get away with something, we probably will go ahead with it. And, if we don’t get caught, chances are we will do it again. With young and old alike, behaviors rarely change on their own.
As we navigate through the storm and controversy of rights versus responsibilities, of protecting our first amendment as well as saving human lives, we can find solace and direction in the knowledge that, as behaviorists believe, human response can be changed. By implementing consequences that at the very least interrupt the patterns of the perpetrators and hopefully impose sentences of accountability, we can challenge the norms which sustain the virulent bullies. Perhaps, we can begin to fill the vacuum of morality left behind by technology with an awareness and understanding of the impact our behaviors have on another living soul. Or at the minimum, we can console the victims or families of victims with enforceable legislation that helps thwart another teenage suicide and which holds the cyberbullies responsible for their actions.

• The empowered persona behind technology

Most of us desire a life in which we feel valued. Our self-worth and esteem are integral pieces of our personas. We each have a need to feel acceptance, significance, and successful. At different stages in our lives and to varying degrees, much of that value is attached to our reputations (ie. how other perceive us and how we perceive ourselves) as well as our various roles.
One of the most toxic trends that has been exacerbated by the advancements in technology is the emergence of the highly narcissistic persona behind technology. It is one that carries with it an inflated sense of self, a false but bigger-than-life sense of worth, and the delusion of an expert voice on matters from the weather to nuclear disarmament. We can be whoever and whatever we want – because we matter. And we can do whatever to whomever we want – because we can. We are entitled.
And in a society where it is so important to belong, if it means that we need to create a mean, tough, or cruel reputation in order to get the worth we so desperately crave, then we do so. Unfortunately, the internet and social networks have made it so much easier for us. We can hide behind the computer screen with an alias while randomly posting violations of one another. With the stroke of a key or the press of a button, we have the ability to rob others of their dignity and grace, to redefine their worth and reputation, and relinquish them to foreign places and positions. We can seek out and strike whenever, wherever we want, and then we can run and hide.
On a recent episode of Fox’s new hit show Glee (2010), the theme touched upon how easy and common place is has become to bully, torment, and humiliate one another all in an attempt to secure a rating on a list of students with bad reputations (GLIST). This list was then circulated and posted throughout the school. When one student was questioned why she would stoop to such hurtful behavior , her response was, It is better to have a bad reputation than no reputation at all. Tragically, many young people as well as our more seasoned people fall into this trap. Blinded by the illusion of their inflated personas, sooner or later they are confronted by the realization that their reputations are built on lies and on the brokenness of others. One character in the episode, Rachel, went against her own moral code in order to achieve a higher rating on the GLIST, only to discover she betrayed herself as well as her boyfriend. Once regarded as a trustworthy person, Rachel ‘s poor choices proved her no more worthy than the other bullies on campus. As was stated by another character in the same Glee episode, It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but it takes only one bad decision to tear it down.
Although there may be initial feelings of empowerment when sending out or posting humiliating, disgusting, and degrading comments or images about another person, and bullies may momentarily elevate their self-fabricated reputations, they will never know acceptance, significance or success. The persona behind the technology is a mask. It is a mask of power, of control and of entitlement. What it hides is a person who is insecure, afraid, and desperately needing to belong. What it protects is an obscure perpetrator who seeks to glorify himself/herself at the expense of others.

In conclusion, societal trends which develop into norms are not easy to challenge, let alone reverse. Once they take hold, we tend to ride them out like a bad flu virus. We desperately try to find a vaccine in order to have some protection against the strain, but we know that there will indeed be casualties. Mostly, we attempt to warn others and to give out healthy advice which, if heeded, will keep some from being susceptible or infected. Along the way, we desperately hope that we will learn better ways to intervene and treat the illness. And in the deep recesses of our minds and souls, we hold on to the hope that our human spirit is resilient and that our hardened hearts will heal and soften.

References
Brennan, I. & Keene,E. (2010) Bad Reputation, Novick, M., Woodall, A. Producers, Glee. Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox Television.
Identifying The Causes And Consequences Of Online Harassment: Cyberbullying Offending (2010). Retrieved from http:// www.cyberbullying.us/research.php .
Kennedy, H. (2010). Phoebe Prince, South Hadley High School’s ‘new girl’, driven to suicide by teenage cyber bullies. NY Daily News. Retrieved from http:// www.NYDailyNews.com .
Ollove, J. (2010). Bullying and teen suicide: How do we adjust school climate? The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http:// www.csmonitor.com .