I was asked to spread awareness about the impacts and consequences of cyberbullying. I came to the conclusion that Huskies Unleashed would be the best way to do just that. I want to share with you not only what impact cyberbullying could have on its victims but also the impacts and consequences that those who cyberbully experience as well.
One of the biggest issues in tackling cyberbullying is simply the volume of messages being put out on the web. The internet is widely accessed by youth in all parts of the world. According to the UN’s Agency for Digital Technologies, around 79% of those aged 15-24 globally access the internet on a daily basis. This is a higher percentage than any other age cohort. At Kents Hill specifically 100% of students use the internet every day. While it is amazing that so many young people across the globe can nearly instantly find information and easily connect with others on the other side of the globe, the scope of the internet also creates a communication forum so large that it cannot be fully moderated efficiently or effectively. This, along with the ability to make posts anonymous creates a space for hurtful messages that typically suffer little exterior punishment besides a suspended/banned account or a message being deleted from a platform.
But just because exterior punishment isn’t applied often enough does not mean that the person instigating the behavior doesn’t experience negative consequences. People who cyberbully can develop an unrealistic and dangerously heightened sense of impunity if they are cyberbullying using means that keep them anonymous. This feeling of impunity can have serious consequences if it spreads beyond online interactions or if the cyberbullying is targeting somebody the perpetrator knows face-to-face.
On the flip side of potentially experiencing a sense of impunity is the guilt that can come from making hurtful comments online. While initially many of these teasing or bullying people online find it amusing or funny, depending on whether they later realize it truly hurt another human being and not just a profile picture, the cyberbully can feel badly about their actions. But due to the majority of these messages being sent anonymously, this guilt usually gets internalized and can negatively impact mental health in the perpetrators of cyberbullying.
However, the more extreme harm of cyberbullying is of course on the receiving end. According to the American Society for the Positive Care of Children, kids who experienced cyberbullying were more likely to experience drops in academic performance, skip school, abuse substances, have eating disorders, and report suicidal ideations than others the same age who did not get cyberbullied. On many occasions these suicidal ideations have tragically manifested themselves in a teen taking their own life or even the lives of others with them.
This all shows why it is imperative that this kind of behavior does not become commonplace in the Kents Hill community. The impact on not just the victims but also the perpetrators is too grim for a welcoming space like Kents Hill to let happen among its students.