On Wednesday, February 28, we’ll find ourselves in a sea of flamingo-coloured T-shirts during Pink Shirt Day. This annual event is aimed at raising awareness and ending bullying, with the focus this year being on cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying can include sharing personal photographs or videos without consent, creating false accounts with someone else’s identity, or posting information about people on public shaming sites. It can come in the form of emails, comments on social media, or text messages, and be initiated by anyone, be it strangers or people who know the victim.
Cyberbullying can seem more sinister than regular bullying because it follows its victims around 24/7, permeating every aspect of their lives and invading the privacy of their homes. Additionally, it can reach a broader and larger audience, even a global one, and become a permanent record over which there is very little, if any, control. This pervasiveness may be why victims suffer such high levels of distress, become withdrawn, and sometimes even end their lives.
In Canada, the focus is mainly on children and youth, so we must look to our neighbours in the south for current statistics on adult experiences. According to a survey done by the Pew Research Centre in July 2017, 41 percent of Americans had personally experienced online harassment, up from 35 percent in 2014. And while there may be some recourse for children through their schools, adults often don’t have avenues to assist them, unless the behaviour crosses the line into criminal territory, such as threatening or stalking. This does seem to be changing, however, and there are now websites like the Online SOS Network or Heart Mob dedicated to assisting adults who are navigating this difficult challenge.
It’s also important to know that there are ways we can protect ourselves. The Cyberbullying Research Centre has a top-10 list of tips for adults and suggests we familiarize ourselves with the terms-of-use agreements on sites we use so we know how to report cyberbullying behaviour if it violates those terms. Additionally, Sue Scheff and Melissa Schorr’s book Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate offers practical advice and a more in-depth look at this topic.
If you’re going through any kind of cyberbullying, remember: help is available, and you are not alone.