Cyberbullying counted by its victims
The cyberbullying, school harassment through new technologies, is already present in one of every four cases of harassment, as indicated by the Foundation for Assistance to Children and Adolescents at Risk, ANAR.
This body has presented a new report in which it provides a vision of the cyberbullying narrated by the victims. For this they have based on the testimonies that ANAR has collected in the calls of those who have contacted this foundation to denounce. This entity has also monitored the affected to know to what extent this violence affects them in the future.
92% of victims suffer sequelae
It is striking that these cases do not remain in an attack against the person but that afterwards causes the victim to drag a series of sequels derived from this episode. According to ANAR, the 92% Those who suffer from cyberbullying present psychological sequelae in the future. The main consequence of this type of harassment is that it causes a state of anxiety in the affected, 79.5% of the times according to this organism.
The constant sadness is the second sequel that is most repeated in the victims of cyberbullying, 66.1%, followed by fear, 64.6%. In other cases, 29.9%, this type of harassment causes the victim isolate himself from the world and become an introverted person. It is also common for those affected to feel alone and not know who to turn to, 25.2%. Finally another of the negative consequences is the destruction of self-esteem, an effect that occurs in 20.5% of cases.
WhatsApp, the main tool
And through what avenues does cyberbullying occur? ANAR indicates that Whatsapp is the main tool that is used by stalkers, at least that's the way 81% of cases. This is the testimony that this organization has been able to collect from one of the victims: "They threaten me for WhatsApp, with messages like: we're not going to do anything cross-eyed ... but you'll find out ...".
Social networks have also been widely used to carry out this type of harassment. Specifically 36.2% of cases of cyberbullying were made through any of these platforms. "They mess with him, they insult him, they wait for him on the way out to laugh at him, upload photos to social networks like Instagram or send them on WhatsApp, take pictures without him noticing in class and then write insulting comments (...) and threaten upload more photos making fun of him, "explains the mother of an affected person of just 13 years old.
As for what is done within these platforms, photos that have been taken without the victim's permission are usually transmitted, or insulting messages. According to ANAR, instant messaging has allowed stalkers to transmit short offensive texts that often only remain between him and the affected person, since he rarely informs his parents or the authorities.
Change of school is not worth
A measure that many parents took in cases of harassment before the irruption of the internet was the change of school, which was enough to avoid contact with the aggressors. However, new technologies make it possible for cyberbullying to transcend the walls of the school. Although parents change their child's school, it is very possible that they continue to receive offensive messages, at least 30% of the time according to ANAR.
Given this panorama, it is especially necessary to parent mediation, both on the side of the victims and on the side of the bullies. In both cases the parents must know the activity of their children in social networks, both to detect that a child is being affected by cyberbullying or if he is the one who exercises it.
Damián Montero
