Four out of five Irish teenagers questioned by Ireland’s largest independent mental health service have been recent victims of cyber-bullying.
Some 80 percent of teenagers referred to the adolescent services of St Patrick’s University Hospital (SPUH) had experienced online bullying. Other common issues included eating disorders, anxiety disorder, and substance abuse.
Most recently, Co. Leitrim teenager Ciara Pugsley took her own life on September 19.
A student at St Clare’s Comprehensive School in Manorhamilton, speculation continues to mount that the 15-year-old was the victim of cyber bullying, reported the Longford Leader.
SPUH medical director Prof Jim Lucey expressed concern over the research.
"The trouble is that there is no escape from cyber-bullying like there is from bullying in the schoolyard. The impact of things being online means there is no going back, the genie is out of the bottle," he said.
"The magnetisation of exposure is huge because if five so-called friends are saying something bad on Facebook, they will have another 500 friends and it enlarges very quickly."
According to Prof Lucey, cyber- bullies use three strategies:
• Taunting, name-calling, and abusive comments.
• Aggressive and threatening behaviour, including circulation of photos of the victim.
• Impersonation of somebody by creating the impression the victim has made nasty comments about others.
"It can start with something like an anonymous online poll and suddenly someone is made to believe they’re the ugliest in the class," said Prof Lucey.
"We need to improve education around the issue, technology is moving very quickly and our response as parents, educators and clinical leaders is way behind," Prof Lucey said.
"All schools are moving towards whiteboards and computer literacy, but with that comes the opportunity and necessity to educate young people around these issues," he added.
"Children don’t seem to realise the impact of what they are getting involved in, they don’t have the same scepticism as adults."
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.eiriamach | Sep 30, 2012, 02:40 PM EDT
The usual regressive lunacy from bogsidebunny! If cultures cannot change maladaptive, destructive behaviors, and if people are inherently either "weak" or "strong" and cannot change, why would anyone bother with education? We send young people to school to learn because we know that people can change, because cultures can (and in this area, must) become more respectful and nurturing of diversity, and because we know that individuals can empower themselves with knowledge. But someone who lacks education cannot appreciate its capacity to empower people or to improve cultural traits. I suppose there's no other way for such a person to think except in terms of survival of "the strong," as in bogsidebunny's "theory." The truly "strong," however, are far more likely to be the well educated than those who are contemptuous of education and who derive their self-image from bullying others.
bogsidebunny | Sep 30, 2012, 07:39 AM EDT
First of all in the Irish culture, bullying is common and takes many forms. from the non-vocal "evil-eye" to the shout down/cut-across diatribe and eventually to the house or car burning. Yup, all these do happen including the burning of houses and cars. So short of shutting down of the Irish internet connection cybre-bullying will NEVER stop. Secondly, bullying is an international, inter-cultural trait amongst young people. It's one of the not-so-nice infantile, self-preservation traits. Most people grow out of these if their culture instills ideals like mature interaction with others. My take on bullying is the Darwin theory, the weak shall be removed from the gene pool and the strong will go on the reproduce even stronger generations.
Searlit | Sep 29, 2012, 04:34 PM EDT
I hate to see anyone suffer. Children being abused, whether by adults or their peers is a terrible thing. How can we call ourselves a civilized world when as societies we do so little to prevent abuse?