What Are Some Types and Cause of Cyberbullying?

According to the latest research, one in every two people experience bullying before their 20th birthday. Surely, it is very difficult to go through it, especially when you don’t know why it is happening. Researchers have done various researches and studies to figure out the cause of cyberbullying and know the psychological chemistry behind it. 

Most of the kids think that they are being bullied for who they are. It might be their color, body image, line of work, fashion sense, weight, etc. But, if you study it deeply, you will know that these are not the main issues. For parents, it is very important to know the basics of cyberbullying so that they can teach their kids to not to bully and not to become a victim either. 

The Psychology Behind Being Bullied

The kids and even adults who bully others are in search of some power, control, and purpose. The easiest way to do that is to focus on something different about the other and criticize it to make the other person feel emotionally and physically hurt. 

When a person especially a kid starts being bullied, he starts self-criticizing and hiding from social settings. Also, when we are bullied, we mask the characteristic for which we are bullied in order to play perfectly. Kids dye their hair, date people they are not interested in, cover up their bodies as there is something to be ashamed about. 

Why Cyberbullying? 

Since bullying in school playgrounds was an old trend, kids have taken this to the next level by using technology. The advancement in technology and the accessibility to smartphones with the internet have given them the liberty to do whatever they wish. 

So, now even the kids have reached their home safe and sound, the humiliation follows them because they have been bullied on the internet. The bullies use websites, forums, social media platforms to target the person. Such type of bullying sticks to the victim until he is asleep. 

Some Types of Cyberbullying

Since the internet is a wide world, there are several ways to use it for any purpose you want. There are websites, forums, and various platforms that can be explored for one’s purpose. Some most common types of cyberbullying are:

• Threating messages through WhatsApp and SMS. 
• Making fun of the victim through posting personal stuff on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. 
• Creating and using fake profiles to get attention, gather some information, and then humiliate the target person. 
• Creating a negative image of the bullied by posting such stuff. 
• Using fake images and text to humiliate the person.

Cyberbullying makes the bully confident day by day as he knows that no one can reach him. Unless some investigation is carried out, kids can’t figure out who is there behind the fake profiles. 

Causes of Cyberbullying

The cause of cyberbullying lies in the motivation of the bully. Why do they choose to bully and what makes them this much confident? It all starts when one person decides to cross the limits to humiliate the other one. So, what are the motivating factors of cyberbullying?

·A Lack of Empathy

Where technology has opened up space, it has also given the authority of stating any opinion, criticizing anyone while sitting at home. It is very easy to distance yourself from the intense situations over the internet by just shutting it down. That’s why people who don’t realize the level of pain that they have might cause to the other person are the ones who become bully. This makes them feel powerful. 

·The Victim Deserves It

The thought of having the authority to decide who deserves what is one of the main causes of cyberbullying. When it is about the school, the kids often feel that they should do something to make themselves feel superior. For this, they tend to discredit or bully other people to make them feel inferior. Somehow, they think that it is okay to bully others because of their status. 

·Self-loathing

Studies have found that there is a strong connection between the people who have bullied previously and those who are the bullies now. The people who were once victims might return as a bully to vent out the anger they had. But somehow, the cycle continues and they end up hurting innocent kids too. 

·It Becomes an Addiction

If you have been using social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, you might know how difficult it is to ignore the messages and notifications. So, when a bully starts something on such platforms, continuous engagement makes him get addicted to it. 

Preventing Cyberbullying

Is cyberbullying a crime? Of course, it is and it takes a lot to identify it. Sometimes a normal conversation leads to humiliating one. However, the issue is that kids don’t tend to share this stuff with their parents. Usually, they are so much humiliated that they hardly talk about it to anyone let alone the parents. In this case, when things get intense, parents can only regret what has happened. 

To prevent this from happening, parents must keep an eye on their kids. There are some noticeable changes in the behavior of the victims that can warn the parents. Look for those signs and talk to them whenever it seems necessary. 

The use of a parental control app is also a great way of knowing what is going on in their lives. They might not tell you about the humiliating or threatening message they received today, but monitoring them through a parental control app can help a lot. 

SecureTeen is one of the best parenting apps that let you monitor their activities, know their chats, limit their screen time, and limit their web usage. There is so much that you can do with a parental control app. You will know the situation even before your kid becomes a bully or a victim. Whenever you see such a situation, talk to them respectfully and teach the correct ways of using the internet.