Cyberbullying On Social Media - Assignment Solution

Cyber bullying Supporting Literature and Knowledge Gap

As the use of social media has increased, cyber bullying has become a concern globally. Numerous research articles have been written from psychological, sociological, criminal as well as legal perspective on this issue. However, there still exists a gap in the existing literature which needs to be filled in.

A huge chunk of existing literature is dedicated to the task of defining what classifies as ‘cyber bullying’. The scholars have still not been able to form a consensus on the definition. Colette Langos (2012) distinguished between direct and indirect cyber bullying and established three components of cyber bullying; repetition, power differential, aggression and intention. According to Langos (2012), if an act has all three of these components then it can classify as ‘cyber bullying’.

Literature on cyber bullying focuses on causes and consequences of cyber bullying. Gorzig and Frumkin (2013) “argued that cyber bullying via mobile devices (i.e., on-the-go) in addition to other platforms would be associated with  a) factors related to mobile Internet usage, b) psychological factors that could lead to or follow from cyberbullying experiences (or both)  and c) cyberbullying experiences in terms of technological platforms and the range of types of online bullying.” Hence, cyberbullying is a multi-layered phenomenon which needs to be dealt with precision.

Some of the research  focuses on victims and culprits belonging to a particular age group and their experience of cyberbullying. Dehue, Bolman and Vollink (2008) explored how youngsters who are enrolled in primary or secondary school experience cyberbullying and what role do parents play in this regard. They found out “that about 16% of the youngsters had engaged in bullying via the Internet and text messages, while about 23% of the youngsters had been victims of cyberbullying” (Dehue et al. 2008, p.217).

Literature is available on how cyberbullying is experienced by students. Whittaker & Kowalski (2014) dissected how college students experience cyberbullying. The study found out that the experience of cyberbullying isn’t monolithic. Rather, it is diversified. The experience of cyberbullying by college students differed depending on factors such as the social media site on which bullying took place, the nature of cyberbullying and the characteristics of the culprit.

Media has played its part by shedding light on this issue. An article highlighted the relationship between racism and cyberbullying in Australia. According to the article, indigenous Australians are bullied online because of their race by white people. The presence of racism in the online sphere is so intense that it has even resulted in suicides (Carlson & Frazer, 2019). Hence, this issue needs to be addressed by Australian policy makers.

Even though a vast literature is available on this issue, there is still a gap that needs to be filled in. Apart from the United States, almost no research study has been undertaken to identify factors at play in a particular country. This is essential because the way social media and cyberbullying is perceived differs from country to country and largely depends on the social values of that country. Therefore, it is recommended that research should be undertaken which specifically tries to study the contextual experience of social media bullying in Australia.

Social Marketing Problem

As Carlson & Frazer (2019) highlighted, cyberbullying in Australia is largely done on the basis of race. The intensity of cyberbullying is such that it has even claimed several lives (Carlson & Frazer, 2019). Therefore, the problem that needs attention is the discrimination against indigenous people residing in Australia which extends to the cyberspace in the form of cyberbullying on social media. Hence, the mindset of the Australian youth needs to be altered through a social marketing campaign which aims to educate them on how to celebrate diversity rather than condemning it.