Stop cyberbullying
Cyberbullying among adolescents is a growing problem that needs to be addressed at home, school and in wider society
The survey found that students spend 5.5 hours a day dealing with social media
Mobile phones have increasingly become children’s primary access point to the internet and almost 100% of the devices are smartphones — with children exposed to cyberbullying on social media.
“Cyberbullying is correlated to the use of social media. The more children are exposed to social media, the more risk they are subject to,” said Assoc Prof Chanvit Pornnoppadol, head of division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University at a recent panel discussion entitled “Stop Bullying”, organised by DTAC.
Children’s privacy should therefore be protected, and parents and teachers should be educated about this.
Chanvit suggested a “zero tolerance bullying” policy as an approach that schools should implement in order to prevent cyberbullying. According to Chanvit, zero tolerance means an almost ideal society where cyberbullying issues are solved or lessened in severity.
“Schools abroad have their students subscribe to LinkedIn [a business-oriented professional social network platform] instead of other social media, as it’s one way to protect the students’ privacy. The more they are exposed to social media, the more they open their privacy to the public,” said Chanvit.
Citing preliminary research entitled “The Frequency And Factors Of Cyberbullying Among Youths At Mathayom 1-3” conducted by Mahidol University in collaboration with 14 countries, Chanvit said almost 80% of Thai children have been bullied. Of this number, 66% were bullied at least once a week, and 12% every day. Furthermore, 45% have been cyberbullied at least once, which is four times more than children in the US, Europe and Japan.
Based on the report, he pointed out that friends are the most influential group in early adolescence (children aged 13-15). For secondary school students, peer acceptance is important. At this age, they begin to stay away from their parents. Once they are bullied and not accepted by friends, they potentially become lonely and isolated. They are also likely to become absent at school, lack focus and may have drug issues or self-harm.
In Thailand, the team from Mahidol conducted the survey with some 3,000 adolescents in four schools and the results largely correlated with the other 14 countries. The one-month survey found that students spend 5.5 hours a day dealing with social media. The study also found that more than half of the surveyed students confirmed they accepted Facebook “friend requests” after only seeing a profile picture.
To prevent cyberbullying, parents should observe personality changes in their children, particularly if they are isolating themselves, seem depressed and don’t want to go to school.
Cyberbullying is very much more harmful than it was in the past, Chanvit said. Thai youths have not realised that they are at risk of cyberbullying because of their digital behaviour. The cases in Thailand may not be as severe as those abroad, but cyberbullying is likely to cause young people to become uncomfortable and stressed, while adults may not even realise this.
Chanvit said collaboration is key in tackling cyberbullying. Apart from the Ministry of Education, school teachers should be at the forefront of directly interacting with students and raising awareness regarding the importance of this issue.
Teachers and parents should have an attitude of supporting, not blaming.
“Bullying stems from home and it becomes disclosed at school. If parents use violence with their kids, they will also use violence at school,” said Thawatchai Pachun, project leader of Stop Bullying, Path2Health foundation.
The foundation is now working with DTAC on its Stop Bullying campaign for children below the age of 18 who are bullied, either online or offline, every day from 4pm to midnight. The Stop Bullying chat room, a collaborative project between DTAC and P2H, has been launched. A pilot service of this chat room is now open and will be completed by February next year.
Tipawan Buranasin, child and adolescent psychiatrist at Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Rajanagarindra Institute, noted that a quarter of children have been bullied and 50% of the kids have a problem due to bullying at schools and in the cyberworld. The institute provides a 24-hour mental health hotline. The service has evolved from addressing social media and game addiction to include cyberbullying.
Internet and game addiction among youths is ranked the second most commonly found problem for teens, only after love and sex issues. Cyberbullying can also lead to chronic mental health problems and stress-related disorders.
Onuma Rerkpattanapipat, head of corporate communications and sustainability at DTAC, said 20% of its subscribers are children and the company has encouraged wider society to help equip them with knowledge about using the internet safely.