Young people have normalized online violence in different ways for years now. According a survey conducted by the NGO Save the Children in 2019 to 400 young people from all over Spain, more than three quarters of those interviewed had suffered this type of online violence during their childhood. 47%, even more than one type.
Forms of violence online The most common in Spain were cyberbullying, with 40%, a practice they suffered for the first time between 8 and 9 years, and that it affects girls to a greater extent than boys. While the majority were from a friend or classmate, in almost 16% of the cases it was an unknown person.
In addition, sexting without consent affected 3.74% of respondents on some occasion, some of them more than six times. Something that happened around the age of 14, mainly on the part of the boy or girl they were dating.
Another form of violence that affects Spanish children today is sextortion, in the form of control and violence frequently by the partner.
All these cases you see frequently Rachel Escort in your query. She is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Psychobiology and a researcher at the Cyberpsychology Group of the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).
Have young people normalized violence online?
There are two positions, those who think so and those who believe that they have not been normalized, but that the cases are much more visible today than before. The truth is that in the clinic I see more every day. The reason is due to an accumulation of various social circumstances, but fundamentally to the fact that minors spend a lot of time alone and for many, verbal aggression is not violence, it is a normal way of communicating. They have access to technology around the clock, they can hide in anonymity and the dissemination of their messages is fast. All this gives them a great sense of power, and if there are minors who have a low tolerance for frustration and at the same time they have such a powerful tool in their hands, then everything is done.
What platforms, applications and social networks are the most recurrent to exercise this violence?
This is a live issue because new networks, applications or platforms appear frequently. Instagram, YouTube, Tik Tok, WhatsApp, Discorde … any of them are used to harass.
What are the most common ways in which the ciberbullying?
Harassment, generating false rumors, impersonating someone, stalking, sextortion (intimate videos disseminated without consent), the exclusion of groups of friends … Crimes such as identity theft are very easy to commit and that is why you always have to report, although it is true that the social network can take up to three days to delete that profile.
What would be the psychological profile of a young man who exerts violence online?
In the case of traditional bullying, we are talking about a more specific profile: male, aggressive … But in the case of cyberbullying, there are so many profiles related to the type of bullying and there are not usually two identical profiles. Regarding their motivations, they too have been victims of face-to-face harassment. This is the case of victimized aggressors. Others become cyberbullies to win the gang’s favor and others may also do so out of envy, due to emotional mismanagement. Then there are the cases of boyfriends harassing ex-girlfriends for revenge.
Are they more comfortable hiding behind the screen?
Anonymity is the key, it’s like having open bar to harass and that does not have negative consequences. In addition, the worst thing is that they do not see how their harassment hurts the victim. This is only fixed by empowering the victims. There are some primary and other interventional strategies, such as helping to overcome it, but that does not fix the problem, which is caused by upbringing, by the type of education that bullies receive from their families and by the coordination that exists in the schools to tackle this issue.
How does technology affect violence in dating relationships in adolescents?
It is a huge problem. Both members of the couple know the passwords of the other, they control their locations, they chase each other … And the problem with all this is to normalize it, to downplay it because one of the members of the couple thinks it is an expression of love. And this is where the foundation for adult relationships is laid.
Can technologies change the behavior of a minor and make him more violent?
Yes. In fact, they can change your personality. The relationships off line They have allowed us to modulate behavior, but social networks skip that step. The minors’ reward circuit is always alert, waiting for a quick response and if we add to that that the algorithms take them away with images of the here and now, then you become a more violent person. If a person doesn’t develop face-to-face strategies, they don’t develop empathy.
Do acts of bullying than those of ciberbullying?
No. Cases of cyberbullying affect much more. The violence online it can last all day and every day of the week. The feeling of power that anonymity gives and the speed of response make the stalker develop an enormous exculpatory capacity, especially because he does not see the damage he is doing.
The Happy slapping it is one of the most degrading forms of violence. What leads a minor to record violent videos and then publish them?
They basically do it because their self-esteem is measured in likes. When that is so, anything goes. You start with something lighter and end up in a loop looking for more and more visualizations.
What recommendations can we make to minors who suffer violence online, in addition to reporting it to an adult? What should be your behavior with the aggressor?
The first thing is to recommend that parents try to create a space of trust in young people. At the clinic we see him every day. Young people do not tell their parents anything, but the best thing is to make minors feel that they can count on us. Victims must be convinced that they should not allow anyone to decide for them. An insult is a form of violence and they must give value to what they feel. There are many benefits that the Internet provides to renounce its use, but it is essential that parents develop trust strategies with their children.
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