With the rapid development of information and technology, countries, institutions, and individuals have been vulnerable to cyber threats and cyberbullying. It is known that cyberbullying is widespread especially among young people. In this direction, it is emphasized that students should be provided with training, guidance, and seminars on cyberbullying. In addition to the prevention of cyberbullying and cyber awareness studies, there is also a need for studies to reduce the negative effects and harms caused by exposure to cyberbullying and to provide moral support. Therefore, this chapter aims to create a conceptual framework for the definition of cyberbullying and provide suggestions to prevent cyberbullying.
TopIntroduction
Nowadays, thanks to communication technologies, information is transmitted rapidly and technology is used in every conceivable field. On the other hand, since information and communication technologies are a part of the activities of all institutions and organizations, problems such as information leakage, disclosure of personal data and violation of information security are increasing rapidly and precautions are not sufficient (Atalay, 2012). Therefore, understanding the concept of cyber security plays a key role in eliminating and reducing the negative effects of cyber attacks.
The use of information and communication technologies at all ages and the gradual decrease in the average age of users have begun to cause negativities. Social networks, which allow individuals to communicate with their friends and circles on the internet, and to share videos, photos and status information, can sometimes lead to undesirable results. It is seen that behaviors such as anger, joy, sadness, anger and bullying are also reflected on social platforms due to human nature. According to the researches, the prevalence of cyberbullying has increased, the need to offer solutions to the problems related to cyberbullying has emerged.
Many teachers, counselors and administrators in schools know and see that peer bullying is an important problem (Olweus, 1993), but few teachers, counselors, administrators and administrators are aware that students are cyberbullied and harassed through information and communication technologies (Kestel & Akbıyık, 2016a). Cyberbullying is an important problem among adolescents, being widespread outside of school or at school, and it is seen that school personnel and parents cannot adequately intervene, prevent and provide adequate information on this issue (Kopecký & Szotkowski, 2017). It has been observed that as the use of social networks in the virtual environment increases, people are exposed to more cyberbullying. It can be seen as a disadvantage that people hide their identity in the virtual environment. The fact that individuals do not want to reveal their identities in social networks and hide them causes people to create fake accounts. People who hide their identity can display unwanted behaviors such as hatred, revenge, aggression, jealousy, bullying and anger in the virtual environment. Introducing the option to log in to social media and similar accounts with an ID number in order to reduce cyberbullying will reduce cyberbullying behavior. In addition, it should be explained that care should be taken not to log in to social network accounts on non-personal computers. It should be explained that sharing private information on social platforms may pave the way for cyberbullying in the future. Children, young people and their parents should be especially informed against the sharing of hurtful, humiliating, exclusionary and offensive person or persons, especially through social media or similar means (Solomon, 2017). It should be explained that such posts and actions constitute a crime. Penalties for cyber aggression need to be more deterrent. Parents need to be made aware when dealing with cyberbullying in younger age groups without criminal liability. Therefore, reaching families should be the main goal. In the case of cyberbullying in the adult age group, it can be an effective fight with the increase of legal awareness and criminal sanctions.
The effects of cyberbullying can be seen in the form of long-term effects, mood swings and overreaction. Cyberbullying behavior has an impact on the behavior of victims and leads to emotional instability.
Cyberbullying is considered a social problem as it is becoming more and more common nowadays. Although cyberbullying and bullying seem similar, there are differences between them in many ways, such as privacy. Cyberbullying people are more encouraged because they do not have the fear of being caught, and they cannot empathize because they do not see the current state of the victim. Peer bullying usually occurs during school hours, and when they leave school, they get rid of the torment. However, the individual who is a bully in cyberbullying continues to bully every hour because he/she can reach them via electronic communication tools. Therefore, cyberbullying causes many problems such as social problems, aggression and academic problems (Lee & Shin, 2017).