Social Concerns: Cyberbullying, Essay Example

With the advent of technology, cyberbullying is becoming an increasingly prevalent issue among school-aged children. Unlike physical violence, cyberbullying is dangerous because it is challenging for parents and educators to determine whether bullies are targeting a child. Furthermore, cyberbullying directly results in mental conditions rather than both mental physical impacts, so it is more challenging to diagnose and treat individuals that need extra help. It is therefore important for the people close to children to understand the symptoms of cyberbullying and what could be done to put an end to these practices. Three principles that could be acted upon to reduce the frequency of cyberbullying includes shaping, negative conditioning, and knowledge of the critical period.

One way that school teams could intervene and put an end to cyberbullying is by taking advantage of shaping. Since this principle can be used to reinforce new behaviors, it can be used as a preventative measure to show students how to positively interact with one another online and over social media. For example, this method can be used to teach children how to phrase their messages to one another in a positive light. Many students get into fights over conversations that occurred over the Internet because it is challenging to detect tone through this means. Thus, by teaching students how to rephrase the sentences that they use to communicate, this shaping will help them communicate more effectively and reduce the likelihood that they will offend their classmates while talking over the Internet.

For this initiative to be effective, it would be beneficial to introduce this knowledge to students during their critical period. While very few studies have been done to determine when it would be most effective to teach Internet etiquette, it would likely be valuable to provide these lessons to students when they are first learning to type. By introducing Internet etiquette early, it is possible to show proper use to students and to help them phrase their thoughts in a way that is more concise. This will help these students avoid accidental conflict while using the Internet, while maximizing their communication skills.

For students that have been actively detected to act as cyberbullies, it may be necessary to implement reverse conditioning to help demonstrate to these individuals that they are exhibiting a negative behavior. A just punishment for young children that have been caught sending unfriendly messages to others online would be for their parents to restrict their Internet use. When the punishment is a direct consequence of the negative action, the punishment will be more effective.

Overall, psychological principles could be utilized to put an end to cyberbullying. It is important to implement these principles from an early age to help young children understand what constitutes negative behavior on the Internet. Doing so will help these students continue to engage in positive behaviors throughout their schooling, which will likely reduce the incidence of cyberbullying in the school setting. Combining the principles of shaping, reverse conditioning, and knowledge of the critical period is beneficial because it will allow students to learn what is expected of them with regards to Internet behavior from an early age and to continue to uphold these standards into adulthood. Furthermore, it will reverse the frequency of cyberbullying and allow us to share knowledge that will help people implement more effective behaviors both in school and throughout an individual’s academic and professional life.