Hurt, networked: What protects against cyberbullying?

Nice, funny, brutal, disturbed, disabled. A primary school class from Diepoldsau in the canton of St. Gallen used these and other adjectives to comment on portraits of complete strangers. The 11- and 12-year-olds are part of a media workshop organised by the Pestalozzi Children's Foundation. The focus: cyberbullying. In the next exercise, they learn how the anonymity of the internet differs from direct confrontation. Two children sit opposite each other and comment on each other. The majority of favourable comments come as little surprise and highlight a key difference between bullying and cyberbullying: the level of inhibition.

Structural discrimination

99 per cent of young people in Switzerland now own a smartphone and use it for 2 hours and 30 minutes a day, according to the 2018 JAMES study by the ZHAW. 87 per cent and 86 per cent have an Instagram and Snapchat account respectively. Around three quarters use these two platforms every day. What happens on the networks in everyday digital life is generally the same as what happens on the playground: people play, laugh, exchange ideas and also bully and ostracise others. The mechanisms of bullying have remained the same over the years. What has changed is the space in which it takes place.
The term discrimination describes the unequal treatment of people. Distinctions are also quickly made in everyday school life - whether digital or analogue: here the cool ones, there the nerds, here those with Snapchat and there those without a smartphone at all.
The last group in particular raises interesting questions due to the structural discrimination to which they are exposed: How do we as parents, as schools and as a society deal with such constraints? If more and more aspects of everyday school life are shifting to the digital realm and teachers are increasingly using WhatsApp as an information channel, marginalisation is happening without any malicious intent.
The situation is different with cyberbullying, where a person suffers repeatedly and over a long period of time from negative forms of communication from one or more people and is unable to change this situation on their own.

It needs the interest of the parents

According to Swiss Crime Prevention, cyberbullying is always linked to a lack of social and media skills. And how can parents and guardians promote a conscious approach to media and critical media use? By sitting down with your children and playing different scenarios together, for example. By showing your child which channels they use or exactly how something works.
Many adults don't know how to offer help because they are unfamiliar with the digital world. Or because they don't understand how real and hurtful a certain comment under a picture can be for a young person. A trusting parent-child relationship can only develop if you are genuinely interested and really want to understand.
Taking things seriously and listening are not only very important in prevention, but also when a young person confides in an adult in the context of a very specific bullying situation. The processing and further course of action must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Parents and teachers have a responsibility here to involve professionals such as school social workers if necessary. Today, schools are very well positioned in this area and often have their own specialists with a background in media education who can provide adequate guidance and support.

Cultivating a tolerant attitude

In the latest JAMES study, a quarter of those surveyed stated that they had been bullied online at least once. Young people from a wide range of backgrounds are affected by cyberbullying, and even 12-year-olds have already experienced it. The authors of the study therefore emphasise the importance of starting cyberbullying prevention work at primary school.
The Pestalozzi Children's Foundation's awareness-raising work - whether in projects in Trogen or with the radio mobiles directly at schools - focuses on respect, tolerance and empathy. In the age of digital filter bubbles, tolerance of ambiguity is becoming increasingly important: the ability of children and young people to engage with other opinions and to be able to accept them. Workshops such as the one in Diepoldsau described above are important in that they give children the opportunity to practise dealing with other opinions and cultivate an attitude. An attitude characterised by tolerance, with which you can also meet your counterpart virtually.

Soft skills make school
Interdisciplinary skills - additional burden or promising opportunity? This question will be explored at a symposium to be held at the Pestalozzi Children's Village on 4 April 2020. The keynote speaker is Prof. Dr Rolf Gollob from the Zurich University of Teacher Education.
Learning today is consistently geared towards skills and aims to help children and young people to focus on the immediate and lifelong application of what they have learnt. In Curriculum 21, interdisciplinary competences are given central importance for successfully coping with life. Schools are confronted with the specific task of encouraging pupils to develop their independence, self-reflection, ability to deal with conflict and diversity over and above subject teaching. What challenges and opportunities do these changes entail? What are the tasks and roles of schools and extracurricular stakeholders? And what are the principles and requirements for the promotion and development of interdisciplinary skills? The symposium for teachers, educators, youth workers and students will address these and other questions.
When: Saturday, 4 April 2020
Where: Pestalozzi Children's Village Foundation, Trogen AR
More information at www.pestalozzi.ch/symposium

Cyberbullying campaign

The Elternsein Foundation, publisher of the Swiss parents' magazine Fritz+Fränzi, is continuing its «When words hurt» campaign against cyberbullying in 2020. Find out more and help us with your donation at
www.elternsein.ch/cybermobbing