Stop the hate: Cyber bullying 'increases power gap'

The Daily Post has launched a campaign to take a stand against bullying in our city. Stop The Hate will run over the next few weeks and will look at bullying, bullies and their victims. Today, we look at abuse through text messaging and the trend of filming fights and sharing them online.

Cyber bullying is a community problem which needs to be dealt with openly, a Rotorua principal says.

"It's happening at home, it's happening at school and it's happening in the workplace," Rotorua Lakes High School principal Bruce Walker said.

Police are investigating two separate incidents of cyber bullying after videos of students fighting were posted on social media sites.

Students from at least three Hamilton schools were filmed in fights at a park on Monday afternoon. The footage, taken on a phone, showed girls and boys brawling and was posted on YouTube.

Further north, a video showing a 14-year-old Northland student being beaten up by classmates was posted on Facebook and YouTube. The Ruawai College student was attacked in the school bathrooms while a group of students looked on and filmed.

Two students, aged 15 and 16, have been thrown out of the college and face charges in the Youth Court. Two younger students have been referred to Police Youth Aid.

Principal Stephen Fordyce said the "criminal event" happened in September and had caused great distress.

Speaking to The Daily Post yesterday, Mr Walker stressed that anything posted online lasted forever.

"In the past we've had issues of silly fights that then get filmed.

"Sometimes when we've investigated, we've found that the fights are pretend and just a set-up anyway," he said. "Other times they've been fighting and name-calling."

Teenagers often failed to understand that even things which were staged looked different when viewed online, Mr Walker said.

NetSafe executive director Martin Cocker said bullies used online videos to show superiority. "The bullying is about exerting power over another person.

"Posting a fight of where you win, or the other person is a victim, increases the power imbalance between you.

"It's a logical bullying system."

Young people often failed to understand the repercussions of bullying, Mr Cocker said.

In one of New Zealand's worst cases of cyber bullying, 15-year-old Wanganui schoolgirl Robin de Jong was filmed being chased down and assaulted by another student last year. Footage of her attacker punching and kicking her until she was unconscious was captured on another pupil's cellphone.

Rotorua teenager Hayley-Anne Fenton took her own life four years ago after receiving abusive text messages from her boyfriend's wife. The case sparked calls for changes to social media regulation.

Coroner Wallace Bain found the overarching cause for Hayley-Anne's death was the "shocking bullying" texts she had received.

The Government is currently considering a new law to crack down on internet bullies.

It includes the formation of a Communications Tribunal which would deal with online harassment cases. Offensive posts on Facebook and Twitter and hurtful text messages would become a new criminal offence.

If you would like to share a story about bullying, email kristin.macfarlane@dailypost.co.nz or contact her on (07) 348 6199, ext: 57072.

Cyber bullying

• 
  At least one in five New Zealand high school students have reported being victims of cyber bullying.
• 
  Cyber bullying includes use of the internet, mobile phones or other technology to hurt, harass or embarrass another person.
• 
  Vodafone customers can use its Blacklist service to block certain people from messaging them.
• 
  If someone has threatened to hurt you physically, contact police.
• 
  Call 0508 NETSAFE for more information or go to www.netsafe.org.nz

What is bullying?

Bullying can be described as offensive, intensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour; it is an abuse of power that undermines, humiliates or injures the recipient.

Types of bullying

Physical bullying:

Theft, destruction of property, expressing physical superiority, making threatening gestures, defacing property, pushing, shoving, taking small items from others, initiating fights, scratching, tripping up, assaulting, pinching, biting, hitting, defacing school work.

Verbal bullying:

Threats, taunting, insults, name calling, teasing about clothes/looks/possessions, gossip, starting or spreading rumours, giving derogatory nicknames, giving orders, making harassing phone calls or text messages, making threats to secure silence - "If you tell, I will ...".

Emotional/social bullying:

Deliberate and sustained teasing, sexual harassment, racial harassment, public humiliation, dirty looks, holding nose or other insulting gestures, not including someone in your work group, playing mean tricks, taking friends, making things up about someone, insulting someone's family, insulting someone's intelligence or athletic ability, making someone look foolish, excluding someone from the group.

Cyber bullying:

Cyber bullying is bullying. It's using the internet, a mobile phone or other technology like a digital camera to hurt somebody or embarrass them.

- webhealth.co.nz/Netsafe

Organisations that can help you with bullying:

No Bully: 0800 NO BULLY (0800 66 28 55) or visit www.nobully.org.nz

Youthline: (0800) 3766 33, email talk@youthline.co.nz or visit www.youthline.co.nz

Kidsline: Call 0800 KIDSLINE (0800 543 754) from 4pm to 6pm, Mon-Fri or visit www.kidsline.org.nz

What's Up: Telephone counselling for 5 to 18-year-olds. Call (0800) 942 8787 or visit www.whatsup.co.nz

Urge Whakamanawa: Visit www.urge.co.nz

Netsafe provides cyber safety and security advice for New Zealanders. Visit www.netsafe.org.nz for more information.

You can also visit Rotorua's Citizens Advice Bureau on Haupapa St to seek more information about organisations that can help.