Cyber bullies should face prosecution, say doctors ....

[Pip]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2624677/Cyber-bullies-face-prosecution-say-doctors-claim-online-abuse-bigger-problem-face-face-harassment.html

Cyber bullies should face prosecution, say doctors who claim online abuse is now a bigger problem than face-to-face harassment

    Nottingham Trent University research found growing rate of online bullying
    Youngsters scared to reject online approaches for fear of becoming target
    Calls for criminal offence of cyber bullying to be brought into UK law

By Jenny Hope

Published: 21:45, 9 May 2014 | Updated: 22:02, 9 May 2014

Cyber bullying of children via social media sites is now a bigger problem than face-to-face harassment, say psychologists.

Many youngsters are scared to reject the approach of strangers on social media because they fear they will become a target for abuse, a study suggests.

It has led to calls for a new criminal offence of cyber bullying as concerns grow that the most vulnerable could be at risk of self-harm or suicide.

The death of 14-year-old Hannah Smith last year after apparently being the victim of online bullying resulted in her father David calling for action against internet trolls, though an inquest this week was told by police there was no evidence the girl from Lutterworth, Leicestershire, had been targeted.

Previous studies have shown cyber-bullying is on the increase, with girls most likely to suffer.

The research from Nottingham Trent University found texting and email harassment is now less common than bullying on social media.

Dr Lucy Betts, senior lecturer in psychology, and researcher Karin Spenser studied 29 children aged 11 to 15 years as part of a bigger project  on cyber bullying.

Children in their mid teens report being regularly approached by strangers who want to be their ‘friends’ on Facebook and other social media, said Mrs Spenser.

‘They think it’s safer to accept a stranger than reject them, even though they recognise the dangers,’ she said.

‘Partly this is peer pressure to have as many friends as possible – saying you have 1,000 friends gives you a lot of kudos.

‘But they feel powerless to say no even when they’re horrified that someone has got hold of their details and come into their life.

‘They don’t recognise the public nature of social media and they don’t realise how many people can get access to them outside their core group of friends.’

Mrs Spenser said cyber abuse was different to face-to-face bullying, which normally took the form of repeated harassment through insults or physical aggression.

She said a ‘one-off’ incident online could have much bigger repercussions.

‘A nasty remark that gains  100 “likes” from friends or others is devastating, the sheer volume of response can be amazing.

‘What’s worse is that children feel a compulsion to keep looking online 24/7,’ she added.

Mrs Spenser, who is a magistrate, said she would like to see cyber bullying become a criminal offence.

‘We are seeing far more examples now in the criminal justice system and we don’t have the tools to deal with it.’

The study findings were presented yesterday at the British Psychological Society conference in Birmingham.

[Pip]

From someone who has been cyber bullied I know how serious it can been.  It happened to me in 2011 and 2012 by the same person for several months in both years.  The bullying occurred on Y!A as I regularly answer questions on the adoption section.  The person refused to believe that I was coerced into my son.  'She' said it couldn't be possible as my son was born in 1981 and the adoption was finalized almost 6 months later.  'She' claimed to work in a family court so knows the procedure, believes coercion stopped in the UK in the early 1970's and had surrendered 'her' daughter.  Fortunately I had plenty of support with people reporting this person every time 'she' claimed I was a liar and even sometimes that I felt guilty for choosing adoption and wanted to blame others for my choice.  'She' used an interview that my husband and I had taken part in as 'proof' that I was a liar all becaused the word coerced hadn't been used in the interview.  I also repeatedly reported 'her' and had to eventually threaten Y!A both years that if nothing was done I would take legal action so Yahoo would have to do something about if I did. 

[JC]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience with cyber-bullies Pip. I am staggered, but unfortunately not surprised, that someone could be so cruel and insensitive; I am really glad to hear that you got it stopped and, hopefully, the idiot bullying you was banned from the site.

Social media is a wonderful tool when used appropriately, sadly cyber space seems to attract a very strange breed of keyboard warriors who post vile and abusive messages believing they are untraceable in the relative anonymity of the internet. These morons would never dare say the things they do in a face-to-face situation and I would like to see cyber-bullying treated as a crime, the perpetrators traced via their IP addresses and prosecuted.

[alex1973]

Unfortunately it is all too common via the internet. I have seen it many forms and been on the recieving end of peoples abrupt, nasty and rude comments for no apparent reason. I think that people who bully, troll or abuse others online they seem to do it with ease as they forget or probably dont care that there is a real, feeling human being 'out there' in the real world. Rather they see it just as words on screen. There is a certain disconnect from that real person out there, hence why they seem to attack so easily without a thought for the consequnces of their actions.

[Pip]

On Y!A there are members who are pro adoption. refuse to believe coercion still goes on (common in countries such the USA), adoptees who dare mention the dark side of adoption are angry, ungrateful and bitter even they have had good lives, and, mothers who surrendered feel guilty for their decision and want to blame others for their decision.  Generally we, adoptees and mothers, ignore the comments as there is no educating some people so it's easier to ignore them.  One of these people is 'Jessa' who asks questions just to try and rile members into being nasty in their answers but 'she' went too far over the weekend in attacking me  .

This is what 'her' question was;

Do anti adoption people ever read stories like this one in the news?
https://search.yahoo.com/search?cs=bz&p=Killing%20of%203%20daughters&fr=fp-tts-430&fr2=ps&woeid=2455080

In case you don't have to time to follow the link, it's the story of a California mom (BIOLOGICAL MOM) who killed her three precious little girls. But let's not worry about that. These children at least got to spend their lives in the care of their REAL mom before their little lives were tragically cut short by said mom, and that's all that really matters, right?

It just horrifies me to realize that if that "mom" had been on the internet asking about giving her babies up for adoption, the fanatical whack jobs on this site (ahem, Pip) who tell every single person that "You are the best parent for your baby", would have told this psycho "mom" the exact same thing.

I guess my question is, are these people evil, deluded or do they just not give a crap about children at all? Who are they to tell people whom they know absolutely nothing about that they are the best parents for a baby?

The article is about a mother who had three young children whom she killed.  It is being looked into whether it has anything to do with mental health / post natal depression as it looks like the most obvious reason for what she did.  On face value it is terrible what the mother did but she is the one who will have to live with it for the rest of her life and severe PND is probably the root cause.

I defended myself and said 'Jessa' had no right to refer to me or others as the fanatical whack jobs just because I / we are pro parenting as the first option, legal guardianship by family preferably with adoption the last.  'Jessa' knows that I know there are exception to rules and I do know a few mothers who aren't great parents but chooses to ignore that. I went on to ask what should be done such as;
- should all babies be removed at birth because mothers are potential killers due to PND?
- should adoptive parents have their own children removed just in case the adoptive is a potential killer PND? Or should they also have their adopted children taken as well?
- where do we draw the line?

I also said I had reported the question due to insulting members and for naming me as well.  This was what 'she' added;   

Update : Whatever Pip. Go ahead and try to justify your psychosis, I really don't care. The fact remains, that you tell every single person WHO YOU DON"T KNOW A THING ABOUT that "You are the best parent for your child". You must have a full time job of investigating each and every one of these people's lives to feel that you are qualified to make that statement. From my sporadic visits to this section of YA (since you know, I have a real life), I have realized that you spend pretty much your whole

Update 2: life here, have no friends in real life, and project your own experience onto everyone else. It's my personal opinion that you suffer from Narcissistic Personality disorder among other mental issue and were not qualified to raise a child. Your son is lucky that he did not grow up with you.
By the way, I was raised by an abusive alcoholic whore Mother and a pedophile father, and I'm about to enter a medical program. I don't spend my life whining and playing the victim. You disgust me.

I had actually reported the question as soon as I read it.  When I saw the updates I had a jaw dropping and if it hadn't so serious I would have laughed.  I emailed the Yahoo team telling them if the question wasn't removed I would take the matter further.  Fortunately it was removed soon after.

[alex1973]

thats horrendous stuff Pip. For your own mental wellbeing, perhaps stay clear of this forum for awhile. Just advice. Please take care

[alex1973]

By the way Pip, I think this woman is actually projecting all her hurt and anger towards you. There was no justification for the attack on you even if she did feel she had a point to make

[Pip]

Thanks Alex, it does make sense that she is taking her own feelings out on me.  There have been a few times recently when she has mentioned what her parents were like and I did tell Jessa nobody deserves to go through what she went through growing up.  Her parents are the type of people I've always said don't deserve children but until she is willing to let others be supportive there is no helping her.