1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today's episode is another 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: classic from our archives. This one deals with the difficult 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: subject of teen cyber bullying and the perhaps at first 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: glance strange phenomenon of teens who create fake accounts to 6 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: bully themselves online. Hi, brain Stuff, Lauren Fogelbaum. Here. Today's 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: episode deals with the subject of self harm. Go on 8 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: and skip it if you'd prefer, and take care of yourself. Okay. 9 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: When fourteen year old Hannah Smith from Leicestershire, England, tragically 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: took her life in her family sided months of relentless 11 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: cyber bullying via the web app ask dot fm. But 12 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,200 Speaker 1: when investigators dug deeper, they discovered something even more devastating 13 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: of the abuse of messages were sent by Hannah herself. 14 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: It's called self cyber bullying or digital self harm, the 15 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: act of setting up fake social media accounts to post 16 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: hurtful messages about yourself. And while sounds bizarre, why would anyone, 17 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,119 Speaker 1: especially a struggling adolescent, want to bully themselves online? It's 18 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: much more common than previously thought. According to a sixteen 19 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: national survey of twelve to seventeen year olds, seven point 20 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 1: one percent of boys and five point three percent of 21 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: girls said that they had anonymously posted mean messages about themselves. 22 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: Samir Hinduja is co director of the Cyber Bullying Research 23 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: Center and a professor of criminology and criminal justice at 24 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,040 Speaker 1: Florida Atlantic University. He conducted the Digital self Harm study 25 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: with Cyberbullying Research Center co director Justin Patchen, a professor 26 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin all Claire. 27 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: Hinduja and Patchen chose the term digital self harm as 28 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: opposed to self cyber bullying or self trolling to draw 29 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: attention to possible connections between this destructive online behavior and 30 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: traditional self harming acts like cutting, burning, or hitting oneself. 31 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: According to the latest figures, between thirteen and eighteen percent 32 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: of adolescence worldwide report to committing at least one self 33 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: harming act, and more alarmingly, among young adults with a 34 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: history of self harming behaviors, seventy sent attempts suicide at 35 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: least once and make multiple suicide attempts. The researchers wanted 36 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: to see whether there might be a link between online 37 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: self harm and these negative behaviors. Their study represents the 38 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: first comprehensive look at digital self harm among adolescents, and 39 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: their results were published in the Journal of Adolescents Health. 40 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: On the surface, digital self harm looks like other instances 41 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: of cyber bullying. The victim receives threatening or abuse of 42 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: posts on social media or via text messages, saying unfortunately 43 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: common internet insults along the lines of your ugly and 44 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: nobody likes you, or you should just kill yourself. But 45 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:34,960 Speaker 1: the truth is that the victim is also the perpetrator, 46 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: directing the abuse at themselves through behavior that's at once 47 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: a call for help and a cry for attention. As 48 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: part of Hinduja and Patched and study, which analyzed email 49 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,400 Speaker 1: responses from a nationally representative sample of five thousand, five 50 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: and nine adolescents, the researchers asked young teens to share 51 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: reasons why they had sent themselves bullying messages. Some of 52 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: the kids, mostly boys, so that they were just bored 53 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: and thought it was funny. But more than half of 54 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: those who admitted cyber bullying themselves indicated that other people 55 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: were the real audience or expressed some message of self hate. 56 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: A fourteen year old boyfriend Wisconsin, wrote that he wanted 57 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: other people's pity and wanted to be validated that someone 58 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: did actually care about me. Another boy indicated that posting 59 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: abuse of messages about himself might rally a supporting online 60 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: community around him. Quote. Everyone is going to have moments 61 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: in their lives hating themselves. Sometimes it helps posting about 62 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: it online. The internet might be a terrible place, but 63 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: there are tons of people around the world who are 64 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: willing to help you, he wrote. In general, Hindi just says. 65 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: Boys and the survey were more likely to have participated 66 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: in digital self harm as a joke, while girls were 67 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: more likely to do it as an expression of what 68 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: the researchers called deep seated emotional turmoil. Teens who identified 69 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: as lgbt Q were three times more likely to cyber 70 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: bully themselves, and kids who were cyber bullied by others 71 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: were twelve times more likely to later train the abuse 72 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: on themselves. As one sixteen year old girl wrote on 73 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: her survey, after this happened at school and online, I 74 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: became very depressed. I didn't like myself very much. I 75 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: felt like I deserved to be treated this way, so 76 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: I thought I would get in on the fun. The 77 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: researchers say that this kind of self harming and self 78 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: hating behavior seems completely irrational from a psychological standpoint, that 79 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: it's actually a classic example of what are called maladaptive 80 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,599 Speaker 1: coping mechanisms when coping with depression or abuse. Hindu just 81 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: says adults do the same sort of thing. Sometimes we 82 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: indulge in alcohol or drugs, use smoking as a crutch, 83 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: engage in reckless behavior and reckless choices sexual or otherwise. 84 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: The researchers stress that much more study needs to be 85 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: done in order to understand the extent of digital self 86 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 1: harming behaviors and their underlying causes, but it's important for parents, teachers, 87 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,279 Speaker 1: and law enforcement to understand that it exists and to 88 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: not assume that abusive and disturbing posts necessarily originated from 89 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 1: outside cyber bullies. Organizations like the Cyber Smile Foundation and 90 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: to Write Love on Her Arms not only offer support 91 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 1: for people who struggle with depression, self harming behavior, and 92 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:55,359 Speaker 1: cyber bullying, but provide volunteer opportunities to spread messages of 93 00:04:55,360 --> 00:05:05,480 Speaker 1: positivity and support online. Today's episode was written by Dave 94 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: Ruse and produced by Tristan McNeil. And Tyler Klein. If 95 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: you were someone you know is struggling, check out the 96 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: sources we mentioned in this episode, or a Google for 97 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: other help in your area. I probably don't know you, 98 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: but I think you're rad. And for more on listen 99 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: lots of other mental health topics, visit how stuff works 100 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,679 Speaker 1: dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of our Heart Radio. 101 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: For more podcasts in my heart Radio, visit the heart 102 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 103 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: favorite shows.