WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Are Teens Cyberbullying Themselves?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today's episode is another

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<v Speaker 1>classic from our archives. This one deals with the difficult

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<v Speaker 1>subject of teen cyber bullying and the perhaps at first

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<v Speaker 1>glance strange phenomenon of teens who create fake accounts to

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<v Speaker 1>bully themselves online. Hi, brain Stuff, Lauren Fogelbaum. Here. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode deals with the subject of self harm. Go on

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<v Speaker 1>and skip it if you'd prefer, and take care of yourself. Okay.

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<v Speaker 1>When fourteen year old Hannah Smith from Leicestershire, England, tragically

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<v Speaker 1>took her life in her family sided months of relentless

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<v Speaker 1>cyber bullying via the web app ask dot fm. But

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<v Speaker 1>when investigators dug deeper, they discovered something even more devastating

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<v Speaker 1>of the abuse of messages were sent by Hannah herself.

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<v Speaker 1>It's called self cyber bullying or digital self harm, the

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<v Speaker 1>act of setting up fake social media accounts to post

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<v Speaker 1>hurtful messages about yourself. And while sounds bizarre, why would anyone,

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<v Speaker 1>especially a struggling adolescent, want to bully themselves online? It's

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<v Speaker 1>much more common than previously thought. According to a sixteen

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<v Speaker 1>national survey of twelve to seventeen year olds, seven point

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<v Speaker 1>one percent of boys and five point three percent of

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<v Speaker 1>girls said that they had anonymously posted mean messages about themselves.

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<v Speaker 1>Samir Hinduja is co director of the Cyber Bullying Research

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<v Speaker 1>Center and a professor of criminology and criminal justice at

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<v Speaker 1>Florida Atlantic University. He conducted the Digital self Harm study

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<v Speaker 1>with Cyberbullying Research Center co director Justin Patchen, a professor

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<v Speaker 1>of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin all Claire.

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<v Speaker 1>Hinduja and Patchen chose the term digital self harm as

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<v Speaker 1>opposed to self cyber bullying or self trolling to draw

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<v Speaker 1>attention to possible connections between this destructive online behavior and

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<v Speaker 1>traditional self harming acts like cutting, burning, or hitting oneself.

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<v Speaker 1>According to the latest figures, between thirteen and eighteen percent

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<v Speaker 1>of adolescence worldwide report to committing at least one self

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<v Speaker 1>harming act, and more alarmingly, among young adults with a

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<v Speaker 1>history of self harming behaviors, seventy sent attempts suicide at

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<v Speaker 1>least once and make multiple suicide attempts. The researchers wanted

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<v Speaker 1>to see whether there might be a link between online

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<v Speaker 1>self harm and these negative behaviors. Their study represents the

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<v Speaker 1>first comprehensive look at digital self harm among adolescents, and

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<v Speaker 1>their results were published in the Journal of Adolescents Health.

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<v Speaker 1>On the surface, digital self harm looks like other instances

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<v Speaker 1>of cyber bullying. The victim receives threatening or abuse of

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<v Speaker 1>posts on social media or via text messages, saying unfortunately

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<v Speaker 1>common internet insults along the lines of your ugly and

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<v Speaker 1>nobody likes you, or you should just kill yourself. But

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<v Speaker 1>the truth is that the victim is also the perpetrator,

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<v Speaker 1>directing the abuse at themselves through behavior that's at once

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<v Speaker 1>a call for help and a cry for attention. As

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<v Speaker 1>part of Hinduja and Patched and study, which analyzed email

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<v Speaker 1>responses from a nationally representative sample of five thousand, five

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<v Speaker 1>and nine adolescents, the researchers asked young teens to share

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<v Speaker 1>reasons why they had sent themselves bullying messages. Some of

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<v Speaker 1>the kids, mostly boys, so that they were just bored

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<v Speaker 1>and thought it was funny. But more than half of

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<v Speaker 1>those who admitted cyber bullying themselves indicated that other people

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<v Speaker 1>were the real audience or expressed some message of self hate.

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<v Speaker 1>A fourteen year old boyfriend Wisconsin, wrote that he wanted

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<v Speaker 1>other people's pity and wanted to be validated that someone

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<v Speaker 1>did actually care about me. Another boy indicated that posting

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<v Speaker 1>abuse of messages about himself might rally a supporting online

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<v Speaker 1>community around him. Quote. Everyone is going to have moments

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<v Speaker 1>in their lives hating themselves. Sometimes it helps posting about

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<v Speaker 1>it online. The internet might be a terrible place, but

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<v Speaker 1>there are tons of people around the world who are

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<v Speaker 1>willing to help you, he wrote. In general, Hindi just says.

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<v Speaker 1>Boys and the survey were more likely to have participated

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<v Speaker 1>in digital self harm as a joke, while girls were

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<v Speaker 1>more likely to do it as an expression of what

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<v Speaker 1>the researchers called deep seated emotional turmoil. Teens who identified

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<v Speaker 1>as lgbt Q were three times more likely to cyber

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<v Speaker 1>bully themselves, and kids who were cyber bullied by others

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<v Speaker 1>were twelve times more likely to later train the abuse

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<v Speaker 1>on themselves. As one sixteen year old girl wrote on

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<v Speaker 1>her survey, after this happened at school and online, I

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<v Speaker 1>became very depressed. I didn't like myself very much. I

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<v Speaker 1>felt like I deserved to be treated this way, so

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<v Speaker 1>I thought I would get in on the fun. The

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<v Speaker 1>researchers say that this kind of self harming and self

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<v Speaker 1>hating behavior seems completely irrational from a psychological standpoint, that

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<v Speaker 1>it's actually a classic example of what are called maladaptive

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<v Speaker 1>coping mechanisms when coping with depression or abuse. Hindu just

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<v Speaker 1>says adults do the same sort of thing. Sometimes we

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<v Speaker 1>indulge in alcohol or drugs, use smoking as a crutch,

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<v Speaker 1>engage in reckless behavior and reckless choices sexual or otherwise.

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<v Speaker 1>The researchers stress that much more study needs to be

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<v Speaker 1>done in order to understand the extent of digital self

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<v Speaker 1>harming behaviors and their underlying causes, but it's important for parents, teachers,

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<v Speaker 1>and law enforcement to understand that it exists and to

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<v Speaker 1>not assume that abusive and disturbing posts necessarily originated from

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<v Speaker 1>outside cyber bullies. Organizations like the Cyber Smile Foundation and

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<v Speaker 1>to Write Love on Her Arms not only offer support

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<v Speaker 1>for people who struggle with depression, self harming behavior, and

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<v Speaker 1>cyber bullying, but provide volunteer opportunities to spread messages of

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<v Speaker 1>positivity and support online. Today's episode was written by Dave

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<v Speaker 1>Ruse and produced by Tristan McNeil. And Tyler Klein. If

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<v Speaker 1>you were someone you know is struggling, check out the

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<v Speaker 1>sources we mentioned in this episode, or a Google for

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<v Speaker 1>other help in your area. I probably don't know you,

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<v Speaker 1>but I think you're rad. And for more on listen

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<v Speaker 1>lots of other mental health topics, visit how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. Brain Stuff is a production of our Heart Radio.

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