Digital culture is part of children’s and adolescents’ everyday lives. Digital culture has both positive and negative consequences. One such negative consequence is cyber violence that has been termed cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can cause serious emotional, behavioural and academic problems for both the victim and the bully. Although there is ongoing research on the effects of cyber bullying on children and youth in South Africa, no research has been carried out on how children’s and youth’s spirituality may be affected when they are cyber bullied. This article discusses the accumulative results from different South African institutes that have researched the cyber bullying effects on children and adolescents. These results point to the spiritual effects that children and youth may experience as a result of cyber bullying. This article proposes that spirituality may prevent cyber bullying and even help children and youth heal from the trauma caused by cyber bullying. This article contributes in starting a conversation that may result in more specific research being done on how the spiritual lives of children and adolescents may be affected through the trauma caused by cyber bullying.
Digital culture is now the norm in the everyday lives of children
Identity (individual character) and lifestyle are thought to nurture the development of spirituality (Witmer & Sweeney
There is ongoing research on the effects of cyber bullying on children and youth in South Africa. However, there has been no research on how children’s and youth’s spirituality may be affected when they are cyber bullied. Hoff and Mitchell ( may not reveal the complicated ways in which this social phenomenon [
This may include how cyber bullying is affecting children’s and adolescents’ spiritual lives.
The purpose of this article is to examine the research done by the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention (CJCP) and Youth Research Bureau of Market Research at the University of South Africa (UNISA) and consider the data they have gathered on the effect of violence from cyber bullying on children and youth. This article hopes to begin a conversation that will lead to more specific research being undertaken on how the trauma caused by cyber bullying may ultimately affect child and youth spirituality relating to both the victim and the perpetrator. I will also explore the possibility that cyber bullying may be combated by choosing to live out a spiritually conscious life.
The formation of identity and spirituality are connected to each other, and the process is complex and multi-layered. It involves many aspects of people’s lives and everyday encounters. Identity is shaped by the interaction between a person and his or her society (Berger & Luckmann
Apostolides (
In his
Once the adolescent is ready to move to stage four (beginning at approximately the age of 21), he or she may have contradictory thoughts and conflicts with what he or she once had respect for. These conflicts are essential in the adolescent’s life to assist him or her to take on the responsibility for his or her commitments and the way he or she chooses to live out his or her life (Fowler
In this article, spirituality is a ‘conscious involvement in the project of life integration through self-transcendence towards the ultimate value one perceives’ (Sheldrake
A study conducted on adolescents and spirituality showed that spirituality is an essential aspect of adolescence, especially in adolescent resilience (Raftopuolos & Bates
In a study done to explore the experiences and meanings adolescents associate with spirituality, it was found that some adolescents identified spirituality with well-being and good self-esteem (Spur, Berry & Walker
Bullying is not a new phenomenon at schools. However, the added factor of technology has resulted in a different and more disturbing and destructive type of bullying, namely, cyber bullying (Sabella, Patchin & Hinduja
Bullying is when school-aged children and youth physically or verbally abuse another person or group of people. The behaviour is aggressive and occurs repeatedly. Bullying includes actions such as spreading rumours, threatening and physical attacks (Stopbullying.gov
Cyber bullying entails bullying that occurs through communication technology such as texts, instant messaging, online forums and so on, ‘to harass, threaten or humiliate another child or teen’ (South African Police Services
Cyber bullying can lead to, amongst numerous problems, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, isolation, loneliness, bunking from school and so on (Popovac & Leoschut
Sexting is ‘the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cellphone’.
On 18 May 2015, the Department of Basic Education in South Africa posted an urgent call to schools and parents to educate adolescents on sexting (South African Government
This call came after 20 naked photos of schoolboys from Pretoria were posted on a fake Twitter account and cyber forensic specialists revealed that 200 Grade 11 pupils from Johannesburg were sending or receiving naked images of themselves and classmates.
The damage done to adolescents from sexting may have dire consequences. Once the pictures go online and then viral ‘the adolescents are within hours exposed to millions of viewers, leaving them in immense distress, embarrassed, humiliated, and deeply ashamed, even to the point of suicide’ (South African Government
Here I will look at four studies that were done between 2009 and 2014 in different provinces, regions and cities of South Africa.
A study was done in 2009 by CJCP on 1726 youth from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. This pilot study was conducted to determine if a more extensive study needed to be conducted on cyber violence. The study employed an urban sample from the four largest cities in South Africa. The study involved children and youth between the ages of 12 and 24 from random socioeconomic backgrounds and made the following findings (Burton & Mutongwizo A total of 48% of the children and youth reported cyber aggression such as being harassed via their phones. A total of 37% of the children and youth reported being cyber bullied. Of the children and youth interviewed, one out of three had reported some form or other of cyber aggression at school. Electronic aggression was often experienced via voice calls, text messages, instant messaging, emails, videos and photographs (these are in order of frequency).
The study also found that cyber bullying could have more damaging and longer lasting effects on children and youth than face-to-face bullying, as anything posted online may be permanent and can, therefore, come back to haunt the victim later on in life. The victims experience loneliness and are prone to depression that has been directly linked to cyber violence. ‘Such acts also undermine the victim’s formation of positive, healthy and pro-social relationships with peers’ (Burton & Mutongwizo
A study was done in 2011 by the Youth Research Bureau of Market Research at UNISA on cyber bullying and sexting involving high school youth found the following (Badenhorst A total of 21% of the youth said they had been approached by unwelcome sex talk. A total of 18% of the youth said they had received emails with links to X-rated websites. A total of 17% of the youth said they had opened messages with naked people or people having sex. A total of 14% of the youth said they had been harassed or threatened online. A total of 10% of the youth said they had been asked to do something sexual (Badenhorst More male than female youth were prone to participate in unsafe online activities, such as accessing X-rated websites. This online activity also puts youths at a greater risk of online victimisation.
Research was done in 2012 in Gauteng by the Youth Bureau of Market Research by UNISA. The study was on bullying involving children and youth between the ages of 12 and 25 from random socioeconomic backgrounds found the following (Zulu & Tustin While bullying remains prevalent, there is an increased number of cyber bullying incidents, particularly sexting incidents. Cyber bullying and sexting take place mainly through cell phones. Cyber bullying takes place mostly, but not exclusively, through SMSs, social networks and MXit, and contain messages that are upsetting – the victim is called names, and false statements are made about the victim. On a lesser scale, children and youth had also received threatening messages, messages of unwanted sex talk or suggestive photos. Youth are aware that technology is creating a platform where they can bully and be bullied.
Research was also done in 2014 by the Youth Bureau of Market Research in Gauteng and the Western Cape. The study focused on the emotions experienced from cyber bullying. The research was conducted on children and youth between the ages of 13 and 18 from random socioeconomic backgrounds. The research found the following results (Tustin et al. While physical and emotional bullying remains prevalent, incidents of cyber bullying are on the increase. One in every five learners falls victim to cyber bullying. Cyber bullying has a lasting emotional effect on the affected learners. The victims of cyber bullying were between the ages of 15 and 18 and these learners experienced upsetting messages, rumours, gossip and sexual remarks. However, 13-year-olds and 14-year-olds fell victim to name calling. More male learners fell victim to unflattering, suggestive photos or photos and videos distributed of them online. More males received threatening and upsetting messages. However, the analyses revealed that the proportion of male and females being cyber bullied is not statistically significant (Tustin et al. Cell phones are the most popular communication medium for cyber bullying via SMS and MXit. Emotional consequences are: Depression is the most common consequence of cyber bullying expressed as feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Victims also felt angry, irritable and degraded. Depression is one of the main risk factors for suicide (Tustin et al. The study also revealed that victims reacted by avoiding social networks and chat rooms. In this last study, perhaps the researchers have taken into account the emotional and psychological consequences of the victims. This gives us some notion of the spiritual effects that may occur from cyber bullying.
The above research and findings for the studies done in South Africa follow the trend of research and findings gathered from countries such as the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and China on cyber bullying (see Sabella et al.
From the above research, we see that cyber bullying is on the rise. Most youth are aware that technology can be used to bully and also be bullied. Cell phones are the devices that are mostly used to send out sexual, aggressive and malicious content to a person and about a person. The victims are harassed, often continuously, as children and youth tend to keep their phones on their person at all times. The children and youth that are abused through their cell phones exhibit feelings of depression, anger, irritability, hopelessness and anxiety. Cyber bullying is a direct attack on a person’s identity, challenging how they perceive themselves once they are attacked. Cyber bullying is degrading and traumatising with long-term emotional effects. The victim’s ability to form positive, healthy and good social relationships may be hindered thereafter. One study found that sometimes the perpetrator may also commit other acts of violence and may exhibit psychosocial and risky behaviours. The perpetrators seem to use cyber bullying to revenge their anger. Research done in Massachusetts in the United States found that the perpetrator’s primary motive was anger and the need to revenge that anger, while the second reason was doing it for fun (Englander
Cyber bullying has serious consequences for both the bully and the bullied. The cyber victim is degraded, embarrassed and humiliated, emotionally and sometimes publically. Adults sometimes try to handle a situation by saying that bullying and cyber bullying is something that adolescents do and that the adolescent needs to deal with it to help them toughen up. Sabella et al. (
When a child or youth is bullied through technology, there is a sense of dehumanisation of the other person. The perpetrator is objectifying his or her victim, and this may lead to not caring about a person’s emotions, as the victim is behind the screen. As was said above, some of the perpetrators cyber bully for fun, and do not seem to connect their actions with the outcome (Sabella et al.
People seem to become objects that can be used and discarded. This is especially so with sexting that is put out to take revenge on a person publically. As was said above, most adolescents are self-conscious of what others think of them (Fowler
The study done by Raftopuolos and Bates (
Ideally, measures should be taken that prevent cyber bullying at school and home. However, this is not always possible as technology is part of life. Children and adolescents should not avoid technology once they are cyber bullied. The victim should be able to use their device without fear and be helped to cope with the content sent to them (Sabella et al. In order to ‘address and prevent cyber bullying, a holistic approach focusing on prevention programs must ideally involve learners, family and the community’. There is a need for early identification services for the victim and perpetrators. This means that if a student is seen to be deteriorating in school performance, not coming to school, partaking in substance abuse or showing other emotional symptoms, he or she should be offered an intervention programme/therapeutic programme. These programmes would be able to prevent dysfunctional behaviour of the victim and give the perpetrator the opportunity to take responsibility for his or her actions. As there is a high level of cyber bullying taking place amongst learners, the implication is that of a teamwork approach. This would involve educators, social workers, psychologists, law enforcement and so on. Tustin et al. (
For the above to be a truly holistic approach to help children and youth cope with cyber bullying, the spiritual aspect of a person’s life needs to be included. Spirituality, as was explained above, is a vital part of human existence. Nowsky ( concerned with the meaning of their lives, be mindful of the relationships they have, ask others for help and in turn help others (interdependency), be charitable and generous, be grateful.
While there is no correct way to attain spirituality, the above ways of being can be chosen to enrich a person’s life. These practices need to be implemented and followed through. Choosing to ponder on the meaning of life, showing concern towards others, learning to ask for another person’s help and being grateful for what you have as opposed to wanting what others have, puts perspective into your life that may allow for spiritual transcendence. Here, parents play a vital role (as well as guardians, teachers, ministers) in the spiritual lives of children and adolescents. Parents, teachers, ministers and all adults who deal with children and youth need to be involved in teaching children and youth coping skills, to learn to responsibly deal with, to respond appropriately when confronted with, and not to engage in traumatising others through cyber bullying and sexting.
I propose that the spiritual qualities, such as those mentioned above, be incorporated into children and youths’ everyday lives (in the home, the classroom and the playground). This incorporation needs to be a community effort. This may be done from a religious perspective or a non-religious perspective as the basic values involved are the same. The spiritual qualities of the meaning of life: showing concern towards others, learning to ask for another person’s help and being grateful, may make children and youth more sensitive and mindful of how they treat others and themselves.
Without adult guidance, explains Sax (
This article has discussed the accumulative results from different South African institutes that have been done on how cyber bullying affects children and adolescents. These results point to the spiritual effects that children and youth may be experiencing as a result of cyber bullying. This article has proposed that spirituality may be a way to prevent cyber bullying and even help children and youth heal from the trauma caused by cyber bullying. Spirituality may also help children and young people to be more resilient in the hardships that life may present them with. This resilience will impact on how these children and youth form identity and spirituality, and how they participate in society. A person who is hopeless, angry and anxious from trauma may struggle to cope in his or her social context, even if he or she no longer participates on the sites that caused the trauma. It is essential that more research is done with South African children and youth to see if children and youth who participate in religious activities or have a spiritual way of leading their lives cope better with cyber bullying than those who do not. More specific research needs to be done on how the trauma caused by cyber bullying may ultimately affect child and youth spirituality. More research will put the phenomenon of cyber bullying into perspective.
The author declares that she has no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced her in writing this article.
A person between infancy and puberty (
A person between adolescence and maturity (
Fowler’s (
Child and adolescent spiritual development is a huge topic that has been researched from many different perspectives. Psychologists, psychiatrists, educators, and theologians, amongst other professionals who come into direct contact with children, write about what they have observed, or undertake studies on children and their spiritual experiences. The following works offer a handful of examples: Coles (