• Question: Is there a switch in someone’s brain that causes them to cyberbully or is it something that just happens?

    Asked by anon-287277 to Lisa on 8 Mar 2021.
    • Photo: Lisa Orchard

      Lisa Orchard answered on 8 Mar 2021:

      Hi Louis. Great question!

      I’m not an expert on cyberbullying, but I will try to answer as best as I can. I think there are two things to consider here. First we have to think about bullying in general, and reasons why people may bully. Then we have to consider whether the use of the Internet changes anything.

      There are several associations with bullying. There is an element of individual differences. For instance, bullies have been found to have less empathy, and higher levels of aggression. Research also suggests that a previous experience of being bullied or other violence may mean you are more likely to bully. It may also be associated with higher levels of stress, and more positive attitudes towards bullying.

      In terms of technology, there are a lot of theories around something called disinhibition, which suggests that certain factors of the Internet may make us behave differently to how we usually would. For instance, the fact that we are invisible online, more anonymous, that it feels more like a game than real life, and that it feels like their are no consequences, amongst other factors, can combine to lead to, what John Suler called, toxic disinhibition.

      I’m not sure if there is a switch as such, but rather a combination of different factors at play.

Comments

  • Photo: Dennis

    Dennis commented on :

    Hi Louis Y. I agree with what Lisa said: the fact that we’re more anonymous, we’re more inclined to be rude and nasty to other people online.

    This might be quite unrelated to your question about switch. But I would like to share that if there’s a switch to make people bully other people online. There’s also a switch to make them stop.

    I’m not sure if you’ve heard of defamation of character(libel and slander). When people spread false information about you (which is an example of cyberbullying), you can take them to court. That happened to me in 2018. So I took that person to court and I won. That made the person switch off.