In order to understand the theoretical construct of iPredator, in relationship to cyber bullying, the reader will benefit from first reviewing the definition. The definition of iPredator developed by this writer in 2011 is as follows:
iPredator: A child, adult or group who engages in exploitation, victimization, stalking, theft or disparagement of others using information and communications technology (ICT.) iPredators are driven by deviant fantasies, desires for power and control, retribution, religious fanaticism, political reprisal, psychiatric illness, perceptual distortions, peer acceptance or personal and financial gain. iPredators can be any age, either gender and not bound by socio-economic status or racial/national heritage.
iPredator: A child, adult or group who engages in exploitation, victimization, stalking, theft or disparagement of others using information and communications technology (ICT.) iPredators are driven by deviant fantasies, desires for power and control, retribution, religious fanaticism, political reprisal, psychiatric illness, perceptual distortions, peer acceptance or personal and financial gain. iPredators can be any age, either gender and not bound by socio-economic status or racial/national heritage.
iPredator is a global term used to describe all online users who engage in criminal, deviant or abusive behaviors using information and communications technology (hereafter, ICT.) iPredator includes all online users engaged in nefarious and/or abusive online behaviors. Whether the offender is a cyber bully, cyber stalker, cyber criminal, online sexual predator, internet troll or cyber terrorist, they fall within the scope of iPredator.
Cyber bullying uses information and communications technology (hereafter, ICT) to deliver intimidating or demeaning messages at any time and through a variety of avenues. Today's children with online access and equipped with mobile digital technology are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. A child with a mobile phone or social network account can receive online bully messages anywhere and at any time. Many cell phone and digital messages can also be anonymous, increasing the amount of uncertainty and fear experienced by the target child.
This intense psychological stress, particularly for the more vulnerable children who are most often the victims of bullying, adversely affects a child's ability to concentrate on schoolwork, school lessons or activities. Just as classic bullying, cyber bullying adversely affects the academic performance of cyber bullied children. Children who experience classic bullying are likely to avoid locations and activities they associate with negative experiences; online bullying victims attempt to avoid the technological spaces. In cyberspace, technological spaces range from social media networking sites to online websites and other internet arenas relevant to their academic success. These significant digital channels include social networks, chat programs and school computer rooms.
All are vital elements in the educational development and social lives of students. Students who feel excluded from these venues are less likely to participate in social activities that take place or planned online and face greater difficulty learning basic computer skills. As technology and technological skills become more important in modern academics and professional training, cyber bullied students face a number of academic and career disadvantages caused by fear and avoidance as opposed to incompetence.
Network communications and social utilities like Facebook, MySpace or Twitter can generate public attacks. Social media networks link students with different groups of friends and acquaintances. If a online bullying classmate publishes humiliating content about a victim, that message is distributed to mutual school friends and the victim's wider social circle, including family and groups of friends from other activities. These public attacks increase the sense of humiliation experienced and eliminate safe social spaces for the victim, resulting in a lower self-esteem. Poor self-esteem makes a student less likely to participate in class, try new academic activities and thrive in an academic environment.
Classic bullying can result in a decrease in academic performance and cyber bullying has the potential to multiply these effects by the infinite number of places in which students experience technology. While cyber bullying lacks the potential for physical violence present in classic bullying, the significant psychological dangers of bullying are still present and arguably even enhanced by cyber bullying. Online bullying can be clear-cut, such as leaving overtly cruel cell phone text messages or mean notes posted to web sites. Other acts are less obvious, such as impersonating a victim online or posting personal information or videos designed to hurt or embarrass another child.
Cyber bullying can also happen accidentally. The impersonal nature of text messages, IMs and emails make it very hard to detect the sender's tone. One teen's joke or sense of humor could be another's devastating insult. Nevertheless, a repeated pattern of emails, text messages and online posts are rarely accidental.
Cyber bullying tactics will continue to grow in delivery mechanisms as technology advances. At present in 2011, the modes of digital communication include: e-mail, cell phone, text messaging, instant messaging, web sites, online personal polling web sites, interactive/digital technologies (digital videos and photos), PDAs, sending posts on social media sites and text or multiple messages from cell phones. In essence, the cyber bullied child can be taunted and harassed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a week.
Unfortunately, cyber bullying is far worse than classic bullying. Perpetrators are not bound by time or space, and the audience can be much, much bigger. One quarter of young people who have cyber bullied others have also bullied children offline. With the power of technology, the offenses can be much crueler as they can incorporate a rich array of media (sounds, altered graphics, text, video, slide shows and photos) to deliver their attacks. In 2011, Facebook is the king of social networking sites.
As Alfred Adler once stated, "The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge to conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation." Given the persistent taunting, harassment and humiliation a target child experiences when cyber bullied, it is easy to see how academic performance becomes compromised.
