Speaker
Description
The recording of incidents of physical bullying among South African school learners and circulation of such recordings via social media platforms, is growing and causes significant psycho-social distress for survivors. Despite ongoing scholarship centred on the relationship between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, the interconnectedness of physical and cyberbullying is frequently overlooked. The initial phase of an action research project, framed by the theories of Paulo Freire, Bradley Evans and Henry Giroux, explored the interconnectedness of physical and cyberbullying in educational settings. Survivors’ experiences provide evidence of how the nexus of physical and cyberbullying worsens survivors’ suffering. The psychosocial impacts experienced by survivors include increased pain, poor self-image and identity, heightened fear, overwhelming loneliness and feelings of dehumanisation. The research found that physical-cyber interconnectedness creates extensions along four dimensions: content, space, time and participants. These findings led to the theorisation of digitally extended bullying to conceptualise the multi-dimensional extensions of this type of bullying. The research contributes to existing scholarship on bullying by introducing the concept of digitally extended bullying and enhancing understanding of the complex psycho-social dynamics involved. It also reveals opportunities for promoting critical digital literacy and digital citizenship, as well as informing the development of educational interventions to tackle these challenges.
Keywords
action research, digitally extended bullying, critical digital literacy, psychosocial impacts, interventions
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Qualitative method study |
|---|---|
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
