In the article “One in ten Florida teens report engaging in ‘digital self-harm’,” Florida International University (FIU) introduces a highly ambiguous and serious issue that may be completely unknown and incomprehensible for the older generation – digital self-harm or self-cyberbullying. This phenomenon implies creating abusive and humiliating comments in social media about a person by himself and posting them on behalf of a stranger. According to the study conducted by Ryan Meldrum, a digital self-harm researcher and associate professor of criminology and criminal justice in FIU, from 10,000 students, “approximately 10 percent of Florida middle and high school students report having engaged in “digital self-harm” – they have cyberbullied themselves” (Florida International University, 2020, para. 1). Moreover, results showed that 6% of them had done it in the past month (Florida International University, 2020). At the same time, the study was focused mainly on the reasons for self-cyberbullying as it is difficult to understand why people force themselves to deal with hurtful messages perfectly knowing what emotions and feelings they cause.
Thus, Meldrum stated that the majority of adolescents engaged in self-harm on social media platforms were cyberbullied or bullied before (Florida International University, 2020). Similar to physical self-harm that helps victims to distract from unbearable emotional pain, self-cyberbullying is used to cause sympathy and protection of other people. In other words, by posting humiliating comments about themselves, young people hope that other users will support and defend them giving a sense of self-worth. In general, Meldrum’s study is highly significant as it is oly the second peer-reviewed research dedicated to digital self-harm. Thus, it may be used in order to develop the most efficient responsive strategies.
Relation to Society/Life
As a matter of fact, digital self-harm is strongly connected with mental health problems and emotional distress. Personally, I have never post humiliating remarks to my accounts, however, I am aware of several cases when my peers did it. At the same time, it is not clear whether some of them self-bullied due to psychological issues as the majority of these people simply wanted to see the reaction of other users posting offensive comments mostly due to boredom.
At the same time, the research of Ryan Meldrum currently serves as a basis for further studies and the investigation of self-cyberbullying. In her news article “Digital self-harm: What to do when kids cyberbully themselves,” Juli Fraga (2021) mentioned that its validity is indirectly confirmed by young people’s positive feedback – she provides an example of a TikTok video that addressed a man who bullied himself to receive other users’ sympathy. While the video received almost 2,000 comments with the majority of people thinking it was a joke, some users admitted that they acted in the same way to see if they would be defended. Subsequently, on the basis of experts’ opinions and real-life evidence, the article identifies the most vulnerable groups, such as LGBTIQ youth and marginalized youth, and potential reasons for digital self-harm, including attempts to attract attention or cope with disappointment, anger, hopelessness, and psychological distress caused by cyberbullying and social isolation.
Relation to the Field of Study
In general, digital self-harm unites and is directly connected with several modern social issues and fields of study, including adolescents’ mental health, a negative impact of social media on people’s communication and self-perception, self-harm, and cyberbullying. In the present day, the Internet provides anonymity that is used by people with a lack of empathy to humiliate others with impunity causing cyberbullying. At the same time, children, adolescents, and young adults may be regarded as the most vulnerable population groups as their psychological defensive mechanisms are undeveloped and they frequently take offensive messages highly personally. As a result, they are exposed to emotional distress, anxiety, depression, anger, and the feeling of hopelessness that may cause self-harm or even suicidal attempts. According to the World Health Organization, as a substantial public health concern across the globe, self-harm in children and adolescents is “is the second leading cause of death among 15- to 29-year-olds,” especially women (Welch, 2017, para. 2). Drug overdose, self-poisoning, cutting suffocation, hanging, scalding, and jumping are among the most common types of self-harm.
However, with the development of a digital sphere and the appearance of social media platforms, bullying and self-harm have moved to cyberspace. The importance of self-bullying or self-trolling is determined by the fact that it remains less examined in comparison with cyberbullying, its reasons, and potential solutions, being a highly disturbing issue with unclear factors. As a matter of fact, a prevalent number of specialists admit that honest, non-judgmental, and open communication with young people that reminds cognitive empathy may be regarded as the most efficient solution to the problem of both traditional and digital self-harm.
References
Florida International University. (2020). One in ten Florida teens report engaging in ‘digital self-harm‘. CISION PR Newswire. Web.
Fraga. J. (2021). Digital self-harm: What to do when kids cyberbully themselves. The Washington Post. Web.
Welch, A. (2017). Study sees troubling trend of self-harm in teen girls. CBS News. Web.