A child at my school got bullied daily, this was in the early 1980s before the internet was born in 1990. It was nothing too physical just name-calling, pushed out of the dinner queue, spitballs of paper cannoned over towards his desk and items of clothing going missing during physical education (P.E). It was relentless though six hours a day, five days a week this happened. He took solace at home, away from the playground, in his bedroom watching films, listening to music, and at the weekend he enjoyed playing out with the neighbourhood kids. He lived quite a distance away from the school, never coming in contact with the bullies, just mixing in his own social circle. Perhaps one of the reasons the bullying took place is that he was deemed to be an outsider.
What is the online equivalent of the school playground?
The last 20 years have seen the invention and rise of social media. Facebook and Twitter were available to the public in 2006 with the invention of Instagram in 2010 bought by the owners of Facebook. Billions of people connect to the social media boom with laptops, mobile phones, tablets, and home computers. Celebrities have used this platform to boost their career profiles along with personal profiles.
Online bullying from cyberbullying to internet trolling affects everyone, including celebrities. Internet trolling is when individuals leave comments on blogs or online news sites in the comment sections to shift the attention of the authors content to themselves and to disrupt the discussion topic. Cyberbullies tend to target individuals as oppose to general inflammatory statements. Examples could be mean spirited private messages or posting pictures to taunt the celebrity. Cyberbullies do not want attention themselves but to inflict distressing negative attention onto their victim (McDunnigan, 2019).
According to ditchthelabel.org/ cyberbullying has risen drastically over the last ten years, 62% of young people have been sent nasty private messages on a smartphone app-based social network (Hackett, 2019).
Social identity theory is the categorisation of two groups of people, an ‘ingroup’ and an ‘outgroup’ the bullies consider themselves to be the ingroup are usually made up of two or more individuals perceiving themselves to belonging to each other; a bully will rarely be on their own, they will target the ‘outgroup’ perhaps to increase their self-esteem at the expense of the out-group; who is not a member of the ‘ingroup’ whose self-esteem is lowered (Gross, 2015).
What is the solution?
A possible solution to online bullying is to come off social media and not engage with bullies. Bullying should not take place at all, and it could be argued its very cowardly act, whether it is in groups at a school or behind the safety of a computer/mobile phone screen but unfortunately bullies will always exist. Coming off social media might not be an ideal solution, the focus will then shift to another individual, but there is a trend happening…
- 32%, of Facebook’s active monthly users, choose not to log in every day
- 64% of Twitter users are inactive in a given month
Facebook has 491 million active users take a break each month (Lee, 2016).
Many celebrities have adopted this approach, thus nullifying the opportunity for online abuse, but for this blog, the focus will be on singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and the actor Bill Murray.
Ed Sheeran was recently named ‘artist of the decade’ (Beaumont-Thomas, 2019), with his albums spending 41 weeks at number one in the charts, his singles have spent 38 weeks at the top of the charts, totalling 79 weeks at number one. In total, his songs have spent 572 weeks in the top 40 over the last decade. He quit using social media in 2015. On his Instagram, he posted about his social media detox “Hello all. I’m taking a break from my phone, emails and all social media for a while,” he wrote to his followers (Hirsh, 2017). His estimated net worth is $160 million (CNW, 2019).
Actor Bill Murray, famous for such films as Ghostbusters and Caddyshack, does not use social media. He famously does not use an agent or a manager; the only way to contact him is to leave a voicemail on a mythical unlisted 1-800 phone number to a landline. He may get back to you he may not. This is how he does his business in the industry (Kohn, 2019). His estimated net worth is $140 million (CNW, 2019).
When does it go wrong?
Jesy Nelson is a singer in the pop group, Little Mix, at 19yrs old she was working in a pub dreaming of winning the TV show ‘The X-Factor’. In 2011 she did just that as part of a girl group. The group went on to become the biggest girl group since the Spice Girls with the aid of social media. Then the abusive messages came “You are the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life. You do not deserve to be in this girl band; you deserve to die. “She’s a fat ugly rat’; ‘How has she got in this girl group?’; ‘How is the fat one in this?” Consumed by online bullying, Jess soon became depressed, had eating disorders and suicidal thoughts (Hunt, 2019). Jesy was being stereotyped by the online bullies due to her looks and physical appearance compared to the other members of the group. Her downfall was taking the comments personally, maybe she has low self-esteem, perhaps she suffers from ‘imposter syndrome’. Imposter syndrome is a cognitive psychological state in which the person has chronic self-doubt of their own abilities. They may typically think they are lucky, or they are in a false position of success. It is estimated that 70% of people experience imposter syndrome at some point in their lives (Abrams, 2018).
What’s the difference?
The three mentioned artists have lucrative careers. Jesses personal wealth is estimated at £12 million with singing, so why cheapen yourself by continually posting on social media sites provocatively self-promoting photographs of herself, leaving herself open to vile abuse from online trolls. Apart from two pictures on her Instagram page, you would never know she was in a pop group. When vile trolls see a way in they will exploit it, time to take time out from social media and concentrate at doing what you do that has made you successful. Take yourself away from the playground.
What would you do?
References
Abrams, A. (2018, June 20). Yes, Impostor Syndrome Is Real. Here’s How to Deal With It. Retrieved from Time Magazine: https://time.com/5312483/how-to-deal-with-impostor-syndrome/
Beaumont-Thomas, B. (2019, December 11). 79 weeks at No 1: Ed Sheeran named UK artist of the decade. Retrieved from The Guardian Newspaper: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/dec/11/79-weeks-at-no-1-ed-sheeran-named-uk-artist-of-the-decade
CNW. (2019). Bill Murray Net Worth. Retrieved from Celebrity Net Worth: https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/bill-murray-net-worth/
CNW. (2019). Ed Sheeran Net Worth. Retrieved from Celebrity Net Worth: https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/singers/ed-sheeran-net-worth/
Gross, R. (2015). Psychology The science of mind and behaviour. London: Hodder Education.
Hackett, L. (2019). The Wireless Report. Retrieved from Ditch The Label: https://www.ditchthelabel.org/research-papers/the-wireless-report/
Hirsh, S. (2017, February 14). Ed Sheeran Explains Why He Gave Up His Cell Phone. Retrieved from Teen Vogue: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/ed-sheeran-doesnt-have-cell-phone
Hunt, E. (2019, September 8). Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson on surviving the trolls: ‘People were saying horrific things’. Retrieved from The Guardian newspaper: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/08/little-mixs-jesy-nelson-on-surviving-the-trolls-people-were-saying-horrific-things
Kohn, E. (2019, June 10). Bill Murray Explains Why He Created a Secret 1-800 Number to Be Reached About Roles. Retrieved from IndieWIre: https://www.indiewire.com/2019/06/bill-murray-1-800-number-explained-1202148757/
Lee, K. (2016, March 22). How to Take a Social Media Vacation. Retrieved from Buffer: https://buffer.com/resources/how-to-pause-take-break-leave-social-media
McDunnigan, M. (2019). Difference Between a Troll & a Cyberbully. Retrieved from itstillworks: https://itstillworks.com/difference-between-troll-cyberbully-5054.html
Carl Hatch Blog 
Informative and intresting blog, i think jessy is misunderstood. In my opinion she was someone who took validation from external sources. Had been put into a group who she didnt 100 percent identify with and this was recognised by the public who singled her out. This impacted jessy in a way where her soical identity and part if her group was being questioned. This arguably hindered her self-concept which led her to starve herself to fit in with social norm of her group and when this didnt work i beleive she developed body dismorphia.
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I totally agree regarding her identity and ‘being the odd one out’ I can only think the girl from Girls aloud was in a similar situation but Social media wasn’t as big as it was then but I totally agree she was put into the situation and those managers or producers have a duty of care to protect her, BUT on the flip side its no good doing all that and still sending pics of yourself on your personal social media with the same genre of photos.
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Shes fighting back at this point though isnt she. Bullying is such a hurt full thing and if only we educated people about empathy and the impact of these younger maybe it could change there view.
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and thats where things go wrong, you can’t fight back directly, what you going to do msg back EVERYONE that has caused you hurt, your fuelling them for there purpose in the first place, this is where she has gone wrong, she posts pics of herself basically saying ‘look im not fat or ugly’ , now she obviously isnt at all, I do feel sorry for her but you will never win fighting fire with fire, this is where her management should step in and carpet ban her social media accounts, its not a case of giving in to the bulling but just remove yourself from the sess pit playground that is social media. More so if your talent is in other areas that is making you millions of pounds a year. her job isnt to distribute pics of herself wearing scantly clad outfits it is to make music with her group .
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I see but surly that would affect her identity in the group i mean there all quite provocative. I totally agree with you about fighting fire with fire that never works and only causes more destruction. However i feel to offer her a solution we would need to still need to consider that she is going to be wearing provocative clothing if the rest of the group are and that she will post pictures so we must find her another way. Should we be educating the masses on the effects its had ? Shes just done that documentary surely thats to surve this purpose. If we were to attempt to stop bullying over all would this method be usefull ?
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That documentary hasn’t stopped the bullies, it has gain ground for sympathy and highlighted the problem but it hasn’t solved the problem. As for the other girls, maybe they also get hate mail but can deal with it better…or maybe the reason Jess is singled out is because the other girls are deemed more of a social media commodity, Jess could be compared to the fat kid last to be picked for the football team, she is compared to her social group around her and in the eyes of some (ie the bullies) she is the odd one out. The problem with all girls groups and trying to replicate all the singers into the same image will never work, the spice girls did the opposite so well, as every fan will have a favourite spice girl and its a good taking point, when your trying to create a group of the same individuals its nigh on impossible and ‘fans’ will always pick out the weakest link. I really sorry for Jess but I bet its caused resentment within the group as well, shes gotta live up to the image of her band mates to escape the bullies, very hard to do when your at a psychical disadvantage compared to your band mates.
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This is a very valid point o do beleive that one of her fellow band mates suffers from anorexia. And as you stated theres always going to be bullying and discrimination but how as a society would we try to reduce this sort of behaviour over all not just surrounding this one case you have put forwarded but all of them. I ask because i beleive that predudice and discrimination does have a psychological impact on an individual and wonder what your take would be on how we could go about reducing this?
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Of course it has a psychological impact, our state of mind is very fragile, with constant bombardment it is easy to be broke down, this is why the social identity theory must apply, she is being singled out as in the out group, but she is trying to conform to the bullies request ( dieting etc) and be socially accepted. Instead she should embrace her ‘ingroup’ and collectively lose her personal identity and use the groups identity as a platform. Hence why i said all personal social media should be deleted and the band ( the ‘ingroup ) unify going forward with promotion. The title of my blog is when SELF Promoting goes wrong, self promoting will always goes wrong, as know one is perfect, but as a group the ‘in group’ ones person weakness are made up with your peers strengths, this would have been the solution to her problem or at least lessen the bad comments.
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I think the collated social media group for the group in this instance is a really good idea. Why do you think some people dont try to conform then ?
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People as in Jess? she is trying , to the point of its affecting her mental state and dietary habits but no matter how much some people conform it will never work. I think conformity is more attitude and behaviour based rather than a psychical image. There is only so much you can do to fit in, how ever our thoughts and behaviour are easily masked by what we do or say.
People who don’t conform could just have a higher locus of control, a belief of there own self worth , self acceptance, self image rather than use external forces to depict how you are. If Jess had a higher L.O.C the first thing she could have done is just stuck 2 fingers up at the bullies and reflected on her success rather than leave that door open for bullies. As i say the worst thing she did was taking them on both in terms of media and her own attitudes towards herself.
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Great blog, social media is a major problem in society today, unfortunately people who avoid it can be treated as odd for not using social media, creating another out group, I use Facebook ( mostly as an advertising platform for my business), and I’m astounded by what people post, some treat it as their daily diary, some to vent at someone they hate, or purely for attention. My solution is to read up on people I’m connected with, and post very little. Thus avoiding any possible abuse
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It could be argued that social media such as Facebook are just extensions of our deep routed personality, but society prevents us from doing such actions. The problems arise when you use social media in a certain way with our realising the consequences. If your cooking a Sunday roast one lazy Sunday afternoon you would take a photograph of it with a Polaroid camera and knock on everyone’s door and show them a picture of it, nor would you just walk up to a stranger and verbally abuse them. No because you would be told to get lost I’m not interested in what your having for dinner, and you get a punch in the face for the verbal abuse. Nor would you expect a celebrity to take explicit photos of herself and dish them around on the street corner with realising its open to bad publicity. As you say some people are addicted to social media and with the aid of mobile phones , tablets and laptops you can carry the social media platform around with you 24/7 , where as on a home PC your restricted to home leisure times. The catchment times of posting either good or bad comments is now available every second of the day.
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I totally agree
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Brilliant reading.
I think that psychological bullying could be even worse than the physical one. Nowadays, we live a cyber life and we can’t avoid our everyday meetings with the Internet in one or another reason. Same as in the real-life, bullying exists online at the same level. I think that there should be an Internet Low and a Cyber Police, looking strictly after the people there, because as we all know the Internet can be a dangerous place as well. Plus a better education at school for the kids how to protect themselves. My son has had at school several lessons about how to be careful by using the internet. Thank you for the nice blogging:).
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This is a fantastic blog. Looks at cyberbullying from all angles. I do think social media can be very toxic at times. It is taking over peoples lives and now it is hard to sustain contact and friendships/relationships without it. It offers so many people an alter ego where they can express themselves in a way they wouldnt face to face. Its almost like a false sense of security and has alot of people comparing themselves to each other when in most cases the way a person portrays themself online is far from their true reflection.
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I get the cyber bullying and the trolls , its just an extension of the playground bully, BUT recently there is a tipping point of celebs flooding the social media scene with pics of false lifestyles and false idealism, and the general public is not thick and they can see right through it but the problem is when celebs fight back trying to reiterate the false lifestyles. For example some low celeb status keeps putting pics of herself on yachts sipping champagne with a wafer thin body, almost sticking two fingers up as us commoners but when they get trolled they keep on reiterating there status, which we all know is false. I understand its not fair for bullys to target people and it is a lowest form of bullying behind a screen but celebs need to be responsible for fanning the flames sometimes and fighting fire with fire. More so when it affects your own mental health, take yourself away from the situation, dont stand there and get eggs thrown at you from every angle, that solves nothing.
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