12-year-old Linnea has got a new dress and is very satisfied. She arrives in the school yard and a classmate approaches her, smiles and says: “nice dress, but are they all your colors?” She walks to the classroom while wondering if the dress might suit her friend who has lighter hair. After the last class, Linnea gets on the scooter. Once at home, she locks herself in. As she gives the dog a treat, the phone rings. It is the same friend who wants to tip her off about a sale on dresses, which might be more up her alley. Linnea feels an uneasiness. But is this so common? Unfortunately, Linnea’s story is not unique and according to research, between 40 and 90 per cent of students who experience digital bullying report that they are also exposed to traditional bullying. In the research, we call these students “the double-exposed”. Research shows that this group reports more symptoms of anxiety, depression and lower self-esteem compared to students who report having been exposed to traditional or digital bullying. These findings are not surprising, because students like Linnea can be bullied 24 hours a day. They don’t always know who is sending messages or how many people have seen what is posted. The latest figures from the Student Survey paint a disturbing picture, where there are reports of an increase in bullying in general, but also in digital bullying in particular. Linnea knows that the comment about the dress worries her throughout the afternoon. Before going to bed, she makes one last check on her phone. Inside Snapchat, she discovers that a ranking has been posted of who has the best dressing style of the girls in 7 C. She ended up at the bottom. Who is responsible? It has long been discussed who is responsible when negative events occur in children’s digital lives. In this discussion, we may lose sight of the child a little. You can still hear that what happens on the mobile phone is not the school’s responsibility. Considering the overlap between traditional and digital bullying, it becomes too easy to shift the entire responsibility onto the guardians. At the same time, it also becomes too easy to shift all responsibility onto the school. Linnea’s history shows the complexity. So what do we do then? Is it the case that we should distribute responsibility between school and home based on where the bullying takes place – i.e. that the school should only get involved if it happens at school and that the home is responsible if it happens digitally? Imagine what it would have been like for Linnea when the school had only recorded one negative incident in a month while the rest took place in secret digitally. There is a high chance that this will be seen as a one-off event. Or is it perhaps those who have bought the digital devices who are responsible? So that the school is responsible if things happen digitally – also on the learning board at home in the girls’ room – while parents are responsible for what happens on Linnea’s iPhone? That evening, Linnea goes to bed with a lump in her stomach and her mobile phone on the bedside table. At three o’clock in the morning another message ticks in, this time from an unknown number: “and the winner of the prize for the worst dressed in the class goes to Linnea”. Small drops of poison that help make Linnea’s life very difficult. No one really gets what’s going on because it’s happening in different arenas in her life. Both school and parents spend a lot of energy trying to place the responsibility on each other without actually overcoming the problem – which is Linnea’s experience of not having a safe and good everyday life. In Linnea’s situation, there is no doubt that she is exposed to bullying, which activates the school’s duty to act. But without thorough investigations of the class environment, conversations with Linnea about how she feels in class and during her free time, in addition to the parents’ information about what happens in her free time, it can be very difficult, even for the most experienced teacher, to form a clear picture of the situation, which in turn leads to the right measures being put in place. And if the parents do not contact the school because they think that they themselves have to sort out what happens on Snapchat, this can lead to the relational challenges not being dealt with well. This is because you may only be able to sort out exactly one digital incident, while Linnea still feels insecure among the girls in the class. What students like Linnea need are adults who take responsibility and find a solution together. They also need adults who recognize the connection between digital and analogue life. For what to us may look like a one-off event – for Linnea and many with her, it may only be one of many small drops of poison.
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Small drops of poison – Utterance
