Never in the history of humanity has cyberbullying been so inventive and thus destructive. Cyberbullies exploit this digital age to spread hate. They intentionally and repeatedly use the internet to cause harm, fear or distress to people. Their behaviours includes harassing individuals they consider weak and defenseless, denigrating them and harming their
reputation, typical of hate speech spreaders.
Cyberbullying is not limited to one context. When it happens, it derails human potential and we all bear the consequences. Yet, only one third of Canadians who witness cyberbullying stand up to it. Although cyberbullying feels unstoppable, there are techniques for dealing with it.
In this workshop, we will explore how administers and professionals in adult education, can use some of these techniques, namely the “Get Ready to Act Against Social Media Propaganda” model, to help passive bystanders address what holds them back and become equipped and empowered to actively counter cyberbullying. The five-step model is accompanied by tools stemming from Personal Construct Psychology and works on the idea that learning about oneself and understanding one’s own behaviours in cyberbullying contexts is key to transforming passive bystanders into agents of change.
