Cyber bullying: How It Works

When a child or young adult accesses the internet, text messages or social media websites, or chat rooms they are susceptible to cyber bullying. As you are aware, cyber bullying is the use of digital technology to harass another child or young adult.

Zach’s Empowerment

Zach, age 16 is a teenager who was a bully. Zach stated “I was angry with my life because my parents were arguing and I always felt better when I made others feel bad. I resorted to cyber bullying because no one knew who I was on there. I would hide behind a screen name and I wouldn’t be caught. I harassed a classmate of mine through a chat room and I thought it was fun because he had no idea it was me.”

As you can see, Zach felt empowered because he was able to bully a classmate and get away with it. Zach’s method of using a chat room is an example of how cyber bullying can follow victims outside of school and even in their own homes.

Harmful Effects on Dana

Dana, age 14, is a victim of cyber bullying. Dana stated “There was a guy in my class that would constantly message me with a username. He would say awful things that made me feel ugly and fat. I knew that he was lowering my self-esteem but I felt powerless to do anything. If I reported it to the teachers, they could not prove it was him.”

In Dana’s Situation, the bully was not able to be identified and was able to constantly harass her by cyber bullying. Cyber bullying like this can often lead to low self-esteem which Dana experienced and it can also lead to feeling hurt, depressed, angry or suicidal.

Can the Roles be Switched?

Often times cyber bullying is something any young adult or child can do. It is easy to hide behind a screen name or fake profile to harass another student. Victims may feel angry and turn around and cyber bully another person.

Julie’s Transformation – Bullying to Bully

Julie, age 18, stated “Back when I was 14 years old I was cyber bullied a lot. I was made fun of for being ugly and short. I always felt angry at myself for letting them bully me. One day I decided to bully one of the girls that bullied me. I said some awful things about her brother and his OCD. I spread lies on social media websites about her and she stopped bothering me. However, I couldn’t stop bothering her because I did not want to go back to being bullied again.”

The Bullying Cycle had started

With Julie, she retaliated because she no longer wanted to be bullied. This started a bullying cycle in which the victims become the bullies and the bullies become victims. Later, the same thing might happen to Julie and she will become the one who is bullied again.

The Worst Part of Bullying is…

Cyber bullying can be done anonymously which makes it easier for the bully and it also hurts the victim more due to the fact that it can follow them everywhere and happen at any time.

Should you need to fulfill your continuing education requirement you might consider getting Bullying CEUs.

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Illusion of Gambling

A client, Chad age 18, stated “When I watch movies or TV, gambling is shown as something cool and something that adults do that is fun and is easy money. I always could not wait until I turned 21 so I could go to Las Vegas to gamble. There would be money; girls and it would be a great time.” As you can see, gambling is often depicted as a means of striking it rich easy or something that is “cool”. Due to the way gambling was depicted to Chad, he had the strong urge to go to Las Vegas and gamble to recreate the scenes he had seen in movies or TV shows.

While these shows are being glamorized on screen, it gives teenagers the urge to want to try it out. High school students show twice the amount of gambling problems as adult. These teens show signs of pathological gambling. As you know, pathological gambling signs include the rush when gambling, making many IOUs rather than stopping once they run out of money, they constantly try to stay in the game, and keep playing even after large amounts of losses.

Drew’s Problem

Drew, age 16 stated “There was one night where a bunch of us guys were playing poker and I had run out of money and I had not won anything. I felt like if I could just stay in the game I could win it all back! So I started telling the guys that I would pay them back and kept making IOUs. By the end of the night, I knew I couldn’t pay the guys back. They kept asking me for the money after that but I kept making excuses and I thought that if I gambled one more time I could win it back and pay them all back. I kept losing and I couldn’t stop. I got angry and also considered stealing from other students.” As you can see, Drew showed signs of pathological gambling. He believed that if he kept playing, he would eventually win everything back. This rarely happens in gambling and this mindset is what gets them to keep gambling. Drew was sucked into gambling at a young age which made him more susceptible to becoming addicted. The young age and gambling can become a serious addiction.

How Parents Can Help Young Age and Gambling

There are various ways to help prevent teenagers from becoming addicted. The longer parents keep teenagers from gambling, the less likely they will be to becoming addicted to gambling. Studies have shown that students who have a substance abuse problem also have a gambling problem. Those that started to gamble at a younger age also wager more frequently than gamblers who started as adults. Parents should discourage gambling and monitor their children. Parents should look for signs of grades dropping, odd money problems, lack of time spent with friends and family, and time spent with troublemakers. Parents can explain that social gambling can be fun on occasion but there are many negative consequences when one becomes addicted to gambling.

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Teen Gambling

Teenagers and gambling is a problem that is often overlooked by parents and teachers. There are many negative impacts that gambling can affect teenagers and the way  they behave. These do not only affect the teenagers but their family, friends and peers around them as well. Age limits on gambling are not enough to deter teenagers from finding other ways of gambling. There are all sorts of gambling methods

As you know, there is a minimum age requirement to gamble but the majority of teenagers are still able to find places to gamble and place bets. They may not be able to get into a casino but they are able to participate in lottery tickets, scratch and win cards, betting on sports game outcomes, and even internet gambling.

Jared Age 17 Wanted to be Cool

Jared age 17 stated in a session “I was attracted to gambling because it seemed fun and exciting. I also thought I would be able to win lots of money! All of my friends thought it was cool to gamble so I thought it was cool as well.” Jared did not view gambling as something harmful like they would with drug addiction or alcohol. Part of that reason is because there are fewer programs that educate teens about gambling and gambling addiction. Jared stated “My parents leave their credit card on the counter sometimes which is how I was able to gamble online. As long as I win the money back that I use from them, they won’t notice!” Jared was uneducated about the risk of never winning back what you bet.  If you are a social worker, MFT, or addictions counselor and need CEUs check out our addictions courses on onlineceucredit.com/online-ceus-addictions.php

Andy’s Parents lack of concern

Many parents do not pay as much attention to teen gambling as they would with drugs or drinking. It is often overlooked as something that is not an immediate concern. Children may see other family members gambling and receive the impression that it is harmless. This was apparent in a situation with my client, Andy age 15 who had started off playing card games with his friends after school. Andy stated “It was just fun at first I suggested we bet money because that’s how the adults do it. After that, we always bet money. I would skip lunch so I could use the money to bet. I started to lose more often and I became a bully and took money from other kids so I would have enough.” Andy was caught gambling after he showed signs of aggression with another student due to a gambling bet. His parents had no idea he had a gambling problem until he was caught. As you know, children often look up to adults so when they see family members betting money or gambling, they may imitate the behavior.

Lori’s School Work Suffered due to Teen Gambling

Due to the teen gambling, Andy became aggressive and stole money from other students. These are only a few of the many negative side effects that can come from teen gambling. Some other effects include the lack of attention in school and also lack of interest in any other activities. The parent of a student Lori who was age 19 expressed her frustration “Lori used to be such a great student, she used to achieve good grades and she was also a part of the school’s volleyball team but recently, she always goes over to a friend’s house to play poker. Her grades have dropped significantly and she won’t even talk to me about it. Her volleyball coach also came to me and expressed concern over Lori due to recent absences. It is like all of her attention is being sucked away by poker!” Lori did not become violent or aggressive like Andy but she lost interest in other interests she had and her school performance dropped significantly as well.

Age limits don’t work

There may be an age limit on gambling but that doesn’t stop teens from finding other ways to gamble. There are 30-40% of students across the United States that have tried and participated in some form of gambling.

What do you think?

Do you have a Jared, Andy or Lori that you have treated or are currently treating? I’d love to hear about a client you are treating for gambling.  If you need continuing education credits for your license renewal, check out our facebook page  to get a 20% discount code. This code entitles you to an additional 20% off CEU courses

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