Monografico_1_EN_Doxa_28

EU Kids Online project, which interviewed more than 25,000 children aged 9-16, along with their parents, in 25 European countries.

This study presents an analysis of the most relevant results in Spain of the aforementioned Net Children Go Mobile project, based on the issues listed below.

2. Risk and harm

One of the major findings of this project is that the experience of online risk does not necessarily lead to harm, as indicated by the children themselves (Livingstone et al., 2011). In fact, the EU Kids Online research showed that children who encountered the greatest number of online risks are not necessarily the ones who suffer the most injurious consequences; on the contrary, they are usually the ones who demonstrate the greatest skill and develop the most resistance. Children who are less exposed to opportunities as well as risk tend to feel more upset and worried when they encounter a negative online experience (ibid.; see also Livingstone, Hasebrink, & Görzig, 2012). Among older people, who are exposed to more risk but are more resistant, as well as among children, who participate in fewer activities and therefore face fewer risks, online and offline vulnerability go hand in hand.

2.1. Bullying

While cyberbullying is a recurring issue in both research and in public and political agendas, there is no standardized definition of the term due to the fact that the phenomenon itself is in constant evolution (Schrock & Boyd, 2008; see also Levy et al., 2012). Most definitions are based on the meaning of the term bullying itself and its features. Bullying has been described as a form of aggression that is: intentional, repetitive and implies an inequality of power between the victim and aggressor. Consequently, cyberbullying is defined as intentional and repeated aggression using any type of technological device such as Internet or the mobile phone.

Although cyberbullying is a deliberate and repeated activity that seeks to harass or ridicule another person, and also implies inequality of power that has been mentioned, research has shown that the specific characteristics of online or mobile communication reinforces the features of traditional bullying by adding new elements to the problem. For example, a concealed identity “may increase the threatening nature of a cyberbullying act, or the resulting victim’s sense of helplessness” (Levy et al., 2012, p. 11), and may also increase the power imbalance between victim and aggressor. Anonymity, however, may not be exclusive to online communication (and in fact, the school environment may facilitate anonymous acts of bullying, as Levy and his colleagues point out). Moreover, while an act of cyberbullying may not necessarily repeat itself over time (Levy et al., 2012), the features of media audiences –persistence, traceability, replication, and invisible audiences (Boyd, 2008)– potentially amplify the duration of cyberbullying and its harmful consequences as broader audiences may be involved.

The preceding investigation has shown that while cyberbullying is less common than offline bullying (Livingstone et al., 2011; Ybarra & Mitchel, 2014), the experience is very disturbing and harmful (Livingstone et al., 2011). The shift from offline to online spaces implies that the boundaries of space and time are losing their meaning: one cannot abandon a space