The Internet can be a tremendous gift to parents, educators, and students alike, offering instant information and perspective regarding complex and frustrating topics. Families who struggle with their school’s response to gifted children can locate resources in a single click. Those who choose to homeschool their gifted or 2E child have a wealth of assistance available that wasn’t even dreamed of as recently as 25 years ago. Parents who might not even know how or why their children are so markedly different are able to locate pre-screening tests and diagnosis suggestions from experts. Perhaps even more importantly, families with gifted children can connect with other families who are facing similar challenges and exchange information, comfort, and insight.
Gifted children can also use online resources and apps to further their interests and communicate with experts in their field for guidance. They are able to test their mettle against adults as well as other gifted children. Those whose gifts are technologically oriented have the opportunity to sharpen their skills from an extremely early age. In this sense, it has never been a better time to be an exceptional student: The collected knowledge and of all humanity is instantly available in the palm of one’s hand. Not only can gifted children access all they want to know about their niche interests, they are able to make friends far more easily than otherwise.
Gifted and Bullied
In a phenomenon known as asynchronous development, gifted children develop social and emotional skills at a different rate than their average or even bright peers. At the same time, exceptional children tend to be highly sensitive. The fact that many gifted children are unusually perceptive in matters of fairness and innocence can compound this issue. All of this makes gifted children especially susceptible to bullies.
Bullying is a noted scourge of gifted children and their families. For all their intelligence, exceptional children can lack social skills, and they may be lost in their own worlds, over-correct their peers, or push their knowledge and interest on others in a seemingly arrogant manner.
Unfortunately, the gift of the Internet is sometimes abused by those seeking power, self-assurance, or even entertainment. This especially impacts gifted children who are still forming appropriate cultural boundaries, and a healthy sense of self-protection. Due to their intelligence, advanced vocabulary and tenacity, gifted children might be especially prone to mixing with those who do not have their best interests in mind. Some who feel lonely due to a lack of connection to peers who are friends might make them especially eager to let strangers into their lives.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on social media. Two recent studies suggest that the worst offenders for student cyberbullying is one of the most popular apps: Instagram.
Cyberbullying on Instagram
One of the most common elements of social media is striking visual imagery. Although all elements of social media employ an aspect of this to some extent, Instagram is by far the most visually oriented. Although a Facebook or Twitter post can be made without a photo, an Instagram entry cannot. Even if the image is simply a blank square, some sort of visual element must be uploaded before the app will post. While words can become part of the post, they exist as a small caption beneath a large photo, and clickable links are not permitted.
What’s more, Instagram is not designed for desk computers or even laptops. It’s meant for tablets and smartphones. In fact, while an Instagram user can manage his or her account from a traditional computer, he or she is unable to post to it without a third party interface. This means that adding photos, comments, and tags to Instagram tends to take place on the go—riding in a car, walking one place to another, sitting at lunch. It is not designed for deeply thoughtful interaction. The result is an invitation to post bullying images, comments, and hashtags in comments or captions without much forethought. It’s an issue of great concern to education administrators in Western countries.
Insta-Bullying by the Numbers
An anti-bullying political action group in the United Kingdom called Ditch the Label conducted a 2017 survey of ten thousand students between the ages of twelve and twenty. The survey revealed that while seventeen percent of those surveyed had actually experienced cyberbullying, a whopping sixty-nine percent reported that they had participated in abusive actions towards others. The students also confirmed a worldwide trend: They were leaving Facebook for Instagram, and taking their bullying behaviors with them. Those who reported being bullied online said the experience took place on Instagram.
Social Media Pressures
A separate study by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for Public Health confirmed the findings of Ditch the Label. Conducted at about the same time, the Status of Mind research project found that, among sixteen to twenty-four year olds, 91% used at least some form of social networking, and that some of their symptoms surrounding use of the apps strongly mimicked an addiction to alcohol or even nicotine. Some experts estimate that 5% of young people are, in fact, addicted to not just their devices, but social media in particular. It’s not surprising, then, that problems with depression, poor sleep, and anxiety have skyrocketed.
This study painted a more alarming picture of cyberbullying than Ditch the Label’s sampling. Its respondents reported that 70% of them had experienced abuse online. Perhaps not surprisingly, those who used social media reported a worse body image and greater anxiety than those who did not. When faced with an unending avalanche of images carefully crafted to showcase the account holder as favorably and as popular as possible, it’s easy to see why feelings of inadequacy often accompanied this anxiety.
Low self-esteem and unrealistic expectations also plagued those who heavily used social media. Some also reported an increase in perfectionism. Since these traits can also apply to the gifted, misuse of social media may exacerbate them.