Mobile Bully-victim Behaviour on Facebook: The case of South African Students

Abstract

Excessive usage of mobile phones in schools has elevated the delinquency of bullying in school grounds and challenged how school policies are executed when it comes to mobile bullying. While bullying on social networks is a growing problem in South African public high schools today, our understanding of mobile bullying on social networks is still limited in the South African context. There has also been limited focus on one type of bullying called, bully-victims. These are adolescents that swing between being a bully and a victim and are difficult to identify. The present study examined the nature of mobile bully-victims and factors influencing mobile bully- victim behaviour on Facebook in South African public secondary schools. The factors influencing mobile bully-victim behaviour examined were Anonymity, Collective behaviour, Power, Facebook usage, Emojis and Facebook features. A total number of 457 school learners from Gauteng and Western Cape provinces completed the questionnaire and of these 319 were bully-victims. Findings reveal that female adolescents are prone to be mobile bully-victims than male adolescents and anonymity appears to be the most influencing factor of Mobile bully-victim behaviour. The more prevalent the mobile bully-victim behaviour, the more likely bully-victims would use Facebook features, the angry and Love Emojis. The Ha-ha , Wow and Sad Emojis are less used to bully others, while the Love and Anger emojis are mostly used to share and express compassion following victimisation. This confirms earlier claims that Bully-Victims swing between the behaviours or characteristics of a bully and victim. This research also confirms earlier theories and the implications of the findings are discussed.