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In recent years, new technologies have generated important changes in our society and have become established in many aspects of our daily lives, affecting our communication patterns, time-use models and social relationships. New technologies are causing profound changes in the way we relate to others; in this way, the web is particularly attractive to adolescents as it facilitates the information, socialization and leisure needs of this evolutionary stage. Social networks have created a new model of relating to others that has changed the meaning of concepts and has set new rules of the game.
The phenomenon is called by different names to identify the same reality, from Cyberbullying, cyberbullying to digital harassment, but all of them share the idea of mistreatment between peers through the use of ICT. Cyberbullying is defined as “the use of some information and communication technologies such as email, instant messaging, harassing personal sites and personal online defamatory behavior by an individual or group that deliberately and repeatedly and hostilely intends to harm another” Belsey (2005).
Cyberbullying, although with slight differences, still shares the characteristics of traditional bullying: the aggressiveness of the behavior, the imbalance of power between the aggressor and the victim and the continuity of the aggression over time. For all these reasons, cyberbullying is considered as a new form of bullying (Smith, 2006), but with some specific characteristics, such as: wide audience, anonymity and sense of impunity, it can be carried out anywhere and at any time, speed and convenience, among others.
There is little research analyzing cyberbullying itself, and even less research analyzing the effects on the victim and the aggressor. However, the effects of cyberbullying tend to be similar to those of traditional bullying. The consequences of peer violence have negative effects for all involved, not only for the victim, who will suffer the most damage, but also for the aggressor and the consenting peers, all of whom will learn negative habits that will influence their psychosocial well-being. However, many researchers indicate that the long-term effects of cyberbullying are as negative and even worse than those associated with traditional bullying (Garaigordobil and oñederra, 2010).
For the victim, it causes fear and rejection of the context in which the violence occurs, loss of self-confidence and trust in others, as well as problems with academic or social performance. Victims often report depression, helplessness, social anxiety, concentration problems, alienation and even suicidal thoughts (Kowalski et al., 2010). The long-term damage of being a victim of bullying stems from the deliberate nature of the bullying behavior, the emotional and moral damage experienced by victims of cyberbullying; compared to traditional bullying, the public nature of cyberbullying increases the negative impact suffered by victims in relation to traditional bullying, as the harm they suffer is observed by countless people who will know about their humiliation or have contributed to it. the psychological damage of bullying suffered at school can be reflected in adulthood and mark the development of their personality.
https://repositorio.comillas.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11531/35553/EYF_38.pdf?sequence=-1#page=112