In the ever changing nature of society, technology has become an everyday part of life for children in Australia. However, this emergence of technology has also opened up these children to something a lot more sinister: cyberbullying. A recent article by Wilson (2016, April 16) for news.com has discussed this so-called ‘scourge’ of cyberbullying in Australia wherein victims have experienced false rumours, ridicule, and the doctoring of images in order to cause humiliation. Price & Dalgleish (2010) also discussed this issue and outlined cyberbullying as being an extension of ‘typical’ bullying that occurs through technology (i.e. internet and mobile phones) in order to cause emotional distress to someone through “threats, social exclusion tactics, …show more content…
Childhood is a constantly changing thing and technology follows this change so, according to Malone (2014), by stakeholders acknowledging the reconstruction of childhood they are engaging in this process – which can include ideas revolving around the use of social media. Swist, Collin, McCormack, & Third (2015) outline the positive role that social media has on children today, including things such as: increased access to both mental and physical health information and services; the support of social media in constructing children’s ideas of identity and sexuality; and increased accessibility to learning opportunities. Therefore, this technology is an important and essential tool for furthering a child’s education in a modern world. Children are now gaining additional knowledge, socialisation and play because they now use technology as an essential tool to produce meanings, identities, constructions of reality, and to spread the norms and values of their cultures