The domination of new technologies in the lives of children and the youth leads to its consideration in the context of threats and a potential negative influence on adolescents’ functioning. Considering various threats occurring in the virtual space, first of all it is indicated that the Internet, due to apparent anonymity, is often the space of mutual aggression, mocking and attempts to discredit other net users. The presented study refers to the analysis of behaviours being a demonstration of cyberbullying. The research was conducted in conformity with the quantity-quality paradigm. It involved a method of diagnostic survey using the technique of a questionnaire and documents analysis. As the conducted study showed, cyberbullying is a phenomenon which often occurs among contemporary teenagers. The examined persons were most often victims or witnesses of verbal aggression in the net.

Modern digital media not only provide the ways of gaining numerous benefits, but also pose some risks. This applies to adults as well as to children and adolescents who are the victims but also perpetrators of the disjunctive use of the media. The aim of this article is to indicate antinomies in the Polish education policy regarding the secure use of digital media, mainly such as computer, smartphone, and the Internet. The research analyses the most popular portals offering the e-mail service and uses the document analysis method for indicating the inconsistency between legal acts and ordinances of the minister in charge of education and upbringing.

Constitutional and criminal aspects of the demoralisation of young people on the example of happy slapping

The concept of demoralisation has always been present among young people. One of the forms of today’s demoralisation is the so-called happy slappinng, a phenomenon involving filming people in a humiliating situation, and then publishing the recorded material on the Internet. These actions combine traditional violence with virtual violence. The rights of the individual are protected both at the international and national levels. The provisions of the constitution and other laws introduce standards for the protection of an individual against interference by third parties. Current legal regulations do not keep up with this form of crime. Therefore, the provisions of the Penal Code should be amended and activities such as happy slapping ought to be penalised as a separate type of a crime. This would enable efficient proceedings in such cases and provide more effective protection for the victims.

The paper presents the ethnography of virtual phenomena and processes, conducted in the social, educational and cultural spheres of the Internet. It describes the most important features of the global network and shows all its aspects which are the subject of ethnographic studies at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology of the University of Silesia in Katowice, i.e. the communication process and its semiotic character, the process of creating social networks, education supported by social media, virtual self-help groups for stigmatised people, and cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is a behaviour of ever increasing occurrence. Methods of cyberbullying vary, from less serious to very serious forms. The aim of the research was to find out what forms pupils in the Slovak Republic use to perpetrate cyberaggression and through what forms they are victimized. The research was conducted on a sample of 696 pupils of elementary and secondary schools, using the research tool Cyberbullying and Online Aggression Survey Instrument (2010). It was proved that the simplest form of cyberbullying is gross insults posted on the Internet and the most difficult form is creation of websites and videos to cause emotional injury.