Social environment

The group of friends, the school environment and the social environment are influencing factors on a social level.

At the educational level, the alliance between school and family is crucial. In fact, just as the parents' attitude at home has an influence on their children's behaviour, the teachers' attitude also affects their conduct at school. Teachers, therefore, will try to collaborate with parents to implement a correct education of the children and must behave consistently, condemning and severely punishing bullying attitudes that occur at school. 

Key aspects such as awareness of the suffering of others, appreciation of empathy together with knowledge of emotions should be emphasised in both the family and the school environment. 

School

The school climate can also increase the occurrence of violent behavior. Lack of closeness, feeling of acceptance of all students and mutual respect between teachers and students and vice versa can be one of the factors of school violence. Also, ignoring violence by adults in the school and poor supervision in the entire school area (corridors, toilets, playground, sports hall) can contribute to the frequency of violence in the school. The literature states that the school atmosphere should be warm and acceptable to all students, and that there should be clear rules of conduct both between students and in the relationship between students and teachers.

Society

Society has an influence on the violent behavior of young people through the culture of behavior, the influence of peer groups and the media. Among young people, violent behavior takes place within peer groups, in the form of expressing belonging to a certain group, in the form of participation in some sports (eg riots in stadiums) and music (eg concerts of certain musical genres) manifestations. In addition to the above, violent behavior can be learned, and if a child lives in an environment where there is violence for which there are no punitive measures, the child can very easily adopt such violent behavior.

Media

Many studies have dealt with the relationship between media and children's upbringing, the time children spend watching TV, playing video games, etc. By watching violent content on television, children are exposed to the risk of developing such behavior. In addition to cartoons, videos, dramatic films, and newspapers, children are also exposed to violent content through interactive media - the Internet. This includes video games. It has been noticed that children, immersing themselves in the game, copy the characters from the games with their behavior in movements, expressions and character, giving their friends their names. There is ample evidence of the impact of video and computer games on children (Zadravec, A., Uzelac, M. and others, 2014).

Modern media are ubiquitous, interesting and extremely multi-purpose. Thus, they provide different opportunities for information, learning, entertainment, communication, etc. In addition to being necessary for understanding the modern world, they are an essential component of children's everyday life. One of the most popular media among young people is certainly the mobile phone. It is available at any time and in any place, it has become a kind of "extended hand" to young people. We closely associate the Internet with the mobile phone. In a very short time, the Internet has become a favorite among children and young people, and they are extremely susceptible to its influence. It has many positive sides (e.g. it is a source of the latest knowledge and research results, quick availability of information, exchange of experiences, opinions and information with peers and adults with similar interests or problems, etc.), but at the same time you should be aware of the dangers and risks it can represent ( such as a lot of violent content, hate speech, inaccurate and superficial information that children encounter every day, excessive exclusion from the real world, etc.)

Conducted research indicates that exposure to media violence (through television or computer games) increases the risk for aggressive and violent behavior towards peers in the real world. It is impossible to completely protect and isolate children from violent media content. However, watching violence should be accompanied by a conversation that points to conscience, ethics, morality, and humanity. If a child grows up in an environment where there is interpersonal attention, tolerance and respect, then violent scenes from television screens will not be perceived as instructions on desirable behavior. In the end, you should keep in mind the fact that the Internet and other modern media are still just tools. The user himself decides how to use it and what consequences will result from such behavior (Jelić, I., 2017).

Exercise: Classify concepts according to that causes of violence - https://puzzel.org/en/categorize/play?p=-NO4i2OCziJnbIm9CqBB 

The most common causes of online violence

·        The "Boom" of social networks and the Internet - social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Skype and Viber, allow us to communicate very easily and quickly, and everything is easily visible and accessible.

·        Excessive use of the Internet

·        Lack of supervision by parents and teachers - parents and teachers are role models for children and young people, and it is recommended that they have some control over the activities their children/students perform online. When there is a lack of control or supervision, electronic violence is more likely to occur.

·        Insufficient knowledge and developed awareness of the consequences - when a child can recognize an unsafe/dangerous situation and report it to an adult, it is very likely that he will not have a problem in terms of cyberbullying, nor will he need to be bullied on the internet. Likewise, it is necessary to develop children's awareness of the consequences of spreading images, videos and personal data, but also to develop values such as respect, tolerance, and kindness as much as possible (Characteristics, causes and consequences of cyber violence).

·        Just fun - the causes of online violence among peers are often anger, revenge or frustration, but sometimes peers expose their colleagues or friends to inappropriate situations in modern media and out of sheer fun, boredom, confusion or with the aim of gaining popularity.

Exercise: Quizizz "Causes of bullying and cyberbullying" - https://quizizz.com/embed/quiz/63e8e4e4e55fda001ebf4dc4