Cyberbullying

Betsy Barnes, Joshua Bhattacharya, Anthony Juda, Beth Lueck, Gabriela Rezzonico, & Morgan Sturm Cyberbullying

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Technology has infiltrated every part of our lives and although there are many benefits to being constantly connected to a wealth of information and people, not knowing how to safely utilize this information can be dangerous. Whether it is for school or personal use, studies show that "approximately 87% of youth between the ages of 12 and 17 use the Internet, 51% of whom use it on a daily basis" (Miller, Thompson, & Franza, 2009, p.28) for a variety of activities whether its "creating their own content" (Miller, Thompson, & Franza, 2009, p.28) or accessing that of others. With such a wide variety of available information, it is easy for young adults to intentionally or unintentionally find inappropriate sites or come in contact with online predators. In recent years, the dangers of the world wide web have come into the public eye and measures have begun to be taken in order to protect young internet users (Miller, Thompson, & Franza, 2009).

Cyberbullying is a new phenomenon that has resulted from the advance of communication technologies such as the internet and cell phones. Cyberbullying can be defined as “sending or posting harmful or cruel text or images using the internet or other digital communication devices” (Qing 2006 pg.158). About 1 in 4 adolescents are victims of cyberbullying and as a result experience anger and sadness (Qing, 206). Face-to-face bullying is a big enough problem in schools today without the use of technology, but cyberbullying is able to occur more secretly and spread more rapidly through the use of new technology.

As the world of technology becomes more commonplace, children are starting to social network at earlier ages. Although access to the internet is helpful in many ways it also opens up students to a new world of bullying online. Bullying has always been an issue among school- aged kids and teens .Now in the 21st century, bullying has been raised to new levels. “Cyber bullying, also known as electronic bullying or online social cruelty (Kowalski et al., 2008), includes “willful and repeated harm inflicted” (Hinduja & Patchin, 2009, p. 5) towards another (As cited in Mishna, 2009, paragraph 2).” Cyber bullying is similar to real-world bullying, but in some ways can be even more dangerous. Cyber bullying allows students who may not bully someone face to face to hurt that person online (Mishna, 2009). There are few consequences for these bullies because they can become anonymous online. It can be a harsher atmosphere because many people feel free to be crueler and more hurtful towards other in a virtual atmosphere, without thinking about the feelings of the person they are tormenting.

Unlike face to face bullying, cyber bullying can take place all day long (Mishna, 2009). This allows students to bully away from teachers, principles, and schools and to do it 24 hours a day. One of the scariest things about this type of bullying is that it is done online, often unbeknownst to adults that could help the situation. Cyberbullying occurs in various ways which include harassment, cyberstalking, put downs, masquerade, trickery, and exclusion. Furthermore it can also occur as text-based name calling, use of course language, profanity and personal attacks (Qing, 006).

Students do not feel as comfortable discussing cyber bullying experiences with adults (Mishna, 2009).. Many students feel that since it is done away from school, administrators and teachers are not able to stop the bullying. Telling parents is not looked at as a reasonable option because students fear that they will lose the opportunity to go online if their parents find out about bullying (Mishna, 2009). This type of bullying is becoming a growing problem and very few school administrators are aware that students are being harassed through electronic communication (Qing, 206). Cyber bullying is becoming more and more dangerous every day. It is important that parents and school administrators realize the frequency and danger of cyber bullying and do whatever they can to prevent it from occurring.

Schools have restricted internet use in order to protect students from the dangers of the internet as well as cyberbullying in addition to attempting to open up their eyes to the various uses and resources available to them online in addition to the fun part of it. Despite the fact that schools are trying to protect their students, they often run into roadblocks such as the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which protects the right to free speech. Schools have a hard time distinguishing what is under their jurisdiction and what is not because although cyberbullying often affects children during the school day, it can occur outside of school hours (Miller, Thompson, & Franza, 2009).

The article Cyber bullying: Overview and Strategies for School Counselors, Guidance Officers, and All School Personnel, not only presents a strong psychological analysis of the effects of cyber bulling and how is it similar to and different from in-person bullying, it also acts as a resource for parents and teacher to draw on to help stop cyber bullying. Bhat talks about the internal sources of bullying in the "bullier" and says, "specific traits identified in bullies in general could shed light on the profile of cyber bullies. Bullies tend to perceive hostile intent in the actions of others, react quicker to anger than do others, use force sooner than others, hold to rigid beliefs, view image as the way to power, and use aggressive actions to protect their image" (Bhat, 2008, p.56). This section goes on to explain how the problem of cyber bullying is different, but not totally new from the bullying that has been going on in schools for years.

Bhat also talks about this uniqueness of cyber bullying and how new rules need to be contoured to protect students from this. Before cyber bullying became an issue, children who were getting bullied could go home after school and be in a safe place away from their antagonizers. With the advent of cyber bullying, their phone and their computer are now places where the bullies can get to them and continue their psychological onslaught. Because students are constantly "plugged in", they do not have the chance to escape their persecutors. They instead are forced to deal with bullies all the time. She says that many schools have gone through great pains to try to educate their students' parents about cyber bullying and teach them how to communicate with their children as well as the school about the issue.

Joshua Bhattacharya: Proactive stratagies to Safe Guard Young Adolescents in the Cyberage by Nicole C. Miller, Nicole L. Thompson, & Dana Pomykal Franz