Bullying and Cyberbullying: An Analysis

Raskauskas and Stoltz (2007) asked a group of 84 adolescents about their involvement in traditional and electronic bullying. The researchers defined electronic bullying as “…a means of bullying in which peers use electronics {such as text messages, emails, and defaming Web sites} to taunt, threaten, harass, and/or intimidate a peer” (p.565). The table below is a frequency table showing the adolescents’ reported incidence of being victims or perpetrators or traditional and electronic bullying.

The internet has created an entirely new world of social communications particularly for youths. There are no more barriers. Family, friends, young and old may now stay in touch with just about everyone, anywhere in the world through the use of email, text messaging, web chat, and instant messaging. Although, most interactions are friendly and in good nature, there are some that are not. The use of technology as a tool to antagonize, torment and intimidate others is now a widespread problem. Sadly, this form of bullying like all others is most common among children and young adults. Research done by Cox Communications on children between 13 thru 18 year-olds, 25 percent said they were cyber-bullied whether online or by cell phone (Cox Com. 2009). Also in 2007, the National Crime Prevention Council reported cyber-bullying as a problem that affected approximately half of all American teens. Since it is popular among this group of American teens, then it is safe look at some of possible reason cyber bullies of this age group are encouraged to take part in such activity.

Is the threat of bullying a real threat to kids today? Bullying has been a threat for a long time in schools and adding the new advances in technology such as cell phones, twitter and facebook bullying is now being done online and school learning is being affected. Schools should have the power to limit students’ online speech because the percent of boys and girls being cyberbullied is raising, teachers teaching ability is being affected, and students learning in class is being affected. One reason schools should have the power to limit their students online speech is cyberbullying is now a problem in the United States. The Cyberbullying Research Center posted statistics in February 2010 saying 16.6% of males between the ages of 10-18 have been cyberbullied and 25.1% of females ages between 10-18 have also been cyberbullied (Doc A).

Cyberbullying is a relatively new threat, and it is very similar to traditional bullying. Despite the fact that cyberbullying and traditional bullying both share the common goal of harassment, cyberbullying differs from traditional bullying in that it does not stop at the schoolyard, and can continue when the victim is far away from the aggressor. It is just as devastating as common bullying, and sometimes is even more damaging. Professors Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin note in their journal, “Cyberbullying Creates Dangerous Stress and Anxiety”, that cyberbullying affects anywhere between 10-40% of students (contingent on their age group) (par. 1). J.D. Kelly A. Albin, in her article “Bullies in a Wired World”, defines cyberbullying as “…the ‘willful and repeated harm inflicted through use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices’” (157). It is caused by the fact that children feel their actions are mitigated when they use social media, as it creates the illusion of indirectness, and its effects range anywhere from mild depression to suicide.

In addition, in an article on Nobullying.com; 83 percent of girls, and 79 percent of boys report being bullied either in school or online [4]. Many parents worldwide have grown more understanding of the situation and is starting to realize that over time this case is becoming more dangerous to our growing generation and possible future.

Bullying can be found almost everywhere; in homes, on the internet, and especially in schools. Students of lesser abilities or non-conformists can essentially be main targets; however, anyone is vulnerable to a bully’s wrath. Although the common lunch thief threat has been the general association with the word bully, that term has unfortunately evolved and become apart of the violent side of our culture today. All too often students feel the need to “disappear” or escape leading to destructive decisions such as suicide, substance abuse, or depression (Kowalski 6). Today the causes of bullying are involved with social differences such as sexual orientation, physical appearance, ethnicity, or insecurities. For the past few years bullying has gradually increased in the US, and of course worldwide because of the internet’s growing diverse locations and servers. Statistics show that “A total of 29.9% of the sample reported moderate or frequent involvement in bullying, as a bully (13.3%), one who was bullied (10.6%), or both (6.3%)” (NIH Public Access). Forms of bullying include through a computer screen also known as cyberbullying and through physical confrontation leading students to experience symptoms of depression which could also provoke deeper personal issues. Cyberbullying has come across society through social media sites as well as personal opinion. Children are now breaking the norm of traditional confrontation and dunking heads in toilets

Cyberbullying affects both genders equally as both male and female adolescents are a target of cyberbullying. It does not matter whether the person is a male or female because they both have their sides as each of them experience some type of cyberbullying. In Li’s article, “Cyberbullying in Schools,” she discusses the differences between cyberbullying in males and females. In this article, the research they do investigates the nature and the extent of adolescences’ experience of cyberbullying. Li states, “Males were more likely to be bullied and cyberbullies than their female counterparts” (Li 157-170). She also discusses that even if the males were more likely to be bullies, there is no difference between a number of time males and females

Interestingly bullying has been identified and studied internationally with the earliest work in the field initiated in the late 1970s by Dan Olweus in Scandinavia. Also, other researchers in Great

This paper explores the issue of cyber-bullying and statitistics on the issue, resulting from studies on an online(Internet) database with multiple researchers findings. The article states that cyber-bullying is a continuous form of bullying that is hard to escape. Perpetrators use cell phones, social media, and other uses of the Internet to harass their victims. More than half of adolescence are involved in Cyber-bullying, whether they are the victim or the bully. Around 35 % are affected by it daily. There are multiple ways to help stop Cyber-bullying. The best solution that could put a stop to Cyber-bullying is through the work of social media alongside schools. Schools are unable to prevent Cyber-bullying and incapable of stepping in when

There is a lot of bullying that goes on in this world, a majority of it being cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a constant problem with young kids on social media. Cyberbullying is a risk for anyone, “Cyberbullying is deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. It is the most common online risk for all teens and is a peer-to-peer risk” (AAP). Nonetheless, bullying is always going to happen and cyberbullying allows it to happen

Currently there are several formats of bullying in the society. Bullying is repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons. (NSW Public Schools, n.d.) "Cyber bullying" is that bullying that uses electronic devices such as mobile phones and laptops or Internet to intentionally harass people or being aggressive with verbal abuse. Most of cyber bullying occurs through messages, SNS (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and random chatting sites. And the reason is because in Internet or website,

More than one in three young teens has experienced cyber threats online and on social media. Specifically 83% of teenagers use a cell phone regularly, making it the most popular form of technology and an easier way to access the internet. Being tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed and otherwise targeted by another teen is known as cyber bullying. With statistics this alarmingly high, bullying has become the largest issue facing general youth society in the twenty first century. Cyber bullying has many effects on students including poor mental health, school, and physical issues.

It has been demonstrated in a number of studies that the more time an individual spends on the computer and internet, the more likely they are to be cyber bully victims, perpetrators or both the victim and bully (Mishna, Khourg-Kassabri, Gadalla, & Daciuk, 2012; Sengupta & Chaudhuri, 2011). The most common mediums of cyber bullying are through email, instant messages, or internet social networking sites; however, the medium with the greatest impact on its victims is picture or video bullying (Beran & Li, 2005; Kowalski & Fedina, 2011; Slonje & Smoth, 2008). It has been suggested in the past that children who have access to social networking sites are more likely to be perpetrators or victims of cyber bullying, however, results from one study indicates this is not the case. Alternatively, it was suggested

While cyberbullying affects each child differently, there has been a clear correlation between victims and non-victims and their self-esteem. In one study, bullied victims had less self-esteem than those who were not bullied online. Additionally, it was reported that victims of cyberbullying were thirty percent more likely to think about committing suicide (Cyberbullying Research Center, 2012). With the lack of parent supervision, it was found that those who spent more than three hours per school day on social networks were 110% more at risk to be a cyberbully victim as compared those who do not spend as much time online (Gilkerson, 2012). What may be worse is the fact that majority of those bullied online do not tell their parents or an adult about what occurred. Despite the fact that most adolescents state that bullying occurs more offline then online, cyberbullying is still a real and large threat to the youth of America (Lenhart, 2007).

In the past decade, the Internet has become a major influence on younger generations, and ever since the internet has been in everyday life, cyberbullying has been an issue. Cyberbullying is when a person harasses and/or threatens another peer over the internet, such as using Facebook or even texting. Cyberbullying can range from being made fun of by a person’s looks to spreading rumors of that person. Statistically, 87% of today’s youth has experienced cyberbullying in some way and around 34% of children have admitted to being bullied online. Cyberbullying has also proved to be sexist. Girls, at 41%, are more likely to experience cyberbullying than males, which is at 28%. Cyberbullying has proved to have some costly consequences. People often think that nothing bad can come from bullying, but if you look at some of the effects it has on kids, then it is/can be a scary issue. 83% of victims felt that cyberbullying hurt their self-esteem,