Cyberbullying: Comparing Bullying Laws in Minnesota and New Jersey

Bullying is an epidemic right now. We area inundated with it. Some instances it seems that bullying is culturally appropriate. We see it everywhere. It is in the business world, Hollywood, schools, over the internet and on the playgrounds, to name a few. Bullying happens to people of all ages. The most heard about is in childhood and adolescence. Bullying comes in different forms. Physical bullying, such as hitting, pinching, shoving or kicking. Verbal bullying such as taunting, teasing or name-calling. Relational bullying is causing damage to someone’s social status or relationships. Lastly, Cyber bullying is the use of electronic communications to send threatening messages. Getting called a name once is not bullying however, to repeatedly

What is cyberbullying? Cyberbullying is, “Writing hurtful statements on a social media site or website” according to “What is Cyberbullying?” published by the Ophelia Project. Regular bullying is usually face-to-face and usually ending with someone getting physically harmed. Cyberbullying is only hurting someone’s feelings not physically harming them. “If the child in question can’t handle... [their feelings getting

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.

Physically being bullied frequently involves some sort of physical assault or attack, or can also consist of having one's personal belonging destroyed, tampered or stolen. Verbal bullying comes from the usual form of name calling that may be done due to a person's gender make up, sexual orientation, religious, age, or race. Due to the increase availability of technology indirect bullying is one of the most widespread types of bullying. It is usually the kind of bullying that countless people may do without even knowing so. Indirect bullying is the distribution falsely stories and rumors about an individual without the person knowing so, as well as the deliberate exclusion from social groups and gatherings. A current major issue, cyber bullying can also fall into the grouping of indirect bullying, but also includes bullying that is done with the use of any electronic device such as, email, text messaging, pictures through the use of text or email, message boards, websites, blogs, and even

Bullying is not a new topic; bullying is an issue that impacts people worldwide. It is encounter in different places from schools, homes and workplaces but it is seen mostly at school. Haltigan & Vaillancourt ( 2014) defined bullying as “ an aggressive behavior that is intentional, is repetitive in nature, and involves imbalance of power between the aggressor and his or her target”. According to Nanset et al. (2001) approximately 1 of every 10 students are bullied in the United States. Bullying can take many different forms such as, (a) verbal: teasing, taunting, name calling, or telling a child he is unwanted (b) Physical involves hitting pushing, kicking, or restraining another child slapping or restraining another child (Turner et. al, 2014) (c) cyber bullying (d) bullying (e) sexual harassment. There are two forms of bullying that include direct aggression causing physical harm to someone, it is very common among boys and indirect

In this wonderful and at times, overwhelming age of technology, in which any person can send and receive information instantaneously and anonymously, cyber-bullying is rapidly emerging as one of the top problems facing today's youth. Cyber bullying is described by the National Conference of State Legislators as being "the willful and repeated use of cell phones, computers, and other electronic computer devices to harass and threaten others." Recent, highly publicized cases of cyber-bullying such as the stories of Tyler Clemente and Audrie Pott are only the tip of the iceberg in what is rapidly becoming an epidemic of cyber-bullying in America. At this moment, forty nine of fifty states have some type of anti-bullying laws in place, with eighteen

Physical bullies are what they’re called physical, because they are known to kick, hit, push, trip, or cause any physical harem to another kid. Verbal bullies are the bullies that use their words to belittle their victim. They resort to name-calling, racial slurs, cruel comments about a person, or comments about their victim’s physical look. This type of bullying is the most common type of bullying and is reported the most. Relational bullies are the bullies that make it hard for their victim to be accepted by anyone. The bullies will single out the victim for all peer groups. This type of bullying is done mainly by a bullying spreading detrimental rumors and using extreme verbal threats pertaining to their victim (California Department of Education). Finally, the last type of bullying is cyber bullying. This is done by the bullies using the different social media sites to bully their victim. Cyber bullying is the use of electronics, phone, computer, etc. to post cruel and hurtful comments, pictures, and rumors about someone on the internet or on instant messages. There has been a high increase of teen suicide due to cyber bullying.

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

First, there is what is known as verbal bullying. This includes saying or writing mean things. Verbal bullying includes teasing, name-calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting and threatening to cause harm. The second type of bullying is social bullying or what is also known as relational bullying. This involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships, including leaving someone out on purpose, telling others not to be friends with someone, spreading rumours about someone, and embarrassing someone in public. Finally, there is physical bullying, which involves hurting someone’s body or possessions, which includes hitting, kicking or pinching, spitting, tripping or pushing, taking or breaking someone’s things, and making mean or rude hand gestures (Bullying Definition). As of the last few years, there has been a fourth type of bullying has been added to the list. As of the 2010’s cyber bullying has been recognized as the fourth form of bullying. Cyber bullying is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic forms of contact including the Internet, cellphones, social media and any other form of electronic contact (Wikipedia, 2017). This form of bullying is especially common among

Horton (2011) defines bullying as “a group’s collective aggressiveness towards an individual or group of individuals who provoke or attract this aggressiveness” (p. 268). According to Brank, Hoetger, and Hazen (2012) there are four main types of bullying: physical, verbal, relational (or social), and cyber bullying. Physical bullying is characterized by acts of aggression such as punching or hitting. Verbal bullying is characterized by name calling or teasing. Deliberately leaving someone out of activities and/or starting rumors characterizes relational or social bullying. Cyber bullying utilizes technology such as texts, email, or social media to express aggression toward others (p. 214). Regardless of the form of bullying, a common thread amongst them is there is a power imbalance between the bully and the person being bullied. Being able to physically or verbally hurt others, being more confident, having superior manipulative or social skills, and

Bullying is generally defined as any deliberate act of aggression towards another person with the intentions of causing harm or suffering. Cyber bullying can be termed as the use of electronic communications (e-mail, text messages, instant messaging, social media, etc.) in which to humiliate, intimidate, threaten, or harass others and is often done anonymously. Though it as not as prevalent as “traditional bullying”, it has become a much more popular version of bullying because of the convenience of anonymity and the fact that it can be done any time of the day or night and anywhere.

My first source is a scholarly journal article from the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships that defines what cyber bullying and online harassment is, as well as the types of roles young people fulfill in different types of cyber bullying. The article details the various platforms on which harassment can take place, and the forms in which harassment can present itself. The main point of the scholarly article is to examine statistics regarding bullying in the age of the Internet, using key word such as bully/victims, media, and retaliation. I will use this source in my essay to define what cyber bullying is, and familiarize the reader with various terms, before I discuss the causes and effects of such behaviour.

There are two major types of bullying, traditional and electronic bullying (otherwise known as cyberbullying). For traditional bullying it breaks down into two different topics, physical and verbal. Physical bullying involves any kind of bodily attack, like hitting

There are many types of bullying which is highly dependent on the nature of bullying. for example, the physical bullying may incorporate such behavior as hitting, pinching, kicking and any form of physical abuse considers physical bullying. The verbal bullying which incorporate spreading rumors, gossiping, insulting and teasing. Next which is the emotional bullying and this includes isolating and excluding other from the group. Finally, the cyber bullying which is another form of a violence practiced when online communication (Rai,2012). In addition, further elaboration for Physical bullying which happens when the bully practices physical aggression to force, threaten, or damage the sufferer. This is typically the easiest shape of

Indirect cyberbullying: Indirect cyberbullying is tagging an embarrassing photo of someone on social networking sites which can be viewed by anyone, forwarding a rude or abusive email about someone else to your contacts, spread rumours, lies about someone, refusing to socialize with the victim, bullying other people who wish to socialize with the victim.