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Myrlene Reid Professor Padgett ENGL 1102 March 10, 2014 Annotated Bibliography Inquiry: What effects does cyber-bullying have on an individual? Thesis: Cyber-bullying has such a tremendous effect on a person, their self-esteem, and the way they view the world and the people in it.

Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (December 01, 2010). Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem. The Journal of School Health, 80, 12, 614-621. This article discusses the effect cyberbullying has on an individual and their self-esteem. They define cyberbullying as willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices. It is intentional, deliberate behavior that is carried out over lengths of time. Hinduja and Patchin discuss the differences of traditional and cyberbullying, mainly being the aspect of anonymity, The sense that the person bullying you can be absolutely anyone and more than likely is someone the victim knows. It is known that bullying has a negative effect on a persons adolescent development and self-esteem. Although this has been seen as true, Hinduja and Patchin point out that it is unknown whether the experience of being victimized decreases ones self-esteem or that those who have low self-esteems are more likely to be targeted as victims. I agree with most of Patchin and Hindujas arguments except for the fact that the main difference of cyberbullying is anonymity. I think that traditional bullying usually only takes place where the bully and the victim have direct contact. With cyberbullying this person can follow the victim into their home and where they otherwise

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would feel safe. Cyberbullying can follow people through their phones, social media accounts, email, and can be extremely public. There are huge differences between traditional and cyber bullying, in my opinion, that the authors did not address. Price, M., & Dalgleish, J. (June 01, 2010). Cyberbullying: Experiences, Impacts and Coping Strategies as Described by Australian Young People. Youth Studies Australia, 29,2, 5159. This article discusses the stories of students who have experienced cyberbullying firsthand. It also talks about the impacts it has on these individuals futures and the coping strategies they must use to move forward. It was discovered through a study conducted that victims have exhibited higher levels of antisocial, violent, and sometimes criminal behavior in adulthood, in result of being bullied. Price also discussed this sort of social and economical burden it puts on the community, to fix the bullying problem as quickly and quietly as they can. There are several different tactics one can use through cyberbullying that arent really possible with traditional bullying. The threats, social exclusion tactics, the rumors spread, and the circulating defamatory images of the victim are what really make cyberbullying such a psychologically damaging experience. I agree with Prices arguments on the severity of cyberbullying and the way it can tear a person down. Cyberbullying gives attackers 24/7 access to their victims and also gives them a false sense of security which can lead to further aggression. People become bolder over the internet because they dont have to worry so much about face-to-face contact, which can cause major problems for the victim. Through Prices study, it was found that 3% of the students had suicidal thoughts and 2% of the students engaged in self-harming activities. This also shows how dangerous bullying in any form can be and how it can truly affect a person psychologically, as well as physically.

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Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (July 01, 2010). Bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 14, 3, 206-221. Bullying in general has been the cause of many problems in a childs life. Some children end up needing therapy and developing depression, while for others they opt for a more drastic solution. This article discusses cyberbullying and how it can have much more drastic and permanent effects. Suicide has been one of the leading problems for children and young adults and is highly connected to different forms of bullying. Hinduja and Patchin discuss a lot about what causes suicidal thoughts and what aspects of bullying can actually lead to someone committing suicide. In research stemming from the Netherlands, surveys from 4,721 primary school boys and girls revealed that approximately 13% of boys directly bullied and 18% of boys indirectly bullied suffered from suicidal ideation. This is just one of the many studies discussed in the article that talks about children seeing suicide as the only way out. They fear telling their parents or an adult, try to deal with it on their own, and end up feeling hopeless and like there is nothing else for them to do. A very interesting point that the authors brought up was by discussing suicide with children in an effort to prevent it, it actually sometimes plants the seed into the childs mind that can cause them to think of it as a viable option. For example, bringing a childs attention to an object they cant touch will cause them to want to do so when they may have not even noticed it before. I agreed with a lot of what these particular authors had to say. Suicides are in the news all of the time and I think it is extremely important to discuss the causes of it, especially when it is connected to bullying. I like how the authors pointed out how touchy and sensitive of a topic bullying is and how it needs to be dealt with care. It is important to not only educate children on it

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and how to prevent it, but adults as well on what the best way to help a child dealing with cyberbullying is. Sticca, F., & Perren, S. (May 01, 2013). Is Cyberbullying Worse than Traditional Bullying? Examining the Differential Roles of Medium, Publicity, and Anonymity for the Perceived Severity of Bullying. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42, 5, 739-750. In this article Sticca and Perren discuss the differences between cyberbullying and traditional bullying and if one has a worse effect on an individual than the other. They analyze the different roles in cyberbullying like the medium aspect, publicity, and the role of anonymity. They conducted a study to discuss what children who had gone through both traditional and cyber bullying thought was more severe and aggressive. Their findings showed that each student had a different experience which made it kind of difficult to find one concrete answer. For some students, being bullied at school in front of all of their friends was worse, while for others not knowing who the attacker was made it worse for them. I agree with this article and like the authors, also think that it depends on the person. For some seeing an attack on the internet wouldnt bother them as much as someone confronting them in person would. I think its all about whom youre talking to and the particular experience they had with being bullied. With the question they were trying to answer on which type is worse, I dont think there is a concrete answer. Everything on this topic is based on individual experiences so there is no definitive answer to which type is worse. Bullying in general is a situation that is difficult no matter what form it takes place in.

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Sabella, R. A., Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (November 01, 2013). Cyberbullying myths and realities. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 6, 2703-2711. This article discusses the myths and realities of cyberbullying and debunked a lot of assumptions people have made based off what they have seen in the media. Some of the myths discussed in the article included: (a) everyone knows what cyberbullying is; (b) cyberbullying is occurring at epidemic levels; (c) cyberbullying causes suicide; (d) cyberbullying occurs more often now than traditional bullying; (e) like traditional bullying, cyberbullying is a rite of passage; (f) cyberbullies are outcasts or just mean kids; and (g) to stop cyberbullying, just turn off your computer or cell phone. It goes into detail that a lot of what the media portrays about cyberbullying is just one case scenario and shouldnt be assumed for all cases. When the authors discussed the myth that cyberbullying occurs more than traditional bullying they made the point that according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2013) report, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 27.8% of students reported being the victim of bullying during the school year while only 9% of students had been cyber bullied. From this we can conclude that cyberbullying is more prevalent to children who have a lot of unsupervised access to technology, which isnt the case for a lot of children. I agree with a lot of the points the authors made while debunking some of these myths. Although there were some things I was still on the fence about. I do think that in this day and age cyberbullying occurs more than traditional bullying because children are growing up with this new technology instead of being introduced to it at a later age. They know how to do some things even their parents struggle with, so getting away with using the internet when they arent supposed to isnt that hard of a task. Overall, I thought this was an extremely

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interesting way to look at what cyberbullying actually is and how the media portrays it to be.