Tante Hill

April 2nd, 2015

UWRT 1102
Cyberbullying
Oh no. Youve sent some exclusive photos to someone you were close to and out of spite
they have now been posted online for the world to see. Everyone is laughing at you. Everyone is
making fun of you and saying bad things about you. Now you are beginning to feel bad about
yourself. Day by day the taunting is getting worse and you are not even wanting to go to school
or dont feel like there is anyone you can talk to. You dont know how to handle the situation and
the tears just wont stop. You are tired of the suffering and want to put it to an end. And
thenboom. Youve taken your own life because of the heartless actions of others and you
couldnt go through the emotional damage any longer. But if only you would have known there
were people out there that would have helped you. People that would have given you advice and
given you the strategies to overcome such a situation. Cyberbullying impacts a persons
wellbeing, schooling, and family and peer relationships but can resolve these problems from
individual strategies, or getting help from schools and others in the community. It is online
harassment that are one of the big issues in todays society. It is our job as people in the
community to want to prevent such things from happening. Put yourself in the other persons
shoes and try to come to understand the effects of internet bullying.
Cyberbullying and traditional bullying have a lot of the same aspects. Like traditional
bullying, cyberbullying typically involves repeated behavior and a power imbalance between
aggressor and victim (Price & Dalgleish). The major difference is that cyberbullying is done

through adolescents having possession of todays technologies which can make things a lot more
severe. Two reasons given for the severity of impact are the wider audience in which public
humiliation or embarrassment can occur, and the increased level of invasiveness that is possible,
in particular the ability to penetrate a victims home and/or bedroom. Additionally, data from
Kids Helpline (BoysTown 2009) suggest that young people impacted by cyberbullying may be
more likely to experience suicide ideation as a reaction to cyberbullying than those who
experience traditional bullying.
Cyberbullying is the collective label used to define forms of bullying that use electronic
means such as the internet and mobile phones to aggressively and intentionally harm someone.
Cyberbullying has become very frequent and dangerous as more ways to connect to each other
are created. "As technology evolves, so do many of the problems faced by those who have access
to it." Not only is the upgrading of our technology to connect to each other is a problem, but it is
also how much we are using these technologies that put us at an even greater risk. The youth of
today are constantly putting themselves in danger by connecting to these electronic devices and
websites 24/7. Students are at risk every time they log into these websites such as Facebook,
Twitter and other social media apps like Instagram for example. One of the key attractions of
cyberbullying is reported to be the perceived anonymity that the internet and other
communication technologies can provide. This makes cyberbullying twice as likely to happen
because the person behind the screen feels much more comfortable to harass another for the
victim has no clue as to who they are. There are tons of fake profiles on the internet in which
someone could use that to an advantage to do what they want online.
There are different ways that someone can harass another through the internet. Cyberbullying
can be looked at in seven different ways. Those ways being flaming, denigration, cyberstalking,

impersonation, outing or trickery, exclusion, and harassment (Wright, 2009). For example,
impersonation is pretending to be someone else and trickery is tricking the person into sending
you embarrassing information that you could at some point use to their disadvantage. It extends
beyond hurtful messages sent via email or text messaging to include forms such as threats, social
exclusion tactics, spreading rumors and circulating defamatory images of the victim. In general,
there are two ways to look at cyberbullying. The most common way that teenagers cyberbully is
through indirect or direct posts about the other person. Other ways are through personal message
intentionally trying to make someone mad or wanting to insult them for their own amusement. A
less common method could be taking a picture of someone and uploading it when they did not
know it or approve of it first. All of these are what are called offensive cyberbully strategies.
Secondly, there are situations of being offended by a post or the feeling of being victimized.
Being ganged up on in a group chat or being afraid to get online are examples of victimization. A
person feeling victimized from online harassment can be the most fatal of them all.
"...cyberbullied youth also report having suicidal thoughts, and there have been a number of
examples in the United States in which youth who were victimized ended up taking their own
lives (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010).
The effects of cyberbullying varies. Being bullied through the internet has a very large effect
on a person's emotions. "...many targets of cyberbullying reported feeling depressed, sad, angry,
and frustrated (Hinduja & Patchin, 2008, 2009; Kowalsi & Limber, 2007). Cyberbullying affects
emotions but can target a person's self-esteem specifically. It can also affect student education.
"While most cyberbullying does not occur or originate in school, ultimately these behaviors do
significantly affect what is going on at school" (Hinduja & Patchin, 2012a).
Although though it may seem less likely for a student to want help with problems outside of

school, getting help from teachers or school health professionals can prevent risk for several
developmental issues. Not only do students not typically look for personal help in school, but
teens do not address their issues with adults in general. Indeed one American study (Juvonen &
Gross 2008) found that as many as 90% of victims claimed to have not told an adult. Teachers,
school counselors, etc. are great examples of people you can get help from at school on a current
bullying situation. Initially, it is in the average school curriculum to talk about internet use for
the more appropriate reasons anyway. There are many promising strategies that educators and
others can implement to prevent cyberbullying from happening in the first place. Trying to stop
a problem before it happens is always best. Schools are always informing students of their
bullying policies. "Education and policy development are important first steps, but if schools
really want to prevent cyberbullying (and other student misbehaviors), holistic efforts must be
taken to foster and maintain a positive climate at school." Teachers have the ability to inform
classes as a whole to use the internet responsibly. No school allows bullying in any way, shape
or form so schools feel that cyberbullying is also a part of that which gives them the right to
enforce discipline for it. Schools have been creating programs that talk about bullying that
specifically connects to the topic of cyberbullying. These programs have been known to have
very high success rates. But just like the students themselves, even the school cannot do it alone.
Parents can too play a big role in saving their child from being cyberbullied and can even work
with the school to help stop it. "Parents need to work directly with school officials if there is a
concern that their child is being victimized. They should schedule a meeting with administrators,
a counselor, or teacher to talk about what is going on and what the school can do" (Willard,
2007b). Your friends and other people inside your school would also be willing to help you.
"Teens also have the responsibility to look out for each other when it comes to developing and

maintaining a bully-free environment." Students may take matter into their own hands before
referring to someone else for help. There are a lot of quick ways to put the danger of a cyberbully
to rest. These technical solutions can consist of blocking certain people from contacting you
online, changing passwords, usernames or email addresses and deleting anonymous text
messages without reading them (Smith, 2008). Blocking people or other online users seems to
be the most common method. Other ways consist of getting your phone number changed or just
simply being more cautious of who you give your number out to.
With every problem comes a solution. So even though cyberbullying comes with a load
of effects from emotional issues to problems inside of school, there are many people that will
help you and many ways to get rid of a cyberbully. In this generation cyberbullying has posed
more of a threat than your old traditional bullying. So society needs to be aware of these risks
and know the strategies to handle this kind of situation. You never know when it could happen to
you.
Works Cited
Patchin, JW, and S Hinduja. "Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem." The Journal of School Health.
80.12 (2010): 614-21. Print.
Patchin, Justin W, and Sameer Hinduja. "School-based Efforts to Prevent Cyberbullying."
Prevention Researcher. 19.3 (2012): 7-9. Print.
Price, Megan, and John Dalgleish. "Cyberbullying: Experiences, Impacts and Coping Strategies
As Described by Australian Young People." Youth Studies Australia. 29.2 (2010): 51-59. Print.
Slonje, R, P.K Smith, and A Frisen. "The Nature of Cyberbullying, and Strategies for
Prevention." Computers in Human Behavior. 29.1 (2013): 26-32. Print.

Wright, Vivian H, Joy J. Burnham, T I. Christopher, and N O. Heather. "Cyberbullying." Journal

of Computing in Teacher Education. 26.1 (2009): 35-42. Print.