Chapter 2

Local Literature
MANILA,Philippines - The effects of cyberbullying is far worse than what we
have imagined. A recent study conducted by Kaspersky Lab and iconKids & Youth
warned parents about how cyberbullying negatively affects their children's
psychological, emotional and physical well-being.

Cyberbullying is intentional intimidation, persecution or abuse that children and

teenagers may encounter on the Internet. Based on the survey which included
children aged 8 to 16 years old, 16 percent of the children surveyed are more afraid
of being bullied online than offline, while half are equally afraid of both real-life
and virtual bullying. Seven out of 10 children who admitted to have been bullied
said they experienced trauma.

Among the effects of cyberbullying, as noted by the parents of the cyberbullied

children, are lower self-esteem, depression, inactivity, nightmares and anorexia.

Just as worrying are the statistics showing that 20 percent of children witnessed
others being bullied online, and in seven percent of cases even participated in it.
The survey shows that children often hide incidents of cyberbullying from their
parents, making the task of protecting them even more complicated, though,
fortunately, not impossible.

“In an effort to protect our children from danger, we must not forget that they not
only live in the real world but also in the virtual world, which is just as real to
them. On the Internet, children socialize, learn new things, have fun and,
unfortunately, encounter unpleasant situations,” said Andrei Mochola, Head of
Consumer Business at Kaspersky Lab.
Local Study
According to Salli I. Maximo this study explored the nature and extent of bullying
among high school students in Baguio City, Philippines. It determined the
relations between parent-child attachment, parenting styles, and bullying via a
quantitative survey (n = 876) and focus group discussions (n = 16). Results
revealed that verbal bullying/victimization is more frequent than other types.
Also, more males were involved in bullying than females. Generally, being a bully,
victim, or bully-victim is negatively related with secure parental attachment and
positively related with insecure parental attachment. Having a permissive mother
and authoritarian father predicted bullying and having an authoritarian father was
related to victimization.
Foriegn literature
According to Jon Bridges the act of bullying has been ingrained in our society since
the founding of this country. When technology was introduced and computers
came along a new and serious form of bullying and harassment emerged, called
cyberbullying. Cyberbullying has allowed this form of harassment to expand,
become more elusive and even harder to define. Cyberbullying occurs when a
person or persons willingly use electronic technology to repeatedly harass or
threaten another person or group by sending or posting harmful texts and/or
images (Belsey, 2008). Cutting edge technology is an essential tool for students to
begin utilizing in college to prepare them for professional employment. Some
students have abused and misused technology via social media sites like
Facebook and Twitter. Colleges should be responsible for effectively guiding
students in the appropriate use of technology to eliminate or minimize
cyberbullying. Victims can be attacked via chat rooms, websites, instant
messaging, blogs and cell phones. From the beginning, online forums provided a
communal breeding ground for youth to assault each other. Chat rooms were
supplemented by AOL Instant Messenger, allowing teens to glom together in
special rooms to talk for hours about the latest gossip. Today, the most popular
social media website is Facebook. In April last year, Facebook indicated in its Form
S-1 that it expects to have more than a billion users by year-end. In the same
filing, the social media giant also reported that its 901 million existing users post
more than 300 million pictures and a staggering 3.2 billion comments every day
(Cain, 2012)
Foriegn study
According to DM Smit bullying conjures up visions of the traditional
schoolyard bully and the subordinate victim. However, bullying is no
longer limited to in-person encounter, having come to include cyberbullying,
which takes place indirectly over electronic media. In this electronic age,
cyber platforms proliferate at an astonishing rate, all attracting the youth in
large number, and posing the risk that they may become subject to
cyberbullying. Far from being limited to those individual learners being
cyberbullied, the effects of this phenomenon extend to the learner
collective, the school climate, and also the entire school system,
management and education, thus requiring an urgent response. This article
first provides a general overview of cyberbullying and its impact on
learners, schools and education. This is done through a comparative lens,
studying the extent of the phenomenon in both the United States and South
Africa. The focus then shifts to the existing legislative frameworks within
which the phenomenon is tackled in these respective jurisdictions,
particularly the tricky balancing act required between
learners’ constitutional right to free speech and expression, and the
protection of vulnerable learners’ right to equality, dignity and privacy. The
article concludes by proposing certain possible solutions to the problem.