Cyber Bullying

Jennifer McGill CEP 315 October 24, 2011

Some people argue that being bullied is a part of growing up, that it happens to everyone. Bullying has been around for a long time, however todays bullying is different than bullying ten or twenty years ago. Bullying isnt just physical but it can also be verbal and mental. Today better and more readily available technology makes bullying something that can happen any time anywhere and at anytime not just with in school grounds and hours. The increasing phenomenon called cyber bullying is a major issue with todays youth. Cyber bullying is defined as, willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.1 Suicide amongst teens and children has become one of the worst outcomes of cyber bullying within recent years. With the emergence of cyber bullying within recent years teachers and educators should be aware of this form of bullying and should take action when they see signs of it. With most high school students virtually living on their cell phones and computers today, cyber bullying has become more prevalent within recent years. Many different forms of technology can be the vessel for cyber bullying. There are seven different categories of cyber bullying. These categories are text message bullying, picture or video clip bullying, phone call bullying, email bullying, chatroom bullying, bullying through instant messaging, and bullying via social

Stories, Presentations, Videos, Facts, Statistics. 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.

Hinduja, Sameer. Cyberbullying Research Center - Cyber Bullying Examples, Cases, Laws, Articles,

<http://www.cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying_identification_prevention_response.php>.

networking websites.2 Cyber bullying is seen more with high school age children, and it is more common for girls to be cyber bullied than boys. 3 Even though cyber bullying does not involve physical contact between the bully and the victim, it is still psychologically and emotionally damaging to young people.4 This has caused many negative effects among students and young people today. There are many negative outcomes of cyber bullying. Many victims report feeling depressed, sad, angry, hopeless, worthless, and frustrated. Research has also proven a link between cyber bullying and low self-esteem, family problems, academic problems, school violence, and delinquent behavior. 5 Cyber bullying can also lead victims to stay home from school in fear of embarrassment about what their peers will think about them. Many cyber bully victims report having suicidal thoughts or even go as far as taking their own lives due to the hurtful words that someone said about them.

Smith, Peter. "AN INVESTIGATION INTO CYBERBULLYING, ITS FORMS, AWARENESS AND IMPACT, AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE AND GENDER IN CYBERBULLYING" United Kingdom
2

Department of Education. July 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2011.

<https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/RBX03-06.pdf>. 3 Smith, Peter

4

Emotional and psychological consequence." Cyberbullying Research Center. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying_emotional_consequences.pdf>.
5

Hinduj, Sameer. "Cyberbullying Research Summary

Examples, Cases, Laws, Articles, Stories, Presentations, Videos, Facts, Statistics. 2011. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying_and_suicide.php>.

Hinduja, Sameer. "Cyber Bullying and Suicide." Cyberbullying Research Center - Cyber Bullying

The absolute worst outcome that can result from cyber bullying is suicide. According to research by the cyber bullying research center, when surveying 2,000 middle school students 20% reported seriously thinking about attempting suicide. They also found that cyber bullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youth who had not experienced cyber bullying. 6 Within recent years in the United States there have been more young people who commit suicide because they were cyber bullied. One instance of this was Phoebe Price who was a fifteen year old from Massachusetts. Phoebe had moved to the United States from Ireland and committed suicide only a year after moving to the U.S. It was reported that she received nasty emails and online messages from her peers. One person even went as far as telling her to hang herself. 7 Another recent example of a young person who took their life after being cyber bullied was fourteen-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer. The fourteen year old was bullied in school and online because of his sexual orientation. He was bullied on the website formspring where people can anonymously ask you

Examples, Cases, Laws, Articles, Stories, Presentations, Videos, Facts, Statistics. 2011. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying_and_suicide.php>.
7

Hinduja, Sameer. "Cyber Bullying and Suicide." Cyberbullying Research Center - Cyber Bullying

ABCNews.com: Daily News, Breaking News and Video Broadcasts - ABC News. 28 Jan. 2010. Web. 2 Oct. 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/girls-teen-suicide-calls-attentioncyberbullying/story?id=9685026>.

Nies, Yunji De. "Mean Girls: Teen Suicide Calls Attention to Cyberbullying - ABC News."

questions, where he was told to kill him self.8 The heartbreaking stories of these young people and so many other young people who take their lives due to cyber bullying demonstrate why teachers and educators need to take a stance against cyber bullying. The question here is what can educators do about cyber bullying? There are many steps that teachers and educators can take to help eliminate cyber bullying. One step that schools can take is to develop a policy for acceptable in school use of the Internet and include this policy in the school handbook. This policy should spell out what constitutes cyber bullying and list the consequences. Schools must also make students aware that cyber bullying concerns will be dealt with seriously. School should express to students some rules to prevent and deal with cyber bullying. One of these rules is that they should not share personal information online. Students should also not delete messages that they believe are cyber bullying. They do not have to read them but they should show them to an adult, these messages could be used to take action against cyber bullies. Students should never reply to a nasty or hateful message, they could block the sender if they are being bullied by email, social media, or instant messaging. Students should always tell an adult when they are being cyber bullied. Also students should show messages to the police if they contain physical threats. Educators should also make parents
8

Parents Carry On Message (VIDEO)." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. 20 Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/jamey-rodemeyersuicide-gay-bullying_n_972023.html>.

Praetorious, Dean. "Jamey Rodemeyer, 14-Year-Old Boy, Commits Suicide After Gay Bullying,

aware of how to prevent cyber bullying. They should make them aware of parental controls on the Internet and how to use them. School should encourage parents to keep computers in a public room in the house. Educators could invite members of the local police department to come to the school to speak with parents and students about proper Internet use. Finally schools could make sure that ethics is included in any computer instruction given in the school. 9 These are some steps that educators can take in order to prevent cyber bullying amongst their students. In summation bullying has been around for as long as we can remember, however with the emergence of technology bullying has taken a new form in cyber bullying. Cyber bullying negatively effects students in many ways and has even caused some children who had so much to offer this world to take their own lives. There are many preventative steps that can be taken by educators and parents to prevent cyber bullying. As educators it is our job to and to allow students to get the best education and live the best life that they can without feeling threatened or hurt by cyber bullying.

River, NJ: Merrill, 2010. 437-38. Print.

Woolfolk, Anita. "12 Creating Learning Environments." Educational Psychology. Upper Saddle

Works Cited 1. Hinduj, Sameer. "Cyberbullying Research Summary Emotional and psychological consequence." Cyberbullying Research Center. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying_emotional_consequences.pdf>. 2. Hinduja, Sameer. "Cyber Bullying and Suicide." Cyberbullying Research Center - Cyber Bullying Examples, Cases, Laws, Articles, Stories, Presentations, Videos, Facts, Statistics. 2011. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://www.cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying_and_suicide.php>. 3. Hinduja, Sameer. Cyberbullying Research Center - Cyber Bullying Examples, Cases, Laws, Articles, Stories, Presentations, Videos, Facts, Statistics. 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2011. <http://www.cyberbullying.us/cyberbullying_identification_prevention_response.p hp>. 4. Nies, Yunji De. "Mean Girls: Teen Suicide Calls Attention to Cyberbullying - ABC News." ABCNews.com: Daily News, Breaking News and Video Broadcasts - ABC News. 28 Jan. 2010. Web. 2 Oct. 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/girlsteen-suicide-calls-attention-cyberbullying/story?id=9685026>. 5. Praetorious, Dean. "Jamey Rodemeyer, 14-Year-Old Boy, Commits Suicide After Gay Bullying, Parents Carry On Message (VIDEO)." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. 20 Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Oct. 2011.

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/jamey-rodemeyer-suicide-gaybullying_n_972023.html>. 6. Smith, Peter. "AN INVESTIGATION INTO CYBERBULLYING, ITS FORMS, AWARENESS AND IMPACT, AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE AND GENDER IN CYBERBULLYIN." United Kingdom Department of Education. July 2006. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/RBX0306.pdf>. 7. Woolfolk, Anita. "12 Creating Learning Environments." Educational Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 2010. 437-38. Print.