Cyber Bullying Articles & Facts
Cyber-Bullying Is Technology Powered
Cyber-bullying incidents have quadrupled. Most students don’t tell their parents.by Margaret Ross, Kamaron Institute
Approximately half of U.S. students are impacted by traditional bullying each school day. It happens on buses, in the cafeteria, gym, hallways, playground, and in classrooms. The most frequent form bullying takes is words (teasing, taunting, ridiculing, name-calling, and gossip - not blows). This type of bullying happens in the “physical” world and that world has time and space limits. Cyber-bullying is making school days even more painful for many children and some school staff. Bullying in cyberspace is not bound by school hours, school days, or facing the intended bully victim. Unfortunately, the perceived anonymous nature of the internet often insulates the bully from the consequences of their damaging behavior. As the number of households with Internet access approaches saturation and cell phone ownership expands to the 100 million mark, so do the ways kids bully each other. Cyber-bullying in the form of text messages, emails, photos, website postings can go school-wide in minutes and global in days. Slanderous information sent out into cyberspace is difficult, if not impossible, to expunge. Cyber-bullying often takes the form of cyber gossip, where damaging content is based on whim; not facts, and is posted on social networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook.
Cyber-Bullying Getting Bigger: Studies indicate that cyber-bullying incidents have quadrupled in five years. A 2000 survey by the Crimes Against Children Research center at the University of New Hampshire reported 6 % of young people had experienced some form of cyber-bullying. In 2005, studies of 1500 Internet-using adolescents found that over one-third had been cyber bulled and half of those admitted to cyber-bullying others (Hinduja and Patchin, In Review.) A 2005 study by National Children’s Home Charity revealed that 20% had been cyber-bullying victims. A 2004 survey conducted by i-Safe America of 1556 adolescents found that 42 % had been bullied online.
How Cyber-Bulling Messages Are Communicated:
- Text or digital imaging messages sent on cell phones
- e-mails
- instant messaging
- web pages
- web logs (blogs),
- chat rooms or discussion groups, and
- other information communication technologies
Cyber-bullying Perpetrators - It Is A Cycle:
- Middle School and High School girls were about twice as likely as boys to display cyber-bullying behaviors in the form of email, text, and chat*
- Middle School and High School girls were twice as likely as boys to report receiving email, text messages or chat room messages that teased, taunted, and ridiculed. *
- 62% said that they had been cyber-bullied by another student at school, and 46% had been cyber-bullied by a friend. **
- 55% didn’t know who had cyber-bullied them.
**(2005, Kowalski et al., Electronic bullying among school-aged children and youth.)
* (2007-2009, Kamaron Institute, School Surveys)
Ten Tips: Parents Cyber-Bullying Preemption
- Consider installing filtering and blocking software, but understand clearly that proactive parents are the only real deterrent and the best resource for bullying preemption.
- Keep your home computer(s) in easily viewable places, such as a family room or kitchen.
- Model the behavior you want to see in your child
- Talk regularly with your child about on-line activities he or she is involved in.
- Set firm guidelines for cell phone use and monitor that behavior.
- Talk specifically about cyber-bullying. Explain that that it is harmful and unacceptable behavior.
- Outline your expectations for responsible online behavior and clearly explain the consequences for inappropriate behavior. Use the Cyber Positive Character Contract from this Kamaron site
- Encourage your child to tell you immediately if he or she is a victim of cyber-bullying. Tell your child does not respond to the bully.
- Stay calm. Plan in advance how you will calmly receive the news that your child is being bullied and the solution steps you will take. You will want the evidence. Tell your child to save the bullying messages or photo.
- Call your child’s school; ask the principal what measurable, bullying preemption, activity-based programs they have in place today. Offer to serve on the group that expands the school’s behavior policy to include cyber bullying behavior that disrupts the schools teaching and learning environment. Ask about results.
Cyber bullying is something that we should be aware of. In US for example, most of the kids or students think school as the painful place. Bullying in cyberspace is not bound by school hours, school days, or facing the intended bully victim. People usually children get victimed.Cyber bullying can be happened through many ways.
BalasPadamText or digital imaging messages sent on cell phones,e-mails,instant messaging,web pages,web logs (blogs),chat rooms or discussion groups, and other information communication technologie are ways that this cyber bullying can be penetrated towards children's mind.
Cyberbullying is not a minor silly teenage problem. Some kids become so upset from the bullying that they can hurt themselves over it.
Cyberbullying or electronic bullying is becoming a major problem for many young people and it can be so hurtful that some have even resorted to suicide to stop the pain. Since cyberbullying happens electronically it’s more secretive.
People can use the internet to email or instant message someone hurtful and harassing abusive words or images. Cellular phones, websites and gaming sites are also places bullies use to prey on people. This type of bullying is attractive to cowardly types because they can do it anonymously. Some teens are particularly notorious for spreading rumors and lies about others and the internet offers them an attractive way to do this.
Cyber bullying seems small matter but it really isn't.Cyber bullying could actually kill.Study shows that 4,400 deaths per year because of suicide. The main reason behind this is they have been humilliated in the internet. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have attempted it.
Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims.
A study in Britain found that at least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying.10 to 14 year old girls may be at even higher risk for suicide.And just like has been said before,nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because of fear of bullying.
To not turn this matter to worse,we must take actions upon it.Parents are the closest people around teenagers or kids,so parents must be in the first line to battle this problem become worse to their children.
Parents can keep their home computer(s) in easily viewable places, such as a family room or kitchen,model the behavior they want to see in their child,talk regularly with their child about on-line activities he or she is involved in and if needed,set firm guidelines for cell phone use and monitor the behavior their children.
As conclusion,everyone must play the role to keep this thing on track.