CYBER BULLYING
Cyber bullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Examples of cyber bullying include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles. Sometimes cyber bullying can be easy to spot — for example, if your child shows you a text message, tweet, or response to a status update on Face book that is harsh, mean, or cruel. Other acts are less obvious, like impersonating a victim online or posting personal information, photos, or videos designed to hurt or embarrass another person. Some kids report that a fake account, web page, or online persona has been created with the sole intention to harass and bully. Cyber bullying also can happen accidentally. The impersonal nature of text messages, IMs, and emails make it very hard to detect the sender's tone — one person's joke could be another's hurtful insult. Nevertheless, a repeated pattern of emails, text messages, and online posts is rarely accidental.
Cyber bullying means using the internet to inflict emotional or psychological harm on someone, and it often has devastating consequences. In October 2006, for example, teenager Megan Meier from Missouri committed suicide after being lulled into a fake online friendship by the mother of a former friend who was posing on MySpace as a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. After weeks of being friendly with Megan, "Josh" suddenly began insulting her and spreading rumors about her to her real-life friends. Two days later, Megan took her own life.
Cyber bullying reflects the dark side of forming and maintaining friendships online. According to Hinduja and Patchin's (2009) research:
- Among adolescents, 43 percent have experienced some form of online harassment.
- The most common cyber bullying acts are posting messages on semipublic spaces (such as social networking pages) that make fun of another person, distributing gossip to an individual's social network via e-mail or text message, and posting or distributing embarrassing photos of someone without his or her permission.
- Girls are twice as likely as boys to be the victims of cyber bullying. They are also twice as likely as boys to be the perpetrators of cyber bullying.
- Cyber bullying affects all age groups that interact online, but it is most prevalent among individuals15 to 16 years old.
- The most common reason people give for perpetrating cyber bullying is to get revenge on the victim.
- Online victims of cyber bullying are 8 times as likely to have carried a weapon to school in the previous 30 days as non-victims.
Parents can help stop cyber bullying. You can start by talking to kids about the issue and teaching them the rules below that will help prevent cyber bullying from happening to them or someone they know. Since most cyber bullying takes place at home, it's important that parents know about cyber bullying and that they get involved in preventing it. Just like parents help their kids avoid inappropriate websites, they can protect them from cyber bullying. It's important to realize that bullying has reached new levels with technology in the hands of kids and adults. It has just gotten easier to bully with a phone in almost every teen's hand linked to photos, texts and social media.
The number of people a bullying comment can reach in a matter of seconds is staggering. Once a picture or comment is online, getting it back can be impossible. The anonymity people feel behind the keyboard also makes it easier to bully others. Doing a search on suicides linked to cyber bullying turns up too many sad stories of young people who felt they could not match the power of the Internet and gain control of the teasing. Popular celebrities have been speaking out on the issue, and the media is making an effort to spread the message. We all need to do our part. It takes even more of an effort to find out about cyber bullying and intervene to keep our families safe.
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