Cyberbullying
From WikEd
Descriptions, definitions, synonyms, organizer terms, types of
Bullying is a “form of harassment perpetuated by a child who is in some way more powerful than a weaker peer”(wikipedia.org) The stronger peer may not always be physically stronger but is somehow able to manipulate the weaker child. A bully may have been a victim of bullying at some point. (Lyness) In this way bullies are simply trying to get back for the treatment they were given. Bullying has always been a problem in schools. It can take various forms and affect all age levels.
Cyberbullying is similar to regular bullying in its intent and the target. It may be defined as: “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text." (Patchin, J. W. and Hinduja, S.)The difference between the old form of bullying and the new cyberbullying is that in cyberbullying is a more cowardly form that allows children to work outside the school to intimidate other students and more easily get away with it. (Belsey)
It is also important to know that it can take two different forms: “direct attacks” or “proxy” [www.stopcyberbullying.org stop cyberbullying] In direct attacks, the bully directly targets the victim. Proxy cyberbullying can take two forms. The bully can get someone else to bully for them and they can also choose to flip the table by getting a hold of the victim’s information and sending out hateful speech through that person’s account. This makes the victim look like they are the bully.
Cyberbullying has several media which it is conducted through. The list continues to expand as technology continues to develop. When new technology is created for any communication purpose, cyberbullies take advantage of it. The following is a list of technologies where cyberbullying may occur.
- E-mail (electronic mail through home or school accounts)
- Chat Rooms (web space on the Internet where people “chat” by typing. These rooms are usually set up by a group of students who know each other. Each person has a screen name, and if the bully knows their screen name, he/she may be able to find that chat room to bully the student(s)
- I-M (Instant Messages that are sent similarly to chat rooms but for short messages. Intimidating, threatening messages may be sent by bullies through this method. Text or multimedia messages may be utilized)
- Text Messages (Similar to Instant Messages, but sent via mobile telephone. This is a very quick way teens communicate. A bully only needs to know the mobile phone number of a student to send bullying messages)
- Blogs (Personal websites often detailing one’s daily events or interests. Usually they are set up to meet people or to act as a diary. However, bullies may use them to create harmful remarks about other students)
- PictoChat ™ (Nintendo DS handheld gaming systems have a built-in program which allows users to communicate up to 100 feet away by typing messages, pictures or other creations. This is similar to the other media, except the portability makes this technology very easy to use in the classroom or on a field trip)
- Social Networking sites: [MySpace] and [Facebook] are the most popular examples, though others that allow any user to create content are likely used. [Mashable.com] is a good blog to use to keep up on new social networking sites that are popping up every day.
The National Crime Prevention Council has created a series of advertisements with the Ad Council discouraging teens from engaging in cyberbullying and encouraging victims of cyberbullying to report it or ignore it. One such video can be found on YouTube here.
Application in classrooms and similar settings
Many teachers are not provided with the appropriate training in online developments and may be entirely ignorant of the fact that cyberbullying exists and that it takes many forms. Even those who are aware often feel a false sense of security because of the filtering software that is installed in schools. This is not always the case, however, because most filters cannot block all blogs or all types of web postings especially if there are no specific pornographic words used in the entry. Educator’s Guide to Cyberbullying Parry Aftab from wiredsafety.org summarizes this most recent problem, “We’re always talking about protecting kids on the Internet from adults and bad people. We forgot that we sometimes need to protect kids from kids.” (Harmon, August 26, 2004)
Often the impact on students carries into their studies. Even if the cyberbullying most often occurs at home, the victim must still encounter those students at school. It may make he/she a target for other negative behavior at school. It can cause psychological harm in changing behavior by isolating from classmates, and becoming disinterested in school work. Educator’s Guide to Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying can also become so intense online that it manifests itself into physical behavior at school. In one instance, reported by the New York Times, 30 students from Muirlans School carried skateboards over their heads and intimidated a cyberbully victim at school by repeating his screen name over and over. (Harmon August 26, 2004)
Instances such as these is causing many parents to withdraw Internet usage from their children. That was the effect in the situation above and the trend is increasing. Unfortunately this can have a negative consequence for students in the coming years as they will need to use the Internet for school projects. This can cause further stress as the scramble to complete assignments where online resources are needed but access is taken away.
There are various ways in which schools can combat cyberbullying, even if it occurs outside the jurisdiction of school control.
Often times students will leave signs that they are being bullied on the Internet. Victims may minimize a screen in the computer lab which shows them being bullied in a chat room, through email, or via a personal blog. This is a sign that a student is being bullied and should be followed up on. If they don’t leave physical signs, teachers can read body language and at least get a sense that there is something wrong with peer relations.
In school, teachers should have an “Internet Acceptable Use Policy” which is an agreement signed by all children using computers that they will use them in a proper way as deemed by the school. (Belsey) If found in violation, they will receive punishment.
Teachers can halt bullying by creating a “Bully Box” (Harvey 2005) Students can use this as a means to privately expose situations in which themselves or another classmate is being bullied. Students can use the bully box to expose and problem-solve events which occur both in and outside of school. It can be done anonymously and time should be devoted weekly by the teacher to responding to situations and opening up the class to discussion about situations from the box. Positive comments should also be encouraged as a means to show models of anti-bully behavior.
Marilyn LaCourt, a former marriage counselor wrote a novel about an inner city classroom guinea pig experiment which set up strict rules in which everyone had to get along for the semester. (Kirby, 2006). The book explores the interplays among the bullies, co-conspirators, and victims as this middle-school aimed book takes the reader through the experiment. Additionally, this book deals with race relations and how bullying develops from that. Such a book could be utilized by a middle school literature teacher to explore the dynamics of bullying in a unique way without having to preach to deaf ears.
Evidence of effectiveness
Bullying has continually been an effective method for bullies to gain power over others. Cyberbullying has made bullying much easier, faster, effective, and more difficult to trace to the culprit. Because it occurs outside of the schools most of the time and the bullies are hard to track, many schools don’t know how to help. Marci Maricelia, a School Resource Oficer at Fossil Hill Middle school believes “it’s almost impossible to take action against the transgressor.”(Batheja 2004) Recent court decisions since that time have been further preventing schools from taking punitive action against the perpetrators. So schools’ ability to intervene in a practice that occurs at home has been very limited. However, schools can address bullying in general and punish those who use school in any way to conduct cyberbullying.
Kids can be an important part of the solution. Just as bullying can be conducted in a negative way so too can be be done positively. In one situation, described in Good Housekeeping on cyberbullying, a young girl was made fun of when her mother approached the dean. Finally when her friends got involved by approaching the cyberbully, the bullying stopped.
Critics and their rationale
The greatest problems with cyberbullying and the school’s impact lie in free speech and school jurisdiction. First, critics argue that people’s first amendment right of freedom of speech should allow students to speak their mind on the web at home. Depending on the degree of insult or falsity; however, the cyberbully may cause mental distress and may still be accused in the court system of slander. However, it may be difficult to verify this information and if the bully directs the comments in a way that it would not fall into this category, he/she can still be protected by the first amendment and not face slander charges
Cyberbullyies who use a blogging website called “My Space” have been recently targeted by schools and suspended for the types of bullying they have posted on their blogging pages. However, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has been defending the bullies to support their right to make comments which are protected by freedom of speech because the action is outside of school. In a suspension situation in Littleton, CO in 2006 the ACLU will represent the bully who was suspended. ACLU Defends Cyberbully’s Rights There have been several court cases where the district courts have overruled the schools’ suspensions of bullies online. Some of these cases are currently on appeal.
Alternative explanations due to Diversity considerations
Often those who are bullied online are targeted because they are seen as different from the other students in the classroom. This can be because of personal traits but also because of race or ethnicity. Sometimes people use racist words while online when referring to someone they are bullying. Targeted racism should be seen as a type of bullying. More research needs to be conducted into how much bullying is race based and whether or not the attempted solution should vary from solutions presented regarding general cyberbullying.
Signed “life experiences”, testimonies and stories
I have not come across any cyberbullying in my school. However, I am doing a project this year where students need to sign up for an email account so they can make a Google Webpage. In my letter home to parents I had to tell parents and the students that this email account could not be used to send or receive emails. I felt this was important to keep the students from cyberbullying or being contacted by other people who they shouldn't be in contact with. I am concerned that if this happens then it will come back on me even though my intentions were good. I have had my letter home approved by the district office, technology coordinator, and principal. One of the concerns I have with cyberbullying is the number of ways it can take place. It can take place through websites like Myspace and Facebook, Email, YouTube Video Clips, Instant Messaging, etc. Schools should be taking an active role in preventing this, but I'm not sure that this is happening yet. B. Moore
My school doesn't seem to be affected too much by cyberbullying, however there have been a couple of instances that I have heard about. When a student is online and sees content that discusses something about them or puts them down, it becomes an artifact of bullying. A lot of the time, the student would not take this issue to an adult. I would assume this would be because they might think that adults would find it silly to be upset about stupid stuff on the Internet. What they don't realize is that most adults do understand that stuff on the Internet can cause some major pain, especially since the information can be viewed by an unmeasureable amount of people. When it comes to cyberbullying, kids should notify an adult immediately so they can hopefully get to the source. If it out of their reach and it is serious enough, then the adults can contact appropriate authorities. (Robert Hayes, 2008)
The internet is a scary thing. Kids are so naive. They log on and create MySpace or FaceBook sites and they write whatever is on their minds. Often times, things that should never have been said out loud, let alone publish for the entire world to see. Students that may not have been bold enough to bully in person, are comfortable enough on the internet to bully others. Also, students honestly do not realize that they are putting information out there that predators thrive on. Parents - check on what your kids are doing on the computer. Let them know that you are checking. Make everything pass the "granny" test. Students at the high school I teach at were mad at the administration because they found out about a drinking party by reading all about it on MySpace. "That is private - why were they reading my MySpace" one student said in the hallway. Kids need to understand that the internet is NOT PRIVATE - it is out there for everyone to read, every teacher, every parent, every predator. R. Grunloh
In our school, evidence of cyberbullying has been brought to the attention of the teachers on a few occasions in the last year. Some students who were editing their blogs were found by checking the computer’s history when the computer teacher suspected blog use in school. In this case, the teachers were able to contact the parents. In cases where teachers were told by students that bullying was occurring at home computers, the school made the decision to educate parents generally on the problem since the school’s role in the matter is still unclear. –L. Keener middle school teacher
I am very concerned about cyber-bulling as well as cyber hassassment. Teachers need to aware of whats going on in their classroom and computer labs. With site lkie myspace and facebook children are being exposed to many types of inapropriate actions. Teachers and parents need to be aware that this is happening and make sure they know where their kids are surfing and who they are communicating with. T. Ashley
I have a 12 year old who constantly wants to be on the computer I-Ming her "friends". One day I was reading over her shoulder, which I often do, and was amazed at what one of her "friends" was saying to her. It went something like this, "I'm going to take poop on a stick and shove it down your throat". I was utterly shocked and was trying to find out what prompted this comment. So I looked at the entire conversation that had taken place between my daugther and this girl. I could not see where this abuse could have come from. So I got on the computer to let this girl know that what she was saying was inappropriate. She didn't believe that it was me, she thought my daughter was acting like me and continued her inappropriate behavior. It was a very eye opening experience. Gay Cabutti
Incidences of cyberbullying, I believe, are on the rise. I am a middle school teacher, and last year alone, we've had student's blogs shut down and comments taken off of websites such as ratemyteacher.com for inappropriate comments. I am very lucky to have an administrative team that is very "techno-savvy," and recognized the signs that such bullying was going on. I wouldn't want to infringe upon anyone's freedom of speach, however, I definitely don't want any student or teacher being mis-represented or bullied! -S. Scott
My school has recently encountered cyberbullying and harrassment through online communities like myspace.com. Myspace has become extremely popular among middle and high school students. With the increase in number of users comes the increase of problems. The students have been making fake profiles for teachers and other students and harrassing others through those profiles. Myspace.com has created an effective department to handle school-related problems such as cyberbullying, as the problem has become very serious in some schools. jjakob
Cyberbullying really became a problem in our middle school about 3 years ago. Students were placing comments on their myspace pages (or the like) or sending Instant Messages that contained information that would instigate fights. Once these comments were made, the only thing that some students thought of was revenge and what better place to get revenge than at school - the place where we always see each other. The school was then caught between a rock and a hard place. Technically, these events were not happening on school property or during school time and unless a student physically or verbally abused someone during school time, there was only so much that the school faculty could do. In retaliation, the school began holding conferences - usually involving the guidance counselor, the students involved and their parents, and one or two other school officials or teachers. In these discussions, parents were made more aware of the issues that some of them didn't even know was going on. For this reason, I think that a school should do what they can to help keep parents alert and aware of the dangers that their children face when using the internet, regardless of whether it is actually a school issue. MFoshee
Cyberbullying and any other form of electronic harassment needs to be dealt with as other forms of harassment and bullying are dealt with: education for students and parents, and intervention when the circumstances demand it. Of course jurisdiction is an issue, however this issue is no different from the usual "meet me in the sand lot after school" scenarios. On campus internet traffic should be controlled and monitored if only to be proactive and otheriwse handle liability concerns. More education in digital literacy will hopefully help students and parents realize the very public and permanent nature of materials, images, and threats put online. But from a discipline standpoint schools must do what they always have done...just with new tools and heightened awareness. - dave melone
Cyberbullying happens more often than many teachers think. Several years ago my son came home all upset because another student had started a blog about his classmates--most comments not being complimentary. He was giving out the link to his friends so they could read and add to what had been posted. The teacher was totally unaware of this. I was able to get the name of the site he was using as a host and sent an email informing the owners/moderators that the blog was put up by a 10 year old (you were supposed to be 18)and was being used to bully his classmates. They took the site down. -Susan Sheahan
Cyberbullying has effected the students at many schools.Last year there was an incident at school(done at home) where one of the student's picture was put on someone's social network with a derogatory comment.Emphasizing internet safety often falls on deaf ears to middle school students.Parental,school,and community invovement is necessary for safety with computer use. Any type of bullying is not acceptable.Being aware of what your child is doing is an important step in curbing cyberbullying. A. Harty
Bullying has been around for years and years. I recall when I was in high school our school yearbook committee was asking us questions to put our responses in the school yearbook. In response a student that didn't like me said that if she saw me 10 years from now she would kick my ***. Thankfully that didn't slip through the cracks and make it into the book. I found out from a peer that she wrote that and I never told an adult. I'm not surprised by cyberbullying and I'm not sure there is a way to solve the problem, just as we've never found a way to fix traditional bullying. One thing to keep in mind is we're seeing more school shootings these days, and all those students were considered "outcasts". I think we need to spend more time teaching our students to be tolerant and teaching students how to discuss how to react to bullying. J. Adams
I am personally terrified for the youth of today with the cyberbullying that goes on. It isn't just the internet, it's the text messages, IMs, and all other "cowardly" ways of communication. I feel very strongly that most of this could be contained if more parents would get involved in their children's lives. My 14 year old daughter has a "MYSpace" page, I know her password and check it several times each week. She knows this, that was the understanding when she set it up. I find it frightening when I see these young people showing pictures of inappropriate behavior on their page and their parents have no idea that this goes on. I have seen pictures of 13 year old girls drinking, smoking and showing all parts of their bodies on these pages and I wonder what their parents think they are doing.
I think the biggest problem with this type of bullying is that it is so anonymous. A child can say anything they want in this type of forum without ever seeing the recipients face when they say hateful, cruel things. This is so hurtful because the written word is sent without emotion and it leads the often, insecure teenager to think the worst of themselves. In our school, we spend a lot of time on character traits, kindness and bullying. I don't know what happens when they leave elementary school and go to middle school because that is usually where all of this really gets going. I wonder sometimes if parents don't understand enough technology to keep up with what their children are doing - I know it is a struggle for me everyday. When my older children were in high school (they are now 26 & 27), we had a land line phone and no computer. When their friends called them, we know who they were talking to on the phone, for how long and when. In this day of 6 year olds having cell phones, this control is gone. I think parents need to empower themselves and get involved in their kid's lives, if for nothing more than to protect them. D. LePla
Megan Meier Story--
My students are in HS so they have "mature" interests. There have been instances where the discipline office has had to remove kids from my class for: sexting, inappropriate text messages and internet posts, and general shenanigans on Facebook/My Space. One group of kids started their own web forum to discuss games and movies - that forum ultimately got sections about faculty and students, how they were viewed in the community and "fun" ways to kill them .... needless to say that got shut down quickly. - P. O'Hara
References and other links of interest
Belsey, Bill. Bullying.org “Cyberbullying: An Emerging Threat to an ‘Always On’ Generation.”
Batheja, Aman (August 24, 2004) “Cyberbullies’ Torments have Much Wider Reach”. Miami Herald.
Harmon, Amy (August 26, 2004) “Internet Gives Teenage Bullies Weapons to Wound From Afar.” New York Times.
Harvey, Mary (February 6, 2006.)“Bullies Beware: How One School Stood up to Bullies.” Junior Scholastic. Scholastic Publications.
Kirby, Adam. (March 2, 2006) “Bully Pulpit: Therapist Writes Novels to Spread Peace Message.” Brookfield News. p 8.
Lyness, D’Arcy PhD Kids Health “Dealing with Bullies” http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/emotion/bullies.html 1995-2006 The Nemours Foundation
Patchin, J. W. and Hinduja, S. Cyberbullying.us http://www.cyberbullying.us/ 2006.
Picker, Lauren (March 2006) “The New Danger Online” Good Housekeeping Magazine. p. 112-116.
PictoChat Information from Nintendo
ACLU Defends Cyberbully’s Rights
An Educator’s Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats
http://www.cyberbully.org/docs/cbparentsbrochure.pdf (Schools may copy the first page and distribute to parents at no charge)
Research, stories, cases, downloads, fact sheets, strategies, and solutions
