Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying (on-line cruelty)
…defined as willful or harmful bullying via electronic means. It can include threatening text messages, posting private information on a network wall or pretending to be someone you’re not to gain access to another human being.
According to Dept of Health & Human Services website cyberbullying comes in the form of emails, texting, instant messaging, blogs and chat rooms. The most common form of cyberbullying is through instant messaging.
How common is cyberbullying?
Although little research has been conducted on cyber bullying, recent studies have found that:
- 18% of students in grades 6-8 said they had been cyberbullied at least once in the last couple of months; and 6% said it had happened to them 2 or more times (Kowalski et al., 2005).
- 11% of students in grades 6-8 said they had cyberbullied another person at least once in the last couple of months, and 2% said they had done it two or more times (Kowalski et al., 2005).
- 19% of regular Internet users between the ages of 10 and 17 reported being involved in online aggression; 15% had been aggressors, and 7% had been targets (3% were both aggressors and targets) (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004).
- 17% of 6-11 year-olds and 36% of 12-17-year-olds reported that someone said threatening or embarrassing things about them through e-mail, instant messages, web sites, chat rooms, or text messages (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006).
Cyber bullying has increased in recent years. In nationally representative surveys of 10-17 year-olds, twice as many children and youth indicated that they had been victims and perpetrators of online harassment in 2005 compared with 1999/2000 (Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2006).
Cyberbullicide (cyber bullying that leads to suicide)
Teen bullying: Tormented boy’s short life ends in suicide
Teen’s suicide prompts a look at bullying (Phoebe Prince)
