Childnet International - Cyber Bullying
Cyber Bullying. An act of bullying using new media technology such as cell phones, the internet, or other devices where victims receive hurtful or embarrassing texts or images. Born in the age where new media such as cell phones and the internet are a part of our daily lives, bullying is no longer limited to merely just schools or living neighbourhoods, but workplaces as well.
"It's a cowardly form of bullying. It's like being stabbed in the back by somebody (and) you have no way of ever finding out who they are, or defending yourself against the words they say. So it's more damaging than a face-to-face confrontation with somebody who is clearly willing to tell you what he or she things of you." - Nancy Knight, mother of cyber-bullying victim David Knight (CBC News Indepth: bullying)
Cyber-Bullying vs. Traditional Bullying
"Rather than just some people, say 30 in a cafeteria, hearing them all yell insults at you, it's up there for 6 billion people to see. Anyone with a computer can see it. And you can't get away from it. It doesn't go away when you come home from school. It made me feel even more trapped." - David Knight
Cyber-bullying allows anonymous identity, and bullies need not have to deal with having inflict physical pain on its victim. While parents would be able to identify signs of physical bullying (physical injuries and wounds), cyber-bullying leaves no mark to be identified.
In the usage of the internet (websites and online messengers), victims are at risk of having personal or untrue information posted over the internet for billions to see, whether willingly or not. Unlike traditional bullying, one can not simply just stop someone from posting their personal material online.
In the usage of cell phones, while victims could normally "hide" from their bullies, cyber-bullying allows penetration even within the walls of the refuge victims call home. Everyone who owns a cell phone carries it everywhere they go.
Cyber-bullying may result in deaths as well.
Suicide of Megan Meier
The suicide of Megan Meier is a well-known incident that stunned the world and brought to light the possibilities and dangers of cyber-bullying.
Megan Taylor Meier (November 6, 1992 – October 17, 2006) was a victim of cyber-bullying through MySpace, where Lori Drew (mother of a former friend of Meier) used a fabricated account attributed to a 16-year-old boy, Josh Evans and became online friends with Meier to gain her confidence and find out what she felt about her daughter and other people.
On November 26, 2008, in the nation's first criminal case of cyber-bullying, Lori Drew was found guilty on three lesser charges (reduced from felonies to misdemeanors by the jury). The jury was deadlocked on the fourth felony charge of criminal conspiracy.
This case caused several jurisdictions to consider legislation prohibiting harassment over the Internet.
Suicide of Megan Meier - The Story
MySpace Suicide Trial
Suicide of Ryan Halligan
Ryan Patrick Halligan (December 18, 1989 - October 7, 2003), is a teenager who committed suicide at the age of 13 after excessive bullying from his classmates in real life and cyber-bullying online. He suffered bullying in school due of his learning disorder, and was cyber-bullied by schoolmates who taunted him because they thought he was gay.
A girl whom Ryan had a crush on pretended to like him but later told him at school that he was a "loser". She had only pretended to like him in order to retrieve personal information about him. Their private exchanges were copied and pasted into other IMs among his schoolmates to embarrass and humiliate him.
His death led his father to lobby for laws to be passed in Vermont to improve how schools address bullying and suicide prevention.
Statistics (sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberbullying)
In September 2006, ABC News reported on a survey prepared by I-Safe.Org. This 2004 survey of 1,500 students between grades 4-8 reported
- 42% of kids have been bullied while online. One in four have had it happen more than once.
- 35% of kids have been threatened online. Nearly one in five had had it happen more than once.
- 21% of kids have received mean or threatening e-mails or other messages.
- 58% of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once.
- 58% have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.
A 2006 survey by Harris Interactive reported:
- 43% of U.S. teens having experienced some form of cyberbullying in the past year.
Similarly, a Canadian study found:
- 23% of middle-schoolers surveyed had been bullied by e-mail
- 35% in chat rooms
- 41% by text messages on their cell phones
- Fully 41% did not know the identity of the perpetrators.
"Cyber-bullying IS bullying". It should be stopped and more effort should be put into monitoring the internet for such cases before they are too late to salvage. The internet is vast and beyond many's control, but with the joint effort of users and online socializing websites, the exploitation of the new media for the wrong purposes could definitely be monitored.
