Nicolette Peluso
Storified by npeluso730 ·
Sun, Mar 30 2014 16:18:49
Cyber bullying has become increasingly popular due to the increase in social media and electronic devices. This results in children being bullied when they are in their own home, after school hours. The bullying is never ending now and with more children having access to computers and cell phones cyber bullying will increase.
Cyberbullying | StopBullying.govFind out why cyberbullying is different from traditional bullying, what you can do to prevent it, and how you can report it when it hap...
What is cyber bullying?
Cyber bullying is "bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers, and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites"( U.S Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
According to the Center for Disease Control (2014) bullying is "observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated."
Q&A: How is cyberbullying different from bullying?All bullying is extremely hurtful to the target and can make kids feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, helpless, sad, and angry. But cyberbullying is a particular form of bullying that often spreads faster and further to more people and can occur at any time of day or night.
Cyber bullying is different from traditional bullying because cyber bullying can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can reach a kid when he or she is alone, at any time of the day or night. Cyber bullying messages can also be posted anonymously and can reach a wide audience in a short amount of time. Lastly, deleting harassing or mean text messages, pictures, or text can be difficult and could take a long time ( U.S Department of Health & Human Services, 2012).
Cyber bullying has negative effects on the person being bullied online. Cyber bullying can have a effect on our youth (American Osteopathic Association, 2014). “Kids that are bullied are likely to experience
anxiety, depression, loneliness, unhappiness, and poor sleep,” said Jennifer N. Caudle, DO, an AOA board-certified family physician in Philadelphia (2014). She also mentions that many children feel the need to hide the face that they are being bullied because they are either scared or hurt. Bullying can effect a child's ability to function properly in school because they are less likely to speak up.
Cyber bullying can also lead to alcohol and drug use, skipping school, receiving low grades, unwilling to attend school, and more health problems. (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2012) More effects of cyber bullying are having low self-esteem, higher depression, suicidal ideas, increased school problems, and other problematic behaviors (Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S, 2013)
Teenage kids might be bullies but not even know it. You are a bully if you are participating in the bullying, even if you did not start it. If you are using any type of technology "to harass, threaten, embarrass or target another person" (The Nemours Foundation, 2014 ) you are a cyber bully.This can include sending rude texts and tweets, or posting personal information to embarrass someone else. It can also include posting pictures, videos, or creating a page about someone and not deleting it even if you are asked to (The Nemours Foundation, 2014).
Even though cyber bullying may happen when a person is an adolescent their are long term affects associated with cyber bullying. Some long term effects are self-inflicit psychological, social and physical damage, psychological disorders, alcohol or drug abuse, severe depression which can lead to suicide and the need of psychological help to cope with the side effects of being bullied ( XRayData,2014).
Some long term effects on the bully are that they may be more likely to get convicted for a crime, more likely to become dependent on drugs or alcohol, less likely to maintain a long-term relationship and continue to be a bully by performing acts such as abuse (XRayData,2014).
This video shows that cyber bullying led three young kids to commit suicide. Their lives were cut short because of mean people torturing them online. A study done with 2,000 middle school aged kids who experience either traditional bullying or cyberbullying and is either the victim or offender of cyber bullying have experience more suicidal thoughts and are more likely to actually commit suicide then those who have not been bullied (Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. 2010). Bullying needs to be taken seriously because many lives are being lost due to cyber bullying. The victim does not get a break because cyber bullying can be constant. Traditional bullying used to only take place in school and the children got a break when they got home, not the bullying is ongoing.
Adult Cyberbullying - RespectmeOnline bullying or cyberbullying is often the same type of behaviour as other
bullying; ... For children and young people, the internet is a place, not a thing. ...
we need to recognise that it's taking place and address the impacts that it's
having on them. ... Many smart phones also have 3G technology, that lets you
connect to the ...
Although many people believe cyber bullying only happens among teenagers. Many adults are also cyber bullied. Adult cyber bullies were often bullied or were a bully as a teenager ( Cyber Bullying Statistics, 2009). Adult bullies often use verbal bullying, and bully as a way to gain power over another person and to make him or her the dominant adult. Adult bullies usually try to humiliate their victims( Bully Statistics, 2013).
In a study done by the Center for Disease Control on Victimization of Adolescent Girls (2009), 21.7% of girls reported being affected at home due to cyber bullying, 30% of them felt sad, while 41% felt frustrated. Adolescent girls responded by saying they had feelings described as" sad, angry, upset, depressed, violated, hated, annoyed, helpless, stupid, and put down" (Sameer
Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin, 2009).
Cyber bullying among girls can lead to self-harm, eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and even suicide. Girls get called names such as sluts and whores. They get called fat and ugly which all have negative impact on their self-esteem and could lead them to self-harm. According to the Cyber bullying Research Center about 24% of high school and middle school students have been bullied (Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W, 2009). According to A Parents Guide to Cyber Bullying (2014) "young people with special needs or learning disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender" tend to be more vulnerable to cyber bullying" (ConnectSafely, 2014). Although these people are targeted more often, no one is completely immune to being cyber bullied. (ConnectSafely, 2014) No one chooses to be bullied and no one wants to be bullied online.