Young people are using the Internet
more than ever and most have Internet access from
home. For many children, the Internet isn't simply a
convenient way to research or a fun after school
activity - it's a big part of their social life.
Emailing, instant messaging, text messaging and chatting with friends are children's
most common online activities, after studying and
playing games. More and more teens are frequenting
social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook
and Twitter.
This electronic forum has not only given sexual
predators unprecedented access to our children, it
has become a new, incredibly potent and potentially
toxic, method of spreading schoolyard gossip,
hateful statements, lies, threats and harassment.
Cyber bullying is highly varied and hard to define.
At it's core, it is sending or posting derogatory or
hateful material on the Internet or through cell
phones or emails, with the intent to harm another.
Cyber bullying can be defamatory to a group, a team,
a race or target a single victim. Bullies employ any
or all cyber communications, including posts to
social networking sites, chat rooms, email, instant
messaging and blogs, to harass, threaten, spread
lies or distribute embarrassing pictures. The
Internet gives bullies a worldwide audience for
taunting their victims while maintaining some
anonymity. Cyber bullies can be
classmates, online acquaintances, and even anonymous
users, but most often they do know their victims.
Cyber bullying can take different
forms:
Flaming
Online fights using electronic messages with
angry and vulgar language.
Harassment
Repeatedly sending nasty, mean, and insulting
messages via e-mail, instant messages or text
messages.
Denigration
"Dissing" someone online. Sending or posting
gossip or rumors about a person to damage his or
her reputation or friendships. This includes
creating websites to make fun of another person
such as a classmate or teacher and using websites to rate peers as prettiest,
ugliest, etc.
Impersonation
Pretending to be someone else and sending or
posting material to get that person in trouble
or danger or to damage that person's reputation
or friendships.
Outing
Sharing someone's secrets or embarrassing
information or images online or sending it to
others.
Trickery
Talking someone into revealing secrets or
embarrassing information, then sharing it online
or sending it to others.
Exclusion
Intentionally and cruelly excluding someone from
an online group.
Cyber Stalking
Repeated, intense harassment and denigration
that includes threats or creates significant
fear.
Both boys and girls sometimes bully online and just
as in face-to-face bullying, tend to do so in
different ways. Boys more commonly bully by sending
messages of a sexual nature or by threatening to
fight or hurt someone. Girls more often bully by
spreading rumors or sending messages that make fun of
someone or exclude other. They also tell secrets.
Cyber bullying is no joke, although it often starts
that way. Because of the vast reach of the Internet,
it has far greater impact and can cause much more
emotional damage than the same statements scrawled
in alleys or on bathroom walls. Damaging words and
pictures once posted are nearly impossible to
remove. Cyber bullying messages often contain threats
of violence, which can constitute a crime. Violent
threats and inflammatory statements in cyberspace
can turn into real world attacks. In October 2008, a
racist flier posted on myspace.com sparked a fight
between a white student and several Native American
students at a Mesa high school.
The Effects of
Cyber bullying
Victims of cyber bullying may experience many of the
same effects as children who are bullied in person,
such as a drop in grades, low self-esteem, a change
in interests, or depression. However cyber bullying
can seem more extreme to its victims because of
several factors:
Occurs in children's home. Being bullied at
home can take away the place children feel most
safe.
Can be harsher. Often kids say things online
that they wouldn't say in person, mainly because
they can't see the other person's reaction.
Far reaching. Kids can send emails making
fun of someone to their entire class or school
with a few clicks, or post them on a website for
the whole world to see.
Anonymity. Cyber bullies often hide behind
screen names and email addresses that don't
identify who they are. Not knowing who is
responsible for bullying messages can add to a
victim's insecurity.
May seem inescapable. It may seem easy to
get away from a cyber bully-just get offline-but
for some kids not going online takes away one of
the major places they socialize.
Cyber bullying can be a complicated issue, especially
for adults who are not as familiar with using the
Internet, instant messenger, or chat rooms as kids.
But like more typical forms of bullying, it can be
prevented when kids know how to protect themselves
and parents are available to help.
What Parents Can Do To
Keep your home computer in a busy area of
the house.
Set up email and chat accounts with your
children. Make sure that you know their screen
names and passwords and that they don't include
any personal information in their online
profiles.
Regularly go over their instant messenger
"buddy list" with them. Ask who each person is
and how your child knows him/her.
Print this list of commonly used
acronyms in instant messenger, text
messaging and chat rooms from the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children and
post it by your computer.
Talk to your kids about the issue and teach
them things that will help prevent them from
being a victim of Cyber bullying.
Talk to teens about what they are doing on
the Internet, what sites they visit and who they
chat with.
Tell them to never give out personal
information online, whether in instant message
profiles, chat rooms, blogs, or personal
websites.
Tell your children that you won't blame them
if they are cyber bullied. Emphasize that you
won't take away their computer privileges - this
is the main reason kids don't tell adults when
they are cyber bullied.
If the cyber bully attends the same school,
notify administrators and school resource
officers or school security.
If the cyber bullying involves threats of
violence, coercion or intimidation, call the
police.
If a Web site is defaming or mocking a
person or group, contact your ISP and inform
police to get the Web site removed.
File a complaint with your Internet Service
Provider (ISP) or cell phone company about any
cyber bullying messages.
What Kids Need
to Know
Don't put anything online that you wouldn't
want your classmates to see, even in email.
Never tell anyone but your parents your
password, even friends.
Keep a record of any rude and harassing
emails, text messages or postings, but do not
respond. Show it to an adult.
Don't send message when you're angry. Before
clicking "send," ask yourself how you would feel
if you received the message.
Help kids who are bullied online by not
joining in and showing bullying messages to an
adult.
