Cyberbullying: From Playground to Computer

Abstract

While bullying may affect anyone in any situation, childhood and school are prevailing age and context for bullying, as children interact with peers and struggle to assert their identity and understand appropriate social behavior. Schoolyard bullying has received considerable attention in psychological journals and child behavior manuals, which suggest that bigger children (typically boys) resort to physical violence and threats against younger or smaller children at school. Society is moving away from attitude that bullying is just a part of growing up, to understanding deep, emotional damage it can cause. The recent rash of violence in schools has highlighted just how angry and helpless children can feel. Many schools have begun awareness programs promoting anti-violence and an end to bullying. The definition of bullying is slowly expanding. In past three or four years, nonphysical aggression has been highlighted in world of female bullying. Girls will often use rumors, social exclusion, and other forms of quiet aggression to attack other girls. This form of bullying falls beneath typical teacher's and parent's radar, and can continue for years without intervention. (1) It is this quiet, psychological aggression that has migrated to digital world to become as bullies of all ages and genders have taken advantage of anonymity and accessibility of digital technology to harass their victims. What is Cyberbullying? According to Bill Belsey, Cyberbullying involves use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal Web sites, and defamatory online personal polling Web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group that is intended to harm others. (2) Cyberbullying is newest form of bullying, emerging as children become more adept at using computers and cell phones for communication and socialization, but topics of abuse are same in cyberspace as in face-to-face communication. Bullies can harass victims about their appearance, sexual promiscuity, poverty, grades, diseases, or disabilities. Bullying can also be based on others' perceptions of a student's value based on gender, race/ethnicity, color, religion, ancestry, sexual orientation or ability level (mental/ physical/sensory). (3) There are several types of cyberbullying, depending on available technology. Instant messaging (IM) services such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) or Yahoo! Messenger allow children to have private conversations with friends, or buddies, in real time. These services combine instant communication style of chat room with personal style of e-mail, creating an arena where youth can establish social networks. This type of communication has provided fertile ground for bully to send mean or obscene messages to others. Children may be bullied by a friend on their buddy list or by peers with anonymous screen names. Added features, such as buddy profiles, allow buddies to insert derogatory or slanderous remarks about peers for anyone to read, and buddies can also create false personal profiles of their targets that insult or ridicule them. Children can also block other children from--or refuse to add them to--a buddy list, creating an effect called relational aggression, in which children engage in the hurtful manipulation of peer relationships/friendships that inflicts harm on others through behaviours such as 'social exclusion' and 'malicious rumour spreading'. (4) Similar to harassment done through instant messenger services, bullying can also occur through text messaging. Cell phones are one of newer tools put into hands of children, and they provide an extremely mobile method for bullying other children. All bully needs is targets phone number, and a message or threat can be sent anywhere, anytime. …