With computers becoming a household necessity in the past 12 years, the availability and access to information is endless. Computers and the internet have changed the way we learn and socialize with our peers starting with Google, AOL Instant Messenger and now with Facebook. In the same way we see criminals change with the times, like the gas pump card scams, we have seen kids and bullies evolve as well. The internet is now a tool used by children to insult, threaten, and hurt their peers unrelentingly through instant messengers, blogs, and social networking sites. Cyberbullying is not the same as traditional bullying and treatment cannot be the same for both, but cyberbullying can incorporate aspects of treatment used in traditional bullying situations.
Traditional bullying involves intention to harm, repetition, and a power difference between the bully and victim (law 664). With traditional bullying, a larger physical presence exists which takes the role of the bully against a small physical presence, the victim. Generally, males exhibit either the bully or victim in traditional bullying(Hinduja, and Patchin 142). The bully is aggressiveto gain something-a physical item or not, like respect. Because the act is in person, identifying the bully and victim is simple and addressing the problem through interventions and/or punishment is likely.
With the internet, bullying is taken to a different level as it’s possible to be a bully or a victim-kids can be both online, without face-to-face interaction(Hinduja, and Patchin 142). Because of anonymity, aggression escalates more easily and kids are likely to retaliate online because they know punishment is unlikely because there is a low chance of being caught. Cyberbullying is also indiscriminate of gender, with males and females having equal participation, possibly because girls bully through indirect forms: rumors, or mean looks, rather than physical intimidation.
If a kid is being physically bullied, its quite obvious what intent the bully has as well as how to interpret their acts. But, the internet allows for multiple misinterpretations of meanings which through, “Are Cyberbullies really bullies? An investigation of reactive and proactive online aggression” showed that adolescents saw their own aggression online as reactive, and saw others aggression as proactive, meaning intentionally aggressive. In reality, most of the aggression was proactive because of a misinterpretation of the circumstances on either side (Law, Shapka, Domene, and Gagne 670).
The news has reported extreme cases of cyberbullying in combination with face-to-face bullying during which the victim commits suicide and these are horrible situations but also rare. Bullies who cross over into both forms are the most aggressive, and the combination can be what’s so detrimental as the victim never has peace from insults and threats (Wang, Iannotti, and Luk 531). These bullies require a different type of treatment, one that would be used in a traditional bullying situation involving teachers and parents, with school counselors and psychologists.
This information means that, in most cases, kids are more likely to exert aggression online because they feel invincible with no one monitoring their activity, or because they believe they are in the right. So, parents and teachers have to be proactive to prevent this from happening with a child as a bully or victim meaning stay involved in your child’s online activities, put the computer in a family area,encourage communication between parents and kids and when there is a change in behavior be open to the possibility bullying of some form is happening. New research will be going in the direction of understanding how “website designs, policies, and audiences can impact the occurrence of cyberbullying.” A two side approach is the start of more holistic proactive prevention which should prove effective (Moore, Nakano, Enomoto, and Suda 861-67).
References
Hinduja, Sameer, and Justin W. Patchin. "Cyberbullying: An Exploratory Analysis Of Factors Related To Offending And Victimization." Deviant Behavior 29.2 (2008): 129-156. Criminal Justice Abstracts. Web. 8 Oct. 2012.
Law, Danielle, Jennifer Shapka, Jose Domene, and Monique Gagne. "Are Cyberbullies really bullies? An investigation of reactive and proactive online aggression." Computers in Human Behavior. 29.(2012):664-672. Computers in Human Behavior. Web. 8 Oct. 2012.
Moore, Michael, Tadashi Nakano, Akihiro Enomoto, and Tasuya Suda. "Anonymity and Roles Associated with Aggressive Posts in an Online Forum." Computers in Human Behavior. 28. (2012): 861-67. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
Wang, Jing, Ronald Iannotti, and Jeremy Luk. "Patterns of Adolescent Bullying Behaviors:Physical,Verbal, Exclusion, Rumor, and Cyber." Journal of School Psychology. 50. (2012): 521-534. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
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ReplyDeleteI think cyberbullying is getting out of hand. Although, not to many victims have committed suicide, one is still too many. I think part of the reason bullying is being done on-line is because many schools are getting tough on bullies on-campus. Therefore, bullying has taken a whole new level, as a result of technology. I would like to see legislatures pass laws on cyberbullying. I think one reason it has not been done is because, when it comes to cyberspace, the confusion as to which jurisdiction one should be prosecuted in. Parents are even participating in such conduct with their kids. I definitely think a parent should have to take responsibility for facilitating bullying, if they are found to have participated. As a parent myself, I worry my kids will fall victim to such abuse. That is why I hope something can be done soon, because they will be on the Internet in a couple years.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! Yes I agree completely that kids should never feel they cannot live anymore because someone is harassing them online or in person...there is a bit of legislation that I don't seem to have mentioned and I can't remember what california's stance on it was but definitely states are aware of the damage it can do. However I don't think legislation can do anything as good as parents being on the computer with their kids. I would try to make it a habit it of going online together for homework purposes or if they want to explore, that's good, but make sure your computer and internet have parental controls. You can also make them a user account but make it very limited and so you can see what they have been looking at :]
ReplyDeleteIn some instances I believe that Cyber-bullying is actually more serious that interpersonal bullying. As you mentioned Cyber-bullying can be anonymous, and most of the time it is. Kids use social media networks to create fake profiles and attack other kids and there is not tie between that links the bully making it easier to get away with. Since the kids who are being bullied don't know who their aggressor is i can see them becoming more frustrated and more depressed.
ReplyDeleteAs far as monitoring goes, the parents should be responsible of knowing what his or her child posts online. Another major problem I see with cyberbullying is that kids are getting smart phone at a very young age. Having technology at their fingertips is not such a bright idea and only parents can regulate that.
Cyber-bullying is as dangerous as "face to face" bullying or even more dangerous as you mentioned in your essay. But we must take into consideration that this would not happen if children were restricted to access specific websites in which the bullying usually happens. Parents monitoring their children browsing activity sounds like a great idea, as Mayra mentioned, but who would monitor the parents that get involve in bullying other kids? Here is where the "give and take" between the government and the community comes along. Parents want to protect their children, but they don't want the government to monitor what they do in the computer. I am not saying that privacy should be eradicated, but there are certain groups of people, kids included, that should be monitored and even have a certain way, one that works, on checking the age of the person trying to access websites in which bullying occurs.
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