The Effects of Cyberbullying

Without any doubt Cyberbullying has a negative impact on its victims. The reality is that internet harassment is meant to psychologically provoke its victims to being harmful in nature. Studies have shown that victims feel a wide range of negative emotions because of being cyberbullied. These contain anger sadness feeling hurt embarrassed afraid. For sure it is obvious that those who experience cyberbullying also experience a range of negative behaviors. These include poor concentration low school achievement absenteeism from school Another problem of these negative emotions and behaviors is that the victim is more likely to resolve this strain through some sort of antisocial behavior. Cyberbullying is too new a phenomenon to tell what it's long term effects on an individual will be.

Get Involved in your Child’s Online Life!

You are probably asking yourself what you can do to protect your children and as with other troubles in life, prevention is often the best defense.

There are a number of steps that you can take in order to prevent your children from becoming cyberbullying victim.
•First talk to your children about respecting others and tell them about that bullying hurts. Explain that the rules for interacting with people in real life also apply for interacting online or through cell phones.
•Tell your children about the results that they could suffer if they misuse the technology (e.g., damaging their reputation, getting in trouble at school or with the police).
•Demonstrate correct Internet use! Your children learn from your behavior and imitate it. Never joke or harass about others while online, especially around your children.
•Become involved in your children cyberspace. Monitor their online activities but use caution when doing this. Ask them if they have ever been harassed or ridiculed and encourage them to tell you if this happens.
•Set time limits on Internet use: limit the number of hours per day and also the times during the day when your children are allowed to surf. More often than not, cyber bullying occurs late at night
•Place the computer in a family room or somewhere visible (not in your child’s bedroom).

Cyberbullying Statistics

Accoriding to recent researches, four in ten teens (43%) have experienced online harassment.
Girls are twice as likely as boys to be victims and perpetrators, usually through email or a social networking sites, where they typically engage in social sabotage. Cyberbullying is most prevalent among 15 and 16 year olds.
Teens who share their identities and thoughts on social networking sites, such as MySpace and FaceBook, are more likely to be targets than are those who do not use social networking sites (39% have been cyberbullied in someway, compared with 22% of online teens who do not use social networks).



http://puresight.com/Cyberbullying/cyber-bullying-statistics.html

Elite school's horrific cyberbullying case

Two adolescent girls have been forced to leave one of Sydney's elite private schools because of cyberbullying.

These two girls were taken out of Ascham School, after they published material on the social networking website, My Space, containing personal and possibly defamatory information about their classmates.

The posting contained information about the girls' alleged sexual proclivities, drinking, drug use and relationships.

A parent of one these girls says the girl was horrified when strange boys began approaching her in public.

Over 14 Percent of Students Experience Cyberbullying in Singapore

Over 14 percent of students experience cyberbullying in Singapore

SINGAPORE, June 19. 2009 (Xinhua) reports that:
Fourteen percent of students in Singapore have experienced bullying through text messages, Channel NewsAsia quoted results of a survey as saying on Monday.

The survey on some 1,100 teenagers conducted last year also showed that 13 percent of them have been bullied on instant chat networks such as the Microsoft Network (MSN), while a third have been frightened or bullied by emails.

Besides, cyberbullying in Singapore also takes forms of damaging blogs and forwarding pictures taken of classmates.

Teen becomes first jailed in U.K. for cyberbullying

Very interesting story about an 18 year old girl

In Worcester Magistrates Court of England, an 18 year old girl was seemingly sent to three months in a young-offenders institute after being found guilty of posting death threats on Facebook, according to the Daily Mail. It's thought to be the country's first jail sentence for cyberbullying.

The young defendant wrote on her Facebook page that she would kill another young woman, the Daily Mail said. The two had been at school together, where the defendant's bullying of the victim allegedly began.

The defendant already had two previous condemnations stemming from her bullying of the victim, one for assault and one for criminal damage.

According to the Mail's report, the defendant originally claimed the Facebook threat was written while drunk. However, police discovered that the threats remained on her Facebook page for 24 hours.

It is attractive to think of this case as an isolated and extreme incident. But, as has become increasingly clear, people tend to use social-networking sites to reveal just as much of their persona as they do in person.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10315030-71.html

Cyberbullying in the Workplace

What is really interesting is that whenever we hear or see the word cyberbullying in reminds us children harassment via computer and other electronic devices but here we can see that this event is happen in the workplace for elder for elders.

Nobody is immune to cyberbullying but there are steps you can take and support you can go to if you feel you have become a victim of cyberbullying at work.


Cyber Bullying at Work
A range of different examples of bullying at work using electronic means would include:

Offensive e-mail – sending offensive e-mail to a colleague even if it’s supposed to be a joke in which a person might be offended by the content of the message or any photographs which are attached to it and continuing to do send similar messages having been asked to stop
E-mail threats – this can also include relatively inoffensive messages in terms of content but the implied meaning behind the message can constitute a form of bullying. An example of this might be where a superior is bombarding you with far more work than you can handle whilst other members of the team are not being treated in the same way
Posting blogs and comments left on social networking sites – quite often a person may not experience any direct form of cyberbullying but instead the bullies are leaving nasty or offensive comments about them on blogs and social networking sites which can often be viewed by others. This intimidation would also fall under the umbrella of cyberbullying
Spreading Lies And Malicious Gossip - social networking sites and blogs are usually the most common ways in which people become victim of another person's cyberbullying
CyberBullying SMS/Text Messages It doesn’t need to even be your e-mail at work, any threats or offensive comments you make about somebody to their mobile phone is still a form of cyberbullying

Cyber Bullying Harassment - electronic cyber bullying, or ‘e-bullying’ as it is often referred to, can also result in instances where the person may not even intend to harm you. For example, you may experience an admirer at work who would like to establish a closer friendship or relationship with you and they’ll sometimes use e-mail to ‘test the waters’ first as the fear of rejection is often far less if an approach is made that way. However, people have been rightfully prosecuted for harassment where persistent e-mails follow, especially if they have been rejected. This has even led to cases of stalking outside work
Sharing A Person’s Private Data Online - cyberbullying can take on a much more sinister meaning when people post up personal details about you which are available to the general public and which you wouldn’t normally want to share with complete strangers. This can include leaving home addresses and phone numbers for all to see.

Cyberbullying State Laws and Policies

Recently, a number of states have passed strong cyberbullying laws that are designed to protect children from being harassed, threatened and humiliated online. These laws represent a crucial step towards National anti-cyberbullying laws which will protect children of all ages around the world.

Here is a state-by-state look at some of these laws:

Arkansas
In 2007, the Arkansas legislation passed a law allowing school officials to take action against cyber bullies even if the bullying did not originate or take place on school property. The law gave school administrators much more freedom to punish those individuals who sought to harass their fellow students.

Idaho
2006 saw Idaho lawmakers pass a law that allowed school officials to suspend students if they bullied or harassed other students using a telephone or computer.

Iowa
Iowa has passed several laws that force schools to create anti-cyber bullying policies which cover bullying “in schools, on school property or at any school function or school-sponsored activity.”

Help prevent cyber bullying in schools by using your own Cyber Bully Prevention Software.New Jersey
The Garden State of New Jersey has always maintained tough laws about bullying, but it wasn’t until 2007 that the laws were amended to include bullying via “electronic communication.” These laws give additional power to the school system to enforce bullying-related punishment for actions that may not take place while on school grounds.

Oregon
The progressive state of Oregon really delves into the details of cyber bullying. The laws passed in recent years in Oregon expand the boundaries of what constitutes cyber bullying to include those actions which “substantially interfere” with the education of the young person.

Missouri
The suicide of a 13-year old girl Megan Meier who was the victim of an internet hoax greatly raised the awareness of cyber bullying and its consequences in the state of Missouri. Governor Matt Blunt went so far as to create a task force whose sole purpose was to study and create laws regarding cyber bullying. As a result the Internet Harassment Task Force now stands as a shining example for other states around the country. Missouri has also toughened their laws on the matter, upgrading cyber-harassment from a misdemeanor to a Class D felony.

New York
New York created a system to investigate claims of cyber bullying that would help police and school officials better ascertain the circumstances of each occurrence and prosecute or punish the culprits to the fullest extent of the law.

Rhode Island
The governor of Rhode Island is currently trying to pass a bill that would force repeat cyber bullying offenders to appear in family court, where they would be charged as delinquents under the terms of the state’s laws for young offenders.

Vermont
Vermont has added a $500 fine for cyber bullying offenses to their already stringent laws on the matter. There is currently a bill being discussed that would increase the reach of the school’s powers regarding cyber bullying when the action puts the individual’s ability to learn (or health and safety) at risk.

http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/tag/cyberbullying-law/

Cyberbullying Cases

Here there are two cases of cyberbullying victims that they lost their life
Ryan Patrick Halligan & Megan Taylor Meier

"It's one thing when you get made fun of at school, but to be bullied in your own home via your computer is a disgusting thing for someone to do and I think anyone who gets kicks out of it is disgusting. It makes me feel badly about myself. It makes me wonder how people can be so rude and disrespectful of others and makes me lose faith in the human race. It decreases my self esteem and I often wonder what I did to make someone treat me that way." (16 year-old girl from Alabama)

Ryan Patrick Halligan (December 18, 1989 – October 7, 2003) was an American teenager from Essex Junction, Vermont who died by suicide at the age of 13 after bullying from his classmates in real life and cyber-bullying online. According to the Associated Press, Halligan was repeatedly sent instant messages from middle school classmates accusing him of being gay, and was "threatened, taunted and insulted incessantly".

Megan Taylor Meier (November 6, 1992 – October 17, 2006) was a North American teenager from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri who committed suicide by hanging three weeks before her 14th birthday. A year later, Meier's parents prompted an investigation into the matter and her suicide was attributed to cyber-bullying through the social networking website MySpace. The mother of a friend of Meier, Lori Drew was later indicted on the matter in 2008, but in 2009, Drew was acquitted.

Popular Websites Used for Cyber Bullying

Most of the young people around the world are victims of cyberbullying by using electronic devices, mostly by internet-connected computers. But where is all of this online cyberbullying taking place? The following list provides insight into the sites most commonly being used for cyberbullying as well as why and how this problem is occurring.
( The Source: http://www.cyberbullyalert.com/blog/2008/10/popular-websites-used-for-cyber-bullying/ )


MySpace Cyberbullying

MySpace is the number one social networking site for high school age students and younger.Most kids use MySpace to set up profiles and share information about themselves, their favorite music, Hollywood stars and other interests with kids in their school or neighborhood. For most of them, MySpace represents a fun form of self-expression that utilizes the latest online technology.


But a small percentage of kids use MySpace for cyber bullying. This can be accomplished in several different ways, including:

» Posting hateful information on another person’s MySpace page.

» Posting hateful information about another person on your own MySpace page

» Creating a new MySpace profile for the sole purpose of bullying another individual.


Facebook Cyberbullying

Facebook is similar to MySpace except that it is geared towards a slightly older audience (the music and customization functionality is a lot less robust than found on MySpace) but is still being used by cyber bullies to harass their classmates and ex-friends. The rules of engagement are similar to those found in MySpace: people will either use their own profile to harass others, or create fake identities and build profiles to harass other people or dupe them into thinking another person is interested in them (romantically or as a friend).


Twitter Cyberbullying

One of the fastest growing social media enterprises, Twitter allows people to “follow” one another by posting regular updates about their activities. Twitter is seeing a growing number of cyberbullying incidents as more and more kids figure out how to post hateful, harassing information about their friends and deliver it “via Tweet” to as many followers of the site as they can.

Preventing Cyberbullying

Since most incidents of bullying occur off adults' radar screens, it’s important that young people learn to protect themselves online and respond to cyber bullying among peers when they encounter it.

Because their motives differ, the solutions and responses to each type of cyberbullying incident have to differ too. Unfortunately, there is no "one size fits all" when cyberbullying is concerned.





Never give out passwords, PINs etc: even to your best friend.

Keep personal information to yourself.

Never send messages or comments to others when you are angry, even if it's not at them.

Don't stay online all the time. There is a difference between virtual reality and the actual reality.

Don't reply to cyber-bullies.

If you've been bullied don't keep it to yourself, inform someone you trust, even if it's not a parent, tell a teacher.

Don't delete the messages from a cyber bully, if you delete it, you can't track it. So your bully cannot be punished.

Don't meet people you've met online in person.

The best form of prevention, however, is for us to educate and inform eachother.

• Prevention Suggestions Through Education

-- Learn about computer safety, computer basics and sites where Cyber Bullying can take place.

-- Put your computer in a public place so you can monitor and see what your kids are doing.

-- Limit and control kids same as you would with friends and in cyber space

(The Source: http://www.cyberbullyingprevention.com/)

What Are Different Types of Cyberbullying?

Anonymity
 Pseudonyms
 Flaming 
Masquerading
Cyberstalking
Outing
Harassment      
Exclusion

( The source: http://www.cyberbullying.info/whatis/types.php)


Anonymity

Anonymity is when someone makes threatening comments to you, but is able to hide who they are. This means that it can be hard for you to figure out who sent you a threatening message or email.

Anonymity can include the use of aliases or pseudonyms. Have a look at the book on pseudonyms on the bookcase.
Anonymity is a big issue in terms of cyberbullying. When a website was set up to humiliate Greg Frawley (check out the messages on the mobile phone – on the desk in the office), the police were unable to find the people responsible, as they had set up the website anonymously.
If someone is sending you threatening text messages on your mobile phone, unless you recognise the phone number it is sent from, you're unlikely to know who sent you the message. Or they may use someone else's phone to send you the message. These are examples of anonymity, where the bully’s identity remains hidden.
 
Pseudonyms

A pseudonym or alias is like a nickname. Bullies may call themselves a different name when they are online, to when they are offline. They do this to keep their real identity a secret from you.
When you use instant messaging services like MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger, you are known to others online by a nickname that you have chosen. This is an example of a pseudonym.

Bullies can use this same feature to change their name to something that you wouldn’t expect.

Similarly, bullies may change their name to something offensive, like the example on the right.

Flaming


Flaming is an intense argument, that normally takes place in chat rooms, over instant messages or email.


These bullies use capital letters, images and symbols to add emotion to their argument.

This is a real life example from People magazine: "I was instant messaging my best friend, and we had an argument over a guy…The next day she printed the conversation and handed it to a group of girls, but she'd changed it. It read like I had said all these really mean things [about them all] that I never said, and they believed her."

Look how the results of that flame worked out. Never send a reply to a bully whilst you are angry. Wait a period of time, to cool down, before you reply, if you even have to reply at all.
 
Masquerading
 

Masquerading is an elaborate form of cyberbullying where the bully pretends to be someone who they aren’t.

They might create fake email addresses or instant messaging names or they might use someone else’s email or mobile phone to bully you. This would make it appear as if the threats have been sent by someone else, again keeping the bully’s identity hidden.

Some people will tell you that you would give them your password if you were a ‘real’ friend. Do not give out your password to anyone.

A 13-year-old girl gave her password to her best friend. After they had a fight, the ex-friend used the girl's screen name to enter an adult chat room and gave out the girl's phone number. A man from the chat room called the girl's home – but was luckily intercepted by the mother.

Cyberstalking

Cyberstalking is a form of harassment.

Normally messages are sent through personal communications, such as email or text messages.


Victims start to believe that the cyberstalking may escalate to real stalking.



Outing


Outing is the public display or forwarding of personal communications such as text messages, emails or instant messaging.

Many bullies print out instant messaging conversations, often containing personal or sexual information, and show them around to other people.

Even reading out the saved messages on a person's mobile phone is a form of outing. It can cause real psychological damage to the people involved, if the message is private information.

Harassment

Harassment involves bullies sending offensive messages targeted at an individual or group.
Bullies often send repeated messages, or at odd times of the day and night.

Some bullies even post their messages to a public forum - where everyone can see their threats - like a chat room or a bulletin board.

How would you feel if someone sent you a message that said, "I'm going to kill you"?

If it only happened once, you would probably ignore it.

But what would you do if you received the same message, on the hour, every hour, for a day...

Exclusion


In many cases, teenagers who don't have mobile phone are excluded from the group of teenagers who do.
Girls have been found to be more likely to exclude others, boys tend to threaten with physical violence.

An 11-year-old American, Natalie recalled in an newspaper interview how every girl in a class but one was invited to a recent sleepover. The girls at the party went on the Internet that night and taunted the one who had been left out.

How Are Teens Cyberbullied?

It should be a painful experience of being a victim of cyberbullying. Some people who cyberbully others, pretend they are other people online to trick others spread lies and rumors about victims,trick people into revealing personal information, send or forward mean text messages, post pictures of victims without their awareness.

When teens were asked why they think others cyberbully, 81 percent said that cyberbullies think it’s funny.

Other teens believe that youth who cyberbully,

Don’t think it’s a big deal

Don’t think about the consequences

Are encouraged by friends

Think everybody cyberbullies

Think they won’t get caught


What can Cyber Bullying do?
• Lower self
• Cause suicide
• Cause depression
• Cause kids to skip school
• Lead to issues in later life
• Cause a person to withdraw
• Run up your text messing bill
• Feel sad and lower self confidence
• Cause you to have to change email or user ID to change your identity

http://www.teachtoday.eu/en/Teacher-advice/Cyberbullying/What-are-the-effects-of-cyberbullying.aspx
http://www.ncpc.org/topics/cyberbullying

What is Cyberbullying?

Have you ever recieved an email, got text messages or read a blog posting where you saw the writer had been intentionally negative or harmfull, with the intention to cause hurt? Have you ever heard about online polls where people vote and they are impersonating someone by using their email, instead of using their own? Have you ever seen postings of a rude picture of someone? If so, then you’ve seen Cyber Bullying.

If you’re like most teenagers, you spend a lot of time on a cell phone or instant messenger chatting with friends and uploading photos, videos, and music to websites. You may have online friends whom you’ve never met in person, with whom you play games and exchange messages. Teens’ lives exist in a variety of places such as school hallways, part-time jobs, and friends’ houses. Now many teens also have lives on the Internet. And bullying has followed teens online.

Online bullying, called cyberbullying, happens when teens use the Internet, cell phones, or other devices to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person. Cyberbullying is a problem that affects almost half of all American teens. Whether you’ve been a victim of cyberbullying, know someone who has been cyberbullied, or have even cyberbullied yourself, there are steps you and your friends can take to stop cyberbullying and stay cyber-safe.

“Threatening or other offensive behavior sent online to a victim or posted online about the victim for others to see.” (Wolak, Mitchell, Finkelhor et al., 2006).

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci1023061,00.html
http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying

Where CyberBullying Can Occur?

• Emails

• IM (instant message)

• Blogs

• Online polls

• Websites

• Text messaging

• Over the phone

• Chat rooms

• Bulletin boards

• Social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook)