Assessing the Risks


People are becoming comfortable with expressing their feelings online. Sending affectionate e-mail or an online greeting card is a fun way to show you care. Reassuring a distant friend that he or she is valued is a wonderful way to make use of a supportive social network. But as the ways and means of communicating online expand, the opportunity for bullies expands. Just as you can show positive emotions and support for others online, you can show negative and destructive emotions, sometimes in very hurtful and public ways.

"Bullying is as old as the hills, and with young people it's generally linked to stuff at school. Many of us experienced it at some point but when I was a kid, I knew that once I got home and closed the street door behind me, I had a sanctuary. The bullying stayed outside. With new technologies there now is no 'outside' and that can make the bullying even more pernicious and harder to deal with," says John Carr, Chair of the U.K.'s Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety, as well as the New Technology Adviser to NCH (National Children's Home), England's leading children's charity, and an adviser to the European Union's Safer Internet Programme.

Find Out More

The NCH maintains a Web site at www.stoptextbully.com that offers excellent advice about dealing with cyberbullying.


Why People Bully Online

Online bullying and harassment is a serious problem around the world. Though the full impact is difficult to measure because of under-reporting, the most recently published research from NCH (2001) indicates that one in four children in the United Kingdom was the victim of online bullying in that year.

The Internet appeals to stalkers and bullies because it offers a certain amount of anonymity. A bully can hide behind temporary e-mail accounts or nicknames in chat rooms or instant messaging programs. When you can hide your identity from your victim or hurl insults from a distance, there is no fear of retaliation. Though the traditional bully might be physically strong, cyberbullies can be physically weak or even younger than their victims, but still cause tremendous psychological pain. Since physical size is no longer required to become an aggressor, and with virtually unlimited access to potential targets, the Internet provides a sort of "equal opportunity offender" environment that allows anyone to act on their feelings.

Harrassment Among Teens: Not So Innocent

In case you think bullying between teens is no big deal, here's a story about how two girls used technology to go after each other.

Shaylyn pulled up Cassandra's blog, and browsed through her entries, trying to find something she could use. She was still furious that Cassie was going to the prom with Daniel, the cutest guy in class. Daniel had dated both girls in recent months, but Shaylyn was sure Cassie had used some trick to get him to ask her to the big dance.

Browsing through Cassie's postings, she noticed one thread where Cassie talked about having gained a few pounds around Christmas. That gave Shaylyn an idea. After downloading a picture Cassie had posted of herself, Shaylyn opened her father's image-editing program. He was a professional photographer and had taught her how to manipulate photos. When she found a photo of an overweight girl, Shaylyn pasted Cassandra's head to it. With a few more tweaks, she made the photo look plausible. Then she went to Daniel's blog and posted the photo with a note that sounded like it was from Cassandra: "Daniel, I'm really excited to be going to the prom with you. I'll try not to get too chunky between now and then. Love, Cassie."

With a feeling of triumph, Shaylyn posted a picture of herself, wearing tight jeans and a halter top, on her blog with a note about how she had spent her spring break hiking and riding her bike. She then sent an instant message to Daniel and told him to check it out.

Unfortunately, what Shaylyn hadn't anticipated was Cassie's revenge. When Cassie heard about what Shaylyn had done, she created a new blog and posted an altered photo of Shaylyn. Then, pretending to be Shaylyn, Cassie posted a bunch of mean comments about other students and spread the word about the blog.


Think About It

A study of 1,500 Internet-using adolescents in the United States found that over one-third reported being victimized online and over 16 percent admitted to cyberbullying others. Notably, less than 15 percent of victims told an adult about the incident (Hinduja and Patchin, research, fall 2005, currently under peer review).


A Growing Threat

Cyberharassment is growing, and not just among young people. In fact, the prevalence of online bullying has now surpassed traditional bullying offline. Whether such attacks represent a personal vendetta between two adults, the stalking behavior of a complete stranger, or teens ganging up on another teen, these campaigns have at times gone so far that their victims have sought psychiatric treatment or been pushed over the edge to suicide. The schoolyard bully that kids once faced at recess for 20 minutes a day seems tame compared with the online bully who can harass victims through many media 24 hours a day.

Because electronic forums are largely unsupervised, and personal messages are private, those in authority are hard pressed to spot or prevent this harassment. And victims, ashamed of their "weakness," or afraid of further reprisals, are often reluctant to report the abuse. Another problem is the increasingly common presence of computers in the private environments of adolescent bedrooms. Teenagers often know more about computers and cellular phones than their parents and are therefore able to operate these technologies without worrying that a probing parent will discover their experience with bullying (whether as a victim or an offender). In a similar vein, the inseparability of a cellular phone from its owner makes that person a perpetual possible target for victimization.

The Impact of Bullying and Harrassment

Bullying can have serious physical and mental health consequences, which are outlined in Table 16-1. (The information in Tables 16-1 and 16-2 is taken from www.womedia.org/lgr_statistics_print.htm and is specific to the United States.)

Table 16-1. The Effects of Bullying

Consequence

Source

An estimated 160,000 children miss school every day out of fear of attack or intimidation by other students.

National Education Association, 1995

One out of every 10 students who drops out of school does so because of repeat bullying.

Oklahoma Health Department, 2001

Those who are bullied are five times more likely to be depressed and far more likely to be suicidal.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, September 2003


Table 16-2. Bullying Affects the Vast Majority of Youth

The Scope of the Problem

Source

66 percent of youth are teased at least once a month, and nearly one-third of youth are bullied at least once a month.

2002 National Survey of Students Grades 512, Families and Work Institute

For children in grades 6 through 10, nearly one in six (or 3.2 million) are victims of bullying each year, and 3.7 million are bullies.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, September 2003

Over the course of a year, nearly one-fourth of students across grades reported that they had been harassed or bullied on school property because of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.

20012002 California Student Survey


Bullying takes a tremendous and often long-lasting toll on the lives of the victims and of bystanders (see Table 16-2).

For some parents of bullies, there is a strong tendency to minimize or dismiss the behavior of their child. They consider such behavior as being "just a phase," or say that "kids will be kids." Some consider that kids will just work out confrontations among themselves. Often this viewpoint is accompanied by the attitude that the victim should "toughen up." Not only does this point of view utterly disregard the tremendous damage done to victims, it also fails to recognize the very dangerous path bullies themselves walk. Unchecked bullying can escalate to more serious violence.



Look Both Ways. Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
Look Both Ways: Help Protect Your Family on the Internet
ISBN: 0735623473
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 157
Authors: Linda Criddle

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