Bullying and cyber-bullying have become an increasing problem in the schools. Everyday there is more and more stories on the outcome of what can happen when a person becomes a victim of bullies. Suicide and violence has risen in schools because of children being bullied. Adolescent children are among the highest at risk for bullying. What are the risk factors for bullying? Is one type of person more likely to be bullied? What are the schools doing to protect children from becoming a victim?
Bullying is a form of intimidation ( Baldry, 2010, Farrington, 2010 ): A bully may use force or coercion to gain what they want from a weaker person. This is their way to establish superiority over an individual. Bullying has been around for many years. Today, it has become a serious issue for
…show more content…
Some signs that a teacher or parent can look for to identify a child who is a bully may be aggression towards other’s, has little empathy, easily frustrated, and views violence as a positive way to solve problems. Some signs that a child is a victim of bullying may be fear of going to school, signs of depression, withdrawn, and signs of physical altercations such as bruises, and or scrapes. According to the National Center for Education Statistics report shows that middle school and elementary school children are bullied more than high school children. Bullying has been around for as long as anyone can remember. Not only do schools need to try to find a way to stop bullying but, in recent years the schools are seeing an increase in cyber-bullying among adolescents. Cyber-bullying is, the modern communication technologies to embarrass, humiliate, threaten, or intimidate an individual to attempt gain power and control over them ( Stutzky, 2006 ). Cyber-bullying has become has become an increasing problem in schools today. I believe that this form of bullying is more severe and has much worse
The current definition of bullying, according to stopbullying.gov, is “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is reappeared, or has the potential to be repeated over time” (Bullying Definition).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Track back to 15 to 25 years ago. An unfortunate student would normally get bullied at school with physical acts of violence, but as soon as that student arrives at his home he or she is presumed safe. Cyber bullying does not allow this luxury. Cyber bullying occurs over the information waves of the internet, with sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google plus. Which is why the guidelines must be improved or that children should not be allowed to access such sites entirely. With a the tools of direct messaging and posting videos cyber bullying can follow children to their home, beyond the school playground, seven days a week 24 hours a day. These acts of emotional trauma occur on a child’s computer and smartphone. For this reason it is more difficult to monitor...
Alfie Kohn says the definition of bullying is, “a hostile action or pattern of abuse, intimidation, or harassment over time-in which those who are smaller or weaker are victimized by those who are larger or stronger” (Kohn). Alfie Kohn is a writer for books on education, parenting, and human behavior. He wrote for Education Week. In the past years bullying has affected many people’s lives. Since schools are starting to get intervention programs to stop bullying and bullying can happen for many reasons, but it needs to stop, punishment methods need to be more effective.
Bullying, a once typical occurrence in schools, has gone digital. As a result, cyber bullying has become very present among youth. As the personal computer and the Internet bring the world into our homes, they provide us with access to a vast amount of information. “Therefore, as children and adolescents spend more and more time online they are exposed to many risks or dangerous activities” (DOWELL, Burgess, & CAVANAUGH, 2009). Cyber bullying is very similar to physical or face-to-face bullying (Cyberbullying is a growing problem for one in 10 kids, 2010).
There are several risk factors and long-term effects that occur in the bullying of school-age children. This includes those as young as pre-kindergarten all the way to seniors in high school. Many of these risk factors can include and affect any age, gender or race. Some trends may show that older children are less likely to talk about their victimization and that boys are more likely to be involved in physical bullying, while as, young girls are more likely to use indirect bullying such as psychological or emotional abuse (Vanderbilt & Augustyn, 2010). Bullying in the schools can have a great impact on not just the individual victim but also the bully themselves, and even bystanders.
A report shows that 72% of internet users were cyberbullied at least once in a one year period (Juvonen and Gross 502). One article cites as of June 2006 that 713 million individuals who age 15 and older used the Internet with 153 million users being American (“Microsoft”). However a more recent study conducted by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in 2010 shows that “ 93% of children ages 8 to 18 have computers at home, 66% have cell phones, and 76% own another multimedia device” (Holladay 5). All this data points to more users being connected to the internet is taking away from traditional forms of bullying; from playground teasing to in school harassment. Now, youths can take and post pictures and videos in minutes and not just the surrounding audience would know about the bullying but the whole world can view what is going on.
This sort of phenomenon makes major headlines regularly in recent times and effects a clear majority of today’s youth. State and local lawmakers have taken steps to prevent this type of bullying by making illegal under several criminal law codes. Michele Hamm, a researcher in pediatrics explained, “There were consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression.” Cyberbullying became widespread among students with the rapid growth in use of cellular devices and the Internet. With this kind of technology bullies have the ability to send harmful messages to their recipients at any given time. This type of bullying is the hardest to control because it involves students but often happens off school grounds. However, because the evidence is material, students and parents could bring this evidence to the school and local police departments if a situation were to happen. Parents should be mindful of their child’s use of the internet and electronic messaging, cyberbullying usually takes place in a medium in which adults are seldom present (Mason, 2008). Also, instead of sending direct messages to other students, bullies use platforms such as social media and anonymous blogs to post harmful things for others to see. Educators must understand the significance of social media use to their students, especially
Reports by the Bureau of Justice indicate that 28% of middle and high school students experience traditional bullying, with 18% experiencing cyberbullying. Traditional bullying has been defined as “intentional aggressive behavior repeated over time…when supervision is at a minimum” (Simmons & Bynum, 2014, p. 452-453). Cyberbullying has been defined as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices” (Patchin & Hinduja, 2010, p. 615). Face-to-face and virtual bullying have grown to such proportions that the U.S. Department of Education has referred to bullying as an “urgent social, health, and education concern” (p. 789). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The American
Educators attempt to provide safe, nurturing environments where students can thrive. Any disturbance to this climate can have negative affects on students’ educational performances. Bullying is one such disruption. Unfortunately, physical and verbal abuse are nothing new in the school setting, however, the rise of technology in our country has created a new setting for bullies to target their victims. Cyberbulling, or the use of any number of technological means to harm or harass another, has become an increasingly prevalent occurrence, specifically among school-aged children (Campfield, 2006).
In conclusion, cyber bullying is a problem that is growing exponentially with the expansion of today’s technology. In order to stop the hatred thrown onto children through the Internet, preventative strategies need to be put in place. Too many children are being worn down mentally and emotionally due to being bullying anonymously on social media, through texts, and over email messages. Ignoring this problem can not continue. There are so many promising preventative routes to take when approaching cyber bullying. More people need to be educated and aware of the prevention methods available to them, because the varieties of prevention methods are endless.
McQuade, III, Samuel, James Colt, and Nancy Meyer. Cyber Bullying: Protecting Kids and Adults from Online Bullies. First Edition. Road West, Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2009. 47-49. Print.
Stutzky suggests that cyber bullying is the use of modern communication technologies to embarrass, humiliate, threaten, or intimidate an individual in the attempt to gain power and control over them. Bullying has been around since the beginning of time. These days however, bullying isn’t just happening on the playground, it’s happening on the internet and mobile phones, making it possible to bully a child 24 hours a day. Cyber bullying follows children around the clock and into the safety of their own bedrooms. A recent survey by MindOh!, an educational company that follows youth trends, reported that nearly 80% of the 5,500 teens that were surveyed said that they had been exposed to cyber bullying. Cyber bullying affects the mental health of so many young adolescents around the world, and the issue is steadily increasing as more and more ways to bully are created.In extreme incidents, cyber bullying has led teenagers to suicide. Most victims, however, suffer shame, embarrassment, anger, depression and withdrawal. While technology continues to evolve, new means of communication enable today’s bullies to become more effective in terrorizing and tormenting their victims. The aim was to increase awareness and decrease the prevalence of cyber bullying- Year 9 at Meridan State College being the stakeholders (people involved).
A great number of children and young adults are the main target of bullying via the internet. In most instances the youngsters cannot understand that they are being bullied as this shows that that the once safe internet environment is over time becoming a great sources of anxiety and confusion (Berson, Berson & Ferron, 2002). Cyber bullying tend to have negative effects of the one being bullied in that the victim attains a confused feeling and are hurt since they have been targeted and insulted for no justifiable reasons. With time the victims develop feelings of loneliness and fear and may opt to stay at home where they feel secure and may even avoid to schools or in other social gatherings. This is likely to affects
With technology progressing, students are moving past face to face hectoring, and are verbally bullying other through social media. Cyberbullying can sometimes become more harmful than verbal, physical, and emotional bullying due to victims, not feeling like they have an escape route because they are threatened repeatedly through text messages, e-mails, social media, etc. The worst part about cyberbullying is that the things posted can be anonymous; therefore, there is no blame for who posts what. A victim can suspect that someone is to blame for the actions done, but there is no proof to solve a possible ongoing issue. Cyberbullying and bullying are actually considered a crime when someone: physically assaults another person, gender or racism is talked about, violent or deadly threats are made, sexually texting, inappropriate photos, stalking,
The online bully’s goal is to make their target feel weak; these online bullies can be referred to as a cyber bully. Cyber bullying is the exercise of using technology to embarrass, threaten, harass, or target another person; according to its definition it occurs among young people (New, 4). It is usually performed by a child’s peers and surprisingly occurs early as the second grade (Jacobs 1). Cyber bullying can even be unintentional, especially through the use of emails, IMs, and text messages because the tone of the sender may be hard to depict. However, recurring emails, online posts, and texts are hardly ever unintentional (124). As the number of youths increase that have the availability to technology, cyber bullying is likely to continue to rise and continue to take its toll on youth. Due to its excessive effect that it has on children today, Cyber bullying should be taken more seriously.