Cyberbullying In Schools

Nearly forty-five million adolescence use the internet everyday (Lane, 2011). With these many children using the internet, cyberbullying becomes an issue Experts have concluded that any adolescent who has access to the internet, has an 11-16% chance of being cyberbullied (Accirdino and Accordino, 2011). In today’s world, the internet is used for everything we do in our day-to-day activities. More and more youth engage in activities online everyday (Weber and Pelfrey, 2014). Classrooms in schools use technology for almost everything they do, and students as young as fourth grade already have smartphones. With these new technological advances, students feel connected to each other at all times, which can lead to a very serious issue called cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is a widely prevalent problem that keeps getting worse, and sadly, it most likely will never stop. The National Crime Prevention Council performed a study in 2007 to explore the issue of cyberbullying. Researchers used middle school and high school students as their participants. The results concluded that on average, four out of ten students felt they had experienced some form of cyberbullying within the last twelve months (Enoch, 2016). Many people link cyberbullying to teens, but it does not stop there. Although cyberbullying commonly occurs among fifteen and sixteen-year-olds it does not stop there (Enoch, 2016). Many adults also suffer from cyberbullying (Luker and Curchack, 2017) Cyberbullying did not become popular until about ten years ago when technology started advancing. People now have access to the internet at all times, whereas before, most people had to go to computer labs to access the internet. Greg Hiemstra, Dean of Students and Activities Direct at Howard-Winn School District, points out that “students now have a computer in their pocket” (G. Hiemstra, Personal Communication, April 9, 2018). With that said, smartphones have had a significant impact on the use of technology. People can find the internet everywhere such as

All of these forms occur commonly, but today, people use texting and social media most. Cyberbullying on social media can include sites like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. All of these websites allow people to post things, which enables bullies to write mean things about their peers. The bullies often choose these sites because their posts can reach a large audience in a matter of seconds (Haber, 2011). The next most common form of cyberbullying occurs through text. Texting enables bullies to hurt victims through text, but also allows them to send hurtful pictures and videos (Cyberbullying, 2007). Cyberbullies often choose texting as their method because it can occur anywhere at any time. The technical name for sending hurtful photos or videos is cyberstalking. Usually, this form involves the bully threatening the victims with the video or picture. Flaming, another form of cyberbullying, occurs on online social media forums or email (Haber, 2011). This would include a bully sending a nude photo with a derogatory text attached. Another common form of cyberbullying includes excluding a person from a gossip group online. This usually involves more than one person, and they talk negatively talk about a person. Outing includes sending out personal information about somebody to a large audience of people. An