Traditional Bullying vs. Cyber Bullying

Students have been dealing with bullying for decades. This behavior, also commonly known as traditional bullying refers to the physical, verbal, or social abuse of an individual. As technology has evolved, the actions of this behavior have also evolved into a larger issue. The world of social networks has created new ways to communicate with family and friends. On the contrary, some individuals have not necessarily used social networks for productive reasons. Some individuals have recently used technology to make threats against other individuals. With easy access to the internet, cyber bullying has become a larger issue among youth.

At the age of eleven, I entered the world of social networking by creating my own personal account in Myspace. Three years later in 2009, I created a Facebook account. I have used social networking sites to update my status, write a post, comment and post pictures. The dangers of social networking sites never crossed my mind, until I witnessed it and experienced it. While browsing through my Myspace account, a window popped up indicating that I had a new message. The message was from a girl whom I had mutual friends with. A few minutes into the conversation, this online person threatened me. In addition, she called me horrendous names. I was unsure on how to respond, I spent a few minutes contemplating. In the end, I decided it was best to only block her. This bully was able to frighten me with just a click.

Cyber bullying is referred to the willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phone, and other electronic devices (Hinduja 2010). Traditional bullying and cyber bullying are similar in terms of form and technique, however they also have several differences. Differen...

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...llphones are turned off, the messages sent by the attacker will forever remain there and then be discovered by the victim at a later date.

Bullying has been a continual problem in society. This problem has aggravated with the access of social media. The freedom of the connecting to the internet has changed the lives of many, but it has also changed the way students bully each other. Cyberbullying has become a misuse of technology that students can use to attack each other. It is significant to know the similarities and differences between traditional bullying and cyber-bullying. Cyberspace is ruining the lives of many children and young adults and in some way the word has to be spread to them. Many of those who are being cyber bullied are taking drastic actions, therefore if a child makes that drastic decision something has to be done in order to prevent that.