cyberbulling

Cyberbullying is more dangerous than transitional bullying because cyberbullying has more methods to bully the victim direct or anonymous. In the book Responding to Cyber Bullying, an Action Tool for School Leaders, the authors Mayers and her colleagues mentioned eighteen common methods. I just want to discuss two popular methods of cyberbullying that are often seen online. First, Flaming is “Online fighting by posting or sending an extremely critical or abusive electronic mail message in a public forum to inflame or enrage the recipient, often as retaliation to a perceived slight” (Mayers et al. 4). Second, some cyberbullies with a solid background on IT prefer using impersonating method. Impersonating is “Hacking into a victim’s account and then sending messages that contain embarrassing or insulting information while masquerading as the victim to damage a friendship or repuatation” (Mayer et al. 4). While flaming happens in a public forum that is easier to collect the evidence of bullying, the bully seems to be anonymous in the impersonating method. As a result, victims are inability to figure out who hacked in her or his personal accounts to defend themselves.

In addition to methods, signs of being bullied are also important to parents and school administrators. How do parents know that their children have been bullied to help them before it is too late? Kowalski and colleagues discussed on the book of a research that studied common signs of victims who experienced cyberbullying:

• Child appears upset after being online.

• Child appears upset after viewing a text message.

• Child withdraws from social interaction with peers.

• Possible drop in academic performance.

• Child has been targeted by on-campus bullying (123).

The m...

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...omenon. However, a basic knowledge about cyberbullying, reasons, methods, and reactions is needed to be equipped so that parents could have the ability to train, protect, and prevent cyberbullying. Besides that, school administrators also play the same role in this battle. They are also the people who frequently interact with young children in school. As a result, they could be a friend, a guide to young children to give them suitable advice and reactions with the bullies. Training children about cyberbullying risks and teaching them the appropriate reactions to take are the fundamental and best solutions. Many states have laws against cyberbullying; however, if parents, school administrators are not aware of their roles, they cannot effectively fight against cyberbullying. They can interact with and educate their young children before they enter the cyber world.