Holly Meazler
English 111
Research Paper
12/16/11
Cyber bullying
Mean girls and bullies have been around forever, but recent technology has given them a
whole new platform for their actions. There is nothing new about bullying in schools. Students
aren’t any “meaner” today than in years past. But the popularity and prevalence of cybercommunication among younger students is expanding their opportunities to insult or intimidate
one another (Richmond, Emily). I’m sure every person can say that at one time or another, they
were picked on, about something, during their school aged years. Back in the 1990s, when I was
in middle and high school, bullying was present, but we did not have the updated technology that
we have today in order to bully someone online. Suicide, as a result of cyber bullying, was
unheard of when I was in high school in the 90s. Cyber bullying is the use of technology to
harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person with unwelcome sexual behavior that takes
place in person or electronically. Cyber bullying can be something as simple as sending a cruel
text message to someone’s cell phone, or mean notes posted to websites such as Facebook and
MySpace. As more and more youths have access to computers and cell phones, the incidence of
cyber bullying is likely to rise.
Severe cyberbullying can leave victims at greater risk for anxiety, depression, and other
stress-related disorders. In very rare cases, some kids have turned to suicide.
An eighteen year old student at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, Tyler
Clementi, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. His
roommate, Dharun Ravi, and Ravi’s friend Molly Wei, used a video webcam days earlier to spy
on Clementi in an intimate encounter with another man. This is only one example of cyber
bullying, but when Tyler Clementi committed suicide, this set off a national conversation about
bullying.
Bullying can happen at home as well as at school. Modern day bullying is no longer
limited to schoolyards or street corners; it can happen 24 hours a day. It can feel like there’s no
escape for kids who are being cyber bullied. The difference between cyber bullying and regular
bullying is that cyberbullying can go from zero to 60 rapidly. It can go viral very quickly and
can live permanently online. Many aspects of cyber bullying make it unique and potentially
more harmful and problematic than traditional bullying. The sense of anonymity provided by
screen names or other virtual identities allows bullies to distance themselves from the situation,
often making them less inhibited in their cruelty toward their victims (Keith & Martin, 2005).
Being anonymous makes it easier for bullies to falsify their identities or impersonate others.
Many kids and teens who are cyber bullied are too scared to tell a teacher or parent, often
because they feel ashamed of the social stigma, fear their computer privileges will be taken away
at home, or fear that if they tell someone the bullying will get worse. Signs that a child is being
cyber bullied vary, but a few things to look for are: signs of emotional distress during or after
using the internet; withdrawal from friends and activities; avoidance of school or group
gatherings; slipping grades and “acting out” in anger at home; changes in mood, behavior, sleep,
or appetite (Michelle New, PhD).
During a survey by Catherine Hill, the director of research at the American Association
of University Women, a nonprofit research organization, it was found that - overall 48 percent of
students surveyed said they were harassed during the 2010-2011 school year. Forty-four percent
of students said they were harassed “in person” (being subjected to unwelcome comments or
jokes, inappropriate touching or sexual intimidation) and 30 percent reported online harassment,
like receiving unwelcome comments, jokes or pictures through texts, e-mail, Facebook and other
tools, or having sexual rumors, information or pictures spread about them (Anderson, Jenny NY
Times). These percentages are amazing and outright infuriating. This means that pretty much
fifty percent of the kids in a school are harassed verbally or electronically. This number is too
high and it is leading kids to hurt themselves, or leading kids to feel they have no other choice
but suicide to stop the bullying.
Schools these days are confronted with complex questions on how to deal with cyber
bullying. Many parents are looking to schools for justice, protection, and even revenge. Often,
school district discipline codes say little about educators’ authority over student cell phones,
home computers, and what is said off campus. Reluctant to assert an authority they are not sure
they have, educators can appear indifferent to parents frantic with worry, alarmed by recent
adolescent suicides linked to bullying. Whether resolving such conflicts should be the
responsibility of the family, the police or the schools remains an open question, evolving along
with definitions of cyberbullying itself. “I have parents who thank me for getting involved,” said
Mike Rafferty, the middle school principal in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, “and parents who say,
‘It didn’t happen on school property, stay out of my life.’” (Hoffman, Jan). Sometimes, even if
schools decide to help, they could face legal constraints.
While more than 40 states have bullying statutes, the Anti-Defamation League reports
that fewer than half of those include provisions for when schools should get involved in so-called
electronic communication, which includes text messaging and social websites – all fertile
territory for cyberbullying (Richmond, Emily). Katherine Cowan, a communications director for
the National Association of school psychologists says, “There should be a process of holding
kids accountable, and reinforcing positive behavior should be consistent whether you’re talking
about cyberspace, the playground, or the lunchroom. “We need to be teaching kids that the
cyberworld is not an alternative reality. It’s as real as their regular classrooms. Schools can play
a critical role, in partnership with parents, in teaching kids good internet skills. Helping them
understand the consequences of being hurtful to anybody is part of the process” (Katherine
Cowen). If we start teaching children about the consequences of bullying and cyber bullying
from the time they start kindergarten and then refresh them in middle school and then again in
high school, I believe it will have a real impact and we will see less suicide and suicide attempts
in youths affected by bullying.
Even though cyber bullying often takes place outside of school, it is a more difficult form
of bullying for schools to address. When schools do get involved by disciplining the student for
cyber bullying actions that took place off-campus, they are often sued for exceeding their
authority and violating the student’s free speech right. However, since cyber bullying has
increased in the last few years, there are many actions that a school can take to decrease cyber
bullying and its effects:

Assess the level of cyber bullying in the school. Administrators may want to establish an anticyber bullying task force with the school board attorney, principal, disciplinary officer, librarian,
and student and parent representatives to gain a better understanding of the problem, and
then work with this group to develop anti-cyber bullying initiatives.

Create an awareness campaign for teachers, parents, the community, students, and school
staff to inform them about the forms of cyber bullying and how it can be prevented or stopped
within the jurisdiction of the school.

Engage student in the creation, dissemination, and application of a policy for acceptable use of
the school’s information technology resources. This acceptable use policy (AUP) should spell
out what constitutes cyber bullying, specifically prohibit the use of the internet for bullying,
include strategies for preventing and stopping cyber bullying, and specify the negative
consequences for policy violations. The acceptable use policy should also include a provision
for cyber bullying that occurs outside of the school if these actions adversely affect the victims’
safety and well-being while in school.

Educate students on how to avoid cyber bullying and how to respond to and report cyber
bullies. Teach students not to give out any private information. Encourage them to report to
an adult any form of cyber bullying that they witness or experience.

Provide professional development opportunities for staff and teachers on cyber bullying.
Remind teachers of the AUP and the appropriate actions they can take if they suspect cyber
bullying among their students.

Determine how the school’s efforts can be coordinated with those of the community. Establish
a relationship with local police and invite law enforcement to talk with kids about cyber
bullying.

Educate parents about cyber bullying – what forms it takes and how their children may be
affected. Ask parents to sign, with their student, an AUP stating that they won’t use computers
to harass other students. Ask parents to agree to be responsible for their children’s use of the
internet outside of school.

Coordinate with other schools in the district to provide consistent cyber bullying prevention
education as students progress from primary to secondary school.

Review relevant state laws. Many states have anti-bullying laws, some of which provide anticyber bullying legislation. If needed, petition state legislatures to add a cyber bullying
component to existing state laws that prohibit traditional bullying. (List of what schools can do
was provided by National Center for Mental Health Promotion and youth Violence Prevention).
There are also many things that parent can do to help in trying to prevent cyber bullying. Some of
these actions include: Understanding what cyber bullying is; Learning what their children are doing
online; Talking to their children about cyber bullying; Reminding their children to protect their
personal information by not sharing private information; To save ongoing harassing messages so
they can be reported; Keeping computers used by children in common areas of the home; and look
for signs that your child may be a victim of cyber bullying. (List of what parents can do was
provided by the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention).
There is a new form of cyber bullying called “sexting.” Sexting is the common name for taking
nude or provocative pictures of oneself or someone else and sending them through cell phone text
service to another person. Such images spread quickly throughout the student body creating an
administrative hassle as schools must confiscate phones and work through the authorities. This
can also take the form of bullying as students might take a picture of an unsuspecting classmate in
the locker room and circulate it through the school. One example of sexting involved a 16-year-old
girl who said she accidentally posted a nude photo of herself on a social networking site. A 16year-old boy at her school found the photo and distributed it to 100 people when she refused his
demand to send him more nude pictures. He was charged with a felony and was put on probation
(CBS News). While sexting has been proven not to be as common as cyber bullying, it is still a form
of bullying that schools have to face.
Even though cyber bullying cannot fully be prevented, there are steps that can be taken in order
to prevent cyber bulling. Some of those steps are: refusing to pass along cyber bullying messages;
telling friends to stop cyber bullying; blocking communication with cyber bullies; and reporting
cyber bullying to a trusted adult. If kids and teens take these steps, cyber bullying can be
decreased substantially.
Unfortunately, cyberbullying has become one of the most recent controversial issues facing kids
and teens in today’s society. Cyber bullies may not realize the consequences for themselves as a
result of cyber bullying. The things teens post online now may reflect badly on them later when
they apply for college or a job. Also, cyber bullies and their parents may face legal charges for
cyber bullying , and if the cyber bullying was sexual in nature or involved sexting, the results can
include being registered as a sex offender. Teens may think that if they use a fake name they won’t
get caught, but there are many ways to track someone who is cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can be
very damaging to adolescents and teens. It can lead to anxiety, depression, and even suicide.
Once things are circulated on the internet, they may never disappear, resurfacing at later times to
renew the pain of cyber bullying. The bottom line is, “Just don’t do it.”