Cyberbullying is sending or posting harmful or cruel text, images, or video
using the Internet or other digital communication devices such as cell phones.
Cyberbullies, mostly children between the ages of 9-14, use the anonymity of the
web to inflict pain without having to witness the consequences. The following
activities are examples of some ways that children bully each other online:
Sending cruel, threatening messages
Impersonation- Pretending to be someone else and posting messages or
pictures to damage that person's reputation
Flaming- sending rude, vulgar or angry messages to someone with the express
intent of causing mental or emotional harm
Posting pictures of someone online without their permission- particularly
unflattering pictures (ex.- using a cell phone to take pictures of someone in a
locker room and posting them online)
Harassment- sending repeated offensive messages
Denigration- Putting down someone by posting harmful, untrue, or cruel
statements about a person
Exclusion- intentionally "rallying" others to exclude someone from online
communication such as chatting or IM lists
Ridiculing others on websites
Breaking into an email account and sending vicious or embarrassing email to
others in the account holders name
Trickery- tricking someone into disclosing private information, which is then
disseminated to others.
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THINGS TO LOOK FOR TO KNOW IF A CHILD IS BEING BULLIED:
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The child seems upset and/or anxious - especially after using his/her cell
phone or computer.
Complains frequently of headaches, stomachaches, or other stress related
ailments.
Withdrawal from groups of friends or after school activities.
Change in grades or school behavior.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU SUSPECT A CHILD IS BEING BULLIED:
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Save any evidence you have and try to identify the cyberbully. Contact a
guidance counselor or administrator.
Tell the student to clearly tell the cyberbully to stop.
Make sure the student knows that he/she should not to retaliate online.
Advise the child to ignore the cyberbully by leaving the online environment
and/or blocking communication until the problem can be solved.
HOW TO KEEP A CHILD FROM BEING A BULLY:
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Talk to the child about treating people with kindness and respect online in a
similar way that he/she would treat that person face-to-face
Emphasize the fact that you expect your students to treat others in the same
way that they would like to be treated.
Remind the student that he/she needs to act with these values no matter what
the circumstances- a face-to-face meeting, online, on a cell phone, gaming, or
using any other electronic device.
Emphasize values and the importance of doing what is right regardless of the
potential of detection or punishment by you or anyone else.
Explain to the student that using the school Internet account to bully or
threaten could lead to the lose of privileges or disciplinary action.
Help the student learn effective decision-making strategies to guide his/her
online behavior.
Have your teen ask himself/herself the following questions:
• Are you being kind and demonstrating respect for others?
• How would you feel if someone did the same thing to you?
• What would a trusted adult, who is important in your life, think?
• Is this action in violation of any agreements, rules, or laws?
• How would you feel if your acts were reported on the front page of the
newspaper?
• What would happen if everybody did this?
• Would it be OK if you did this in the real world?
• How would this reflect on you and your values?
SCENARIOS: Use these stories as a discussion point with your students on cyberbullying.
These stories are based on actual events. Most names have been changed.
1. A group of girls at his school had been taunting Alan through IM, teasing him about his small size, daring him to
do things he couldn’t do. They dared him to commit suicide. He discussed this with them. The girls thought it was a
big joke. One afternoon, Alan got his grandfather’s shotgun, loaded it, and killed himself. He had deleted every thing
from his computer, except for one message, “The only way to get the re- spect you deserve is to die.”
2. The messages can get really outrageous on the student discussion board, especially when Nick is around. Nick
thinks he knows everything. Anyone who dares to disagree with him or who posts what he thinks is a stupid comment
is at- tacked with a vicious message.
3.Unknown middle school students created a web site all about Raymond. On this site, they posted Raymond stories,
Raymond jokes, and Ray- mond cartoons. They posed questions about
Raymond’s sex life. They invited anyone visiting the site to submit their own comments and had an email link for
people to send comments di- rectly to Raymond.
4. Sitting around the computer with her friends at a Friday night sleepover, Judy asked, “Who don’t we like? Who can
we mess with?” They chose Sara, who was always trying to fit into the group. Sure enough, Sara was online. So Judy
started IM-ing with her – with all of the other girls pro- viding suggestions. “Ask her who she likes best, Jack or
Nathan,” they urged. The next Monday, the girls were passing Sara’s IM at school.
5. Greg, an obese high school student, was changing in the locker room after gym class. Matt took a covert picture of
him with his cell phone camera. Within seconds, he sent it to classmates. Soon the picture was flying around
to cell phones at school. By the time Greg left the locker room, all the students were laughing at him.
6. Joanne saw some girls bullying Jessica at school and reported the bullying to the office. By the time Joanne got
home from school she had 35 angry messages in her email box and even more angry text-messages on her cell
phone. Most of the messages are anonymous. Some appeared to be from strangers living in other parts of the
country. Now, on a daily basis, Jo- anne gets many email and text messages using vulgar and insulting language.
7. Sara watched closely as Emma logged on to her school Internet account and was able to determine Emma’s
password. Later, Sara logged on to Emma’s account and sent a scathingly cruel message to Emma’s boyfriend, Alex.
8. When Annie broke up with her boyfriend, Sam, he sent her many angry, threatening, pleading messages. When
Annie blocked his email ac- count, Sam continued to send messages either by email or text message. When Annie
still re- fused to get back with him, Sam posed as Annie in a sex-oriented discussion group and posted a sexually
suggestive picture Annie had given him, along with her email address and cell phone number.
9. After he beat another boy in an online game, several of the boy's friends threatened Michael in the game site chat
room. "We’ll make you pay for this." Now when Michael tries to play on the site, a group of other players gang up on
him and restrict his activities so that he cannot participate.
( reprinted with permission from Parent's Guide to Cyberbullying- Center for Safe
and Responsible Internet Use)