Where does cyberbullying commonly occur?

Details provided by Cyberbullying expert - Cyberbullying occur everywhere across cyberspace, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it occurs most often where teens congregate.  Initially, many kids hung out in chat rooms and as a result, that is where a lot of cyberbullying took place.  These days, most are drawn to social networking web sites, a fact that has increased the potential for cyberbullying in these online environments.  Instant messaging on the Internet or text messaging via a cell phone also appear to be common mediums over which cyberbullying occurs.  We are also seeing it happen with portable gaming devices and in 3-D virtual worlds and social gaming sites.

 How much cyberbullying is out there?

 Estimates of the number of youth who experience cyberbullying vary widely (ranging from 10-40% or more), depending on the age of the group studied and how cyberbullying is formally defined.  In our research, we inform students that cyberbullying is “when someone repeatedly makes fun of another person online or repeatedly picks on another person through email or text message or when someone posts something online about another person that they don’t like.”  Using this definition, about 17% of the almost 2,000 randomly-selected middle schoolers in our study indicated they had been cyberbullied at some point in their lifetime.  About this same number admitted to cyber bullying others in their lifetime.  Finally, about 12% of kids in our study said they had both been a victim and an offender.  We also found that 27% of victims say they were cyberbullied by someone from their school, while 20% of students said that threats made online are carried out at school.  Finally, youth who are cyberbullied share their problem with friends (54%), their parents (41%), or a teacher (30%).

 How is cyberbullying different from traditional bullying?

 First, victims often do not know who the bully is, or why they are being targeted.  The cyberbully can cloak his or her identity behind a computer or cell phone using anonymous email addresses or pseudonymous screen names.  Second, the hurtful actions of a cyberbully are viral; that is, the large number of people (at school, in the neighborhood, in the city, in the world!) can be involved in a cyber-attack on a victim, or at least find out about the incident with a few keystrokes or clicks of the mouse.  The perception, then, is that absolutely everyone knows about it.  Never do something without thinking about its affects. Take suggestions from Bullying expert to overcome the problem.

 Why is cyberbullying becoming a major issue?

 Cyberbullying is a growing problem because more and more kids are using and have completely embraced the Internet and Internet-based interactions.  Many kids go online every day for school work, to keep in touch with their friends, to play games, to learn about celebrities, or for many other reasons.  Because the Internet and cell phones have become an important part of their lives, it is not surprising that some kids have decided to use the technology to be malicious or threatening to others.  The fact that there is a measure of anonymity, and that it is easier to be cruel using typed words rather than spoken words face-to-face also contributes to the problem.  And because some adults have been slow to respond to cyberbullying, many cyberbullies feel that there are little to no consequences for their actions.  It’s the duty of parents to make the kids understand what if right and wrong and if something goes wrong they must concern you. The best approach is to have Lectures from Cyberbullying speaker to aware kids about the Cyber bullying.