The recent suicide of another student (this time at Parma Senior High School) raises the question once again about cyber-bullying. Although the local news channel denied that bullying played a role in the most recent suicide, unconfirmed sources suggest otherwise. The fact that the question was even raised once again brings the topic of cyber-bullying into the forefront. Cyber-bullying, or internet bullying, can be described as the activity of intentional and repeated harassment resulting in harm against an individual using an electronic medium (Fiala 2010). This form of victimization appears to be increasing at an alarming rate. This article represents an inquiry into trends of bullying activities and compares the trends of traditional forms of school yard harassment with cyber-bullying.
Olweus (1993, 2001) examined peer harassment and bullying behaviors and subsequently developed a school program to address bullying. The focus of research conducted throughout the 1990s was on direct and indirect bullying. Boys, various studies have shown, are more likely to engage in direct bullying, involving physical hitting, pushing and shoving as well as teasing and taunting. In contrast, girls are more likely to engage in indirect bullying, such as spreading rumors or encouraging the ostracism of one peer (often another girl) by others. Programs, such as the Olweus Anti-Bullying Program, focused on these direct and indirect forms of bullying. A decade later, The Christian Science Monitor reported on the phenomenon of cyber, or internet, bullying (2003). While the anti-bullying programs that had appeared throughout school systems appear to have had an appreciable effect in terms of reducing physical bullying, reducing this new form of bullying will require a different approach.
A report by the Justice Department found that physical bullying has decreased (22% students reported being bullied in 2003 while 15% reported being bullied in 2008). Additionally, physical assaults had similarly declined (45% to 38.4%) (Associated Press 2010). However, the latest research from the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center has found that online harassment of American adolescents between 10 and 17 years of age has increased 50% from 2000 to 2005 resulting in a victimization rate of 9%. When respondents were asked whether or not they had “made rude or nasty comments to someone on the Internet”, in 2005, 28% responded they had made such comments. In 2000, 14% of respondents said they had made rude or nasty comments online.
It is becoming evident that programs initiated to reduce direct and indirect bullying (such as physical bullying and social isolation) are demonstrating themselves to be effective. While the Olweus model may not work equally well across school settings (as discussed in an earlier article) and by no means has school yard bullying been eliminated, there really is no program to reduce cyber-bullying. Even legislation is lacking. Largely in response to increasing pressure by constituents who want to punish cyber bullies, anti-internet bullying legislation is now being introduced throughout the country. The states of California and Missouri already have legislation in place while Maryland, New York and Rhode Island have recently introduced legislation. Legislation, however, doesn't solve the problem. It is only an instrument made available by which to punish convicted offenders.
Unless parents/caretakers regularly monitor their children's online activities, cyber-bullying will continue to be used to harm another. Parents/caretakers need to watch for their own children's bullying activities (one study reported by stopcyberbullying.org found that 17% of adolescents claim to have bullied another child online) and close their social media accounts when they observe such anti-social behavior.
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