Description: Cyber-bullying is similar to physical or verbal bullying as the victims are more likely to:
- Use drugs or alcohol
- Skip school/ be unwilling to attend school
- Experience in-person bullying
- Receive poor grades
- Have lower self-esteem
- Have more health problems.
However, cyber-bullying is different as it may occur 24/7, day or night, even if the student is at home alone. Furthermore, the bully may remain anonymous and may post images or messages to a very wide audience. Furthermore, it may be incredibly difficult for a victim to delete harassing images or messages after they had already been sent. Cyber-bullying may hurt students, disrupt classrooms, and negatively impact a school's culture.
Statistic: 15% of high school students were electronically bullied in the past year according to the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey.
Teaching Resource: This link will take you to a great website with plenty of teaching resources. It includes lessons that may be taught to students about cyber-bullying, ethics courses, and specific governmental laws against cyber-bullying.
Big news in the topic of Cyber Bullying yesterday! A new law has been passed that hopes to put in place advocates in every state to advocate for victims in schools, corporate settings and courts.
ReplyDeleteRead the full story here: http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2015/10/tyler_clementi_institute_launched_to_assist_victim.html
I think that is is extremely important to notice that the leaders in this movement are the parents of a cyber bullying victim, who committed suicide a few years back. It is really saying something that it always seems to be parents of victims that have to advocate for bullying situations to be taken seriously. What do you think we can do to create an awareness in all of our students (and their families lives) about the seriousness of cyber bullying?
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ReplyDeleteI found this article about how cyber bullying that links it to depression. Which I don't think is a big surprise.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/06/23/cyberbullying-on-social-media-linked-to-teen-depression/
The topic I researched was sexting and cat fishing and I can see a lot of similarities between our topics. I believe that schools really do need to inform students about how to be safe online. Many younger students forget that the person they are talking to is a real person that has feelings.
I completely agree! When we consider the confidence in communication behind a computer or cell phone compared to that of an in person conversation, there is no doubt that the person who can hide behind a screen will likely say more of what's on his/her mind.
DeleteI agree that giving students the opportunity to realize that is a real person on the other end of the conversation will allow them to understand the impact their words will have on their peers. Which in turn will give them more empathy for the student they are bullying. Thanks for the post, very interesting point of view.
ReplyDeleteI agree that giving students the opportunity to realize that is a real person on the other end of the conversation will allow them to understand the impact their words will have on their peers. Which in turn will give them more empathy for the student they are bullying. Thanks for the post, very interesting point of view.
ReplyDeleteThe only issue with that is traditional bullying wasn't deterred by seeing the other person. So, while this might limit some cyberbullying, it won't deter those who were bullying 'the old-fashioned way'.
ReplyDelete