Kelly Gibbons

CI 405: Technology Paper

“I’ll Meet You Online:” A Look Into the Issue of Cyberbullying

Reflecting back on elementary and middle school years, it is easy to remember

former friends, teacher and peers, as they were prominent figures in school life. However, it is

also easy to remember the student who was constantly making negative comments—the bully

—the student who was habitually cruel, especially to weaker students and those he or she did

not like. Bullying, though, is not the same as it was eleven years ago. It is not found in the

“meet you on the playground” setting or in the “hover around the locker” manner. Though

bullying may seem to be disappearing in the hallways at school, it has actually become an

increased behavior. Children are not using physical behavior, but now using the resource they

know best, technology, to take out their emotion and aggression on other students. The result

of this evolution of harassment is cyberbullying—the use of Internet-connected devices to

bully and menace others—a behavior damaging to both the victim and the school environment

(Pew Internet 2). With steady advancements in technology, it is also a problem that is on thee

rise, becoming more and more violent and reaching into younger age groups. While

technology does have its perks in the classroom, the negative effect of cyberbullying is

affecting, relationships between students, attitudes towards technology and student

responsibility, all of which ultimately put the positive environment of a classroom at risk.

With the wide range of technological tools available to children, technology

increases cyberbullying behavior because it can take on many different forms. The most

recent classroom-based survey asked a random sample of 2,000 middle-school students from a

large school district in the United States, whether or not they had experienced cyberbullying.
Of those 2,000 students, 18% admitted being a cyberbully at one point in their lifetime, 10%

of those students admitting to having been a cyberbully in the last 30 days. Compare these

statistics to the 12.5% of students who admitted to being a cyberbully at one point in their

lifetime in 2006, and there is an increase of 5.5% in the last 3 year (Hinduja 1). The total

increase of students is due to the rapidly increasing Internet world and its spread into a wider

range of age groups. Therefore, as technology is becoming a larger part of childhood, so are

the behaviors that results from using it. Cyberbullying, which used to be most common in

grades seven and eight, is now becoming frequent in fourth and fifth. 6% of fourth graders

have stated that they have come into contact with a cyberbully or been a cyberbully

themselves in 2009, whereas 4% had stated these same things in 2007 (Seattle Public Schools

3). While these are still not large percentages, with technological diffusion (the spreading of

technology to younger generations at a faster rate) cyberbullying is expected to spread to more

elementary grades in the near future. Clearly, this issue has a definite “domino effect.”

Younger children becoming familiarized with this type of negative interaction with their peers

is reflective of the technology resources that have been recently introduced to society.

The Internet and networking websites offer a large range of accessibility and rapid

delivery of technology, making it possible for a hurtful message to reach anywhere in the

world with a click of button. Networking websites such as Webkinz Club Penguin, YouTube,

etc. are prominent parts of young culture and allow interaction and communication to happen

among both known and unknown people. With the diminishing distance barrier, harassment

that used to happen in a local proximity can take place between two strangers. In fact, 6.5% of

people state they have been harassed online by a person they did not know; technology

advances have made that possible (Lenhart 4). With the increase in Internet activity, vulgar
emails, online rumors, inappropriate or embarrassing pictures, etc. can be spread in a little

amount of time to a large number of people. Because these messages can travel at such a fast

rate, they are seemingly impossible to stop once they have been posted online. Even if the

rumor or picture has been taken down within a short period of time, it is likely that the victim

has already been hurt or embarrassed, as the message has traveled to a large population of

people. Clearly, with little censorship, and increased speed of delivery, technology is the

cause for this type of harassment, as it allows anyone to be a potential victim of online

harassment.

Victimization has proved itself to be statistically more frequent and more hurtful in

recent years. In a survey of 10,000 middle school students, 42.5% of them had been harassed

on the Internet at least once, 13% of those students having been a victims of cyberbullying in

the last 30 days (Lenhart 1). Victims of cyberbullying are affected in many negative ways,

often times developing a dislike for school, feelings of fear, stupidity or inadequacy, develop

introverted behaviors or a disconnect to group activities and other classmates. Of the victims

surveyed in the previous study, 35% of them felt angry and frustrated. 40% felt sad and 10%

felt isolated. These feelings build to form low self-esteem, as victims have an average self-

esteem rate of two on a four-point scale, whereas non-victims average around a 3.5. These

cyberbully victims are clearly affected in negative ways (Lenhart 3). These feelings of

inadequacy amongst peers definitely take a toll on peer interactions and the social

development necessary to have an effective classroom environment. If a student feels as

though he or she is not worthy of attentions or not as high-performing as his or her peers that

student is going to less likely to want to be involved in discussion or activities where they are

going to have to work with others. This low confidence level will also affect their mindset on
trying to things and learning new material. The victim will most likely be reluctant to learn

and apply new materials, as he or she deems themself incapable.

Moreover, cyberbulling is statistically proven to take a toll on school climate making

it more of a major concern. A non-cyberbully victim rates school environment a three on a

four-point scale, but a victim averages a 2.5 (Lenhart 2). These statistics prove valid when

looking at the story of a young girl named Caroline. Caroline was harassed via email and text

message by a girl at school. This girl called her “fat, ugly, stupid and unworthy.” Caroline’s

reported behaviors included: a consistent want to stay home, a non-responsive attitude while

at school and a complete lack of motivation for school work. After Caroline’s mom noticed

these behaviors were becoming a habit, she looked further into the situation, only to discover

her to be a victim of cyberbullying. Even though the problem was pinpointed, Caroline did not

want her mother to contact the school or say anything to the teacher, as she was afraid that

things with the bully would escalate. Because of her cyberbully, Caroline had lost all interest

in academics and did not contribute positively to the classroom environment (Seattle Public

Schools 8). It is apparent from this anecdote that cyberbullying gave way to a negative school

environment. This did not only affect Caroline’s academic development, but this negative

energy affected her friends and peers, as well. With the increase in cyberbullying, these

characteristics would be expected to become more apparent in the classroom culture in the

future. The questions remain, if cyberbullying is taking such a toll on children’s lives, then

why are these actions not being stopped or prevented? And if they should be, are teachers the

ones responsible for detections and prevention? The obvious answer is that cyberbullying

should be stopped, but with technology as the source of cyberbullying, there is not much

anyone can do about stopping the issue.

 Failed attempts at the prevention of cyberbullying proves there to be no effective way

to complete eliminate the problem from occurring. Administrators in the Seattle Public School

system have tried many prevention techniques to limit Internet access at school, such as

putting bans on social networking websites, sending notes home to parents educating them on

the type of behavior taking place, and encouraging parents to oversee their children’s Internet

activity. While recommendations and actions from the school and teachers have been taken,

cyberbullying has still increased. However, cyberbullying is a hard issue to prevent because

technology allows it to take place anywhere and anytime; the Internet is always open to an

individual. In order to stop cyberbullying, Internet activity would have to monitored at all

times. With the typical chaotic American family life, this is an impossible task for parents to

accomplish. Even if intense monitoring did occur, the anonymity of the Internet allows

children to post words and images that my be impossible to track down and remove (Hinduja

3). There are not always ways to track down the bullies and force them to stop, without

physically taking away access to the Internet. But even if the bullies are stopped, they may not

find a wrong in their actions, as there is less emotional connect to harassing someone on the

Internet. Moreover, the bullies can approach their target with less fear of retaliation than with

traditional bullying (Lenhart 8). There is no personal threat that stems from harassing

someone online, as the bully never has to physically be in the presence of the person they are

attacking. Because teachers cannot necessarily give detentions right away for these actions,

the bullies also have no form of immediate punishment for their actions. Due to these reasons,

the bullies do not find a reason to completely stop their actions. While total prevention is

impossible, there are educational steps being taken to inform students about they can stop the

behaviors or react to the situation if they are ever confronted by a cyberbully.

 Educational programs have been introduced to teach students ways to deal with

online harassment and help those who are already victims of these behaviors. Some public

schools have developed an entire curriculum dedicated to this abuse of technology. The

curriculum is complete with worksheets, journals and acting scenarios aimed at middle grade

students. These activities are designed to show students the effects that cyberbullying has on a

victim, the repercussions if can have on the classroom and how they can go about stopping the

problem if it arises. It also aims to have children become less dependent on technology and

work on face-to-face interactions rather than communicating through computer. With a daily

education activity on cyberbullying, administrators hope to see a decrease in the numbers

(Seattle Public Schools 5). Laws against cyberbullying have also been enacted 9 states’

government with $500 fines, court appearances, and in severe cases, convictions of a Class D

felony. Clearly, actions are being taken by some, and with the increasingly widespread access

to technology and online websites, more states are expected to hop on the bandwagon and

create laws addressing this behavior.

Personally, I think that cyberbullying is a trend of the time period. As technology

advances and new programs or websites become popular, I feel that cyberbullying will change

and die down. Like anything else, it is a hot topic because of the time period and, yes, is going

to take some time to disappear, but my thought is that it is a problem that will take care of

itself. Until then, it is obvious that there are things that a teacher can do, education being the

most important way to demonstrate to the students the amoral and inappropriate actions that

take place. The effective of this issue are lasting and have the potential to harm a child’s

academic and social development. While I do think states have taken a step in the right

directions, I find it hard to understand how they are going to track these bullies and seek them
out in society, in order to carry out these laws. It is almost impossible for the teachers to track

the bullies in a small school environment, so the state is going to be complete overwhelmed

with the amount of bullies in the larger communities. I think the best thing that can be done is

to have elementary and middle grade teachers cultivate an engaging, moral environment in the

classroom and help students to feel comfortable with one another. This will help build strong

relationships with classmates and eliminate conflict as much as possible. For those who are

already victims, this positive school environment can help prevent them from disliking school

and becoming any more academically unmotivated.

Clearly, cyberbullying is an issue, but one that does not have clear or definite

solution. With steady advancements in technology, it is also a problem that is on the rise,

becoming more and more violent and reaching into younger age groups. While technology

does have its benefits in the classroom, cyberbulling is a large negative behavior that stems

from this phenomenon. Cyberbullying has resulted in unstable relationships between students,

negative attitudes and essentially proven to be an action that students cannot be held

accountable for, all things putting an intended positive educational environment at risk.
Works Cited

Cyberbullying Curriculum. Seattle Public Schools.

www.seattleschools.org/area/prevention/cbms.html

Hinduja, F. Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying.

Sage Publications, 2009. www.cyberbullying.us/research.php

PEW Report. Cyberbullying and Online Teens. http://prewinternet.org