THE EFFECTS OF CYBER BULLYING ON ADOLESCENTS

The Effects Of Cyber Bullying On Adolescents

The Effects Of Cyber Bullying On Adolescents

Introduction

Cyberbullying generally encompasses any kind of harassing or bullying conduct that occurs through electronic communication channels or devices, including e-mail, Web pages, blogs, online video sharing sites, social networking services, cell phones, and camcorders. Cyberbullying is a fairly recent educational and legal concern and is fueled by the ever-increasing affordability and ease-of-use of digital technologies. This entry describes the behavior and some policy guidelines (Willard, 2007) .

The use of instant messaging (IM) has remained a popular option among younger teens since its introduction in 1997 with AIM (AOL Instant Messaging). IM and text messaging as well as emailing have contributed both to the evolution of the current young generation's linguistic expressions and to new social practices such as writing “away” messages when one is offline and developing or ending romantic relationships online. As the use of mobile devices has increased, however, young people in the United States and the United Kingdom have voiced a change in preference that echoes their Asian and Scandinavian counterparts: Although IM and email are still a part of their lives, most prefer to use the mobile phone for communications with their friends. They maintain communication with friends through IM (and email, to a lesser extent) when they are at home and in front of the computer doing homework (Nafus, Tracey, 2002).

Discussion

By the time young people reach their teen years, they report that they believe that the Internet helps them with their relationships and their own forms of self-expression as well as with their homework. More than half (57%) of all teens 12 to 17 have created content for the Internet, including 22% who have created their own websites and 19% who maintain an online journal or blog (compared with 7% of adults who maintain a blog). Whereas only 27% of online adults report that they regularly read blogs, 38% of online teens do. Older teenage girls are the most likely to blog, and those who are online frequently are more likely to blog than those who are not (Ling, Yttri, 2002).

Although they seem to relish the opportunities of the online environment, young people do see the online environment as one that has risks. More than half of young people online in the United Kingdom have come into contact with pornography, and most of them (38%) have come upon it unintentionally. Additionally, one third of U.K. young people aged 9 to 19 reported that they had received unwanted sexual comments online or by text message. The same survey found that parents drastically underestimate children's negative online experiences. This may be because young people underreport such occurrences out of fear that their parents will further restrict their Internet use (Ling, Helmersen, 2000).

As the Internet matures into a regular part of everyday life for many people, several issues related to the online environment continue to confound young people and their parents as well as those who educate or market to ...